They say there is a 20-year rule when it comes to revivals, so it makes sense that in 2015 we are strongly feeling the comeback of riot grrrl - from the latest Sleater-Kinney album to the reformation of Babes in Toyland and L7. There are however, other reasons why this genre is being celebrated by a fresh new generation.

The internet has exploded in ways that most of us couldn’t have imagined – and even at 27, I feel like I fall fast behind the teenagers of 2015. Tumblr is the new teenage bedroom wall: a perfect place to express yourself, an eternal stream of images and ideas. Combine that with a lot of girls’ desire to craft, scrapbook and stay up till the early hours thinking about feelings, and you can see why the internet has helped facilitate the comeback of a pro-feminine scene such as riot grrrl. It’s also why I set up Girl Gang, an online YouTube community for feminist girls, boys, women and men who want to learn new skills, share ideas, inspire others and seek self-confidence.

I got into punk at 17 after discovering an all-girl band from Long Island on the internet called The Devotchkas – four crazy-looking girls with fast, driving basslines and high-pitched gang vocals who shared the same dress sense as the punks I used to eye up curiously in Camden. From there I moved on to punk in general – it made the mediocre bearable, it was the perfect musical reflection of my dissatisfaction, failures and self-loathing, and it put me in the perfect mood to deal with the trivialities of my job at River Island and my life in general at the time.

It was my early experiences of sexism in the music industry that gave me a strong thirst for the female voice, though. I searched the internet and old record shops for female punk icons, and soon discovered riot grrrl. Listening to Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna gave me the confidence I needed to get up on stage and be photographed every night on tour. I started my own zine, and riot grrrl became a huge part of my identity. Punk may have helped me find my voice and made me realise that I had the right to have one, but it was riot grrrl that helped me sustain that voice and shout a little louder. Riot grrrl meant I could get up on stage and sweat. I could have my acne highlighted in the Daily Mail, I could be labelled too fat and ugly to be a pop star, I could receive death threats and continue to stand tall, write the music I wanted to and be proud of who I was no matter what anyone else thought or said about me. When I needed help, I listened to riot grrrl.

Kate Nash’s LA Girl Gang. Photograph: Sophia Muller

Hopefully, Girl Gang will be a place where people can find solace, too. As well as doling out great life tips, such as how to foster a dog or play the guitar, the channel is an online community full of people from around the world who support one another. It’s symptomatic of our time: girls are much more prone to encourage each other in 2015. They stick up for each other, and the internet gives us a globally interactive Wild West in which to discuss what we want, without a man overseeing it.

We’ve realised the power of the internet, and the strength in working together. Girls are sick of the only option being competition. We don’t want to be Scary, Posh, Sporty, Ginger or Baby. We want to be Scary, Posh, Sporty, Ginger and Baby. And like Kathleen Hanna on Rebel Girl, we not only want to be the rebel girl, but have a friend in one too.