The riot grrrl movement—and other “angry young women” making music around the same time—validated and celebrated female rage.

But what if you feel less rage and more “negative but ultimately weak emotions that do not lead to action” like “envy, irritation, and paranoia”?

Laura Fisher tackles these “ugly feelings” in a gorgeous essay for The New Inquiry about Juliana Hatfield, whose ambivalent, deeply personal album Hey Babe put an unfordable river between her and the riot grrrls.