“Girl Power!”
If someone remembers one thing about the Spice Girls, there’s a good chance that it’s their famous catchphrase, “Girl Power!” that comes to mind. The term itself was not coined by the band; it originated with riot grrrls in the Pacific Northwest U.S. punk scene, who coined the term as a means of critiquing misogyny in the scene, often through creative means like music, zines, or art. Girl power and the riot grrrl movement situated women as content creators and critics rather than passive consumers, and frequently dealt with issues of race, class, and sexuality. Quickly co-opted by the mainstream media, by the time it reached the Spice Girls it had been commercialized and depoliticized, emblazoned on mall-store t-shirts and used to sell makeup in Seventeen magazine (Reid-Walsh, J., & Mitchell, C., 2008; Schilt, K., 2003). Interviewed by the Village Voice, Ginger Spice said, “feminism has become a dirty word. Girl power is just a nineties way of saying it” (Douglas, qtd in Schilt, 6). In other words, in co-opting the girl power phrase, the Spice Girls were making feminism “nice” or “cool” again, using it to appeal both to those who worried that their daughters would grow up to become “bra-burning feminists” and those who worried that they wouldn’t. For the Spice Girls and their fans, girl power wasn’t about attending pro-abortion rallies or challenging the pay gap: it was about being yourself, being sexy, and having fun, enjoying your life and your womanhood. Friendship was paramount, and romance always took a backseat to it. Women were encouraged to get out there and “do it”, but what “it” referred to or in what social space the doing it should happen was never made clear (Lemish, 2003). The point was that something was being done. In the Spice Girls’ conception of feminism, all you needed to be a powerful woman was “strength and courage and a Wonderbra” (Spice World: The Movie, 1998; Ashby, 2005).
Naturally, many people objected to the band’s adoption of the phrase, suggesting that a group who still heavily pandered to the male gaze and relied on patriarchal standards of womanhood could not be feminist (Lemish, 2003). However, to reduce the Spice Girls’ take on Girl Power as simply “inauthentic” or “wrong”, the crucial context in which these statements were made is ignored. Certainly, if the band were attempting to lay claim to the same ideas that riot grrrl bands like Bratmobile or Bikini Kill were promoting, the levelled criticisms would be fair. However, as Schilt tells us, this was not the point of the Spice Girls’ feminist image:
"[W]hile the Spice Girls might lack the political edge of the Riot Grrrls…it is unrigorous to ignore the extent to which they provided positive role models for pre-teen girls. Rather than position the Spice Girls’ celebration of ‘girl power’ as a diluted and media-friendly repackaging of the angry rebellion proposed by the Riot Grrrls and the Girlies, it is more useful to recontextualise its mainstreaming in relation to the Spice Girls’ majority market – that is, pre-teen girls, rather than the adult Grrrls and Girlies who have reclaimed girlhood as a postmodern feminist strategy" (Schilt, 2003).
The Spice Girls’ feminism was not intended for the Bratmobile crowd; it was aimed squarely at young women who might not encounter it anywhere else, who were just beginning to learn what it meant to be a woman. While it lacked nuance, the Spice Girls’ version of feminism was simple, approachable, and a good starting point: women deserve equality. Sure, it came with a side of sex appeal, but this does not invalidate the overall positive message being delivered. This project is an attempt to interrogate how the Spice Girls made use of various modes – including their music, film, and personalities – to deliver their Girl Power message. It examines how each of these modes highlighted particular elements of Girl Power feminism, with particular importance placed on friendship and sexuality. Finally, it suggests that while the Spice Girls’ brand of feminism certainly had its problematic elements, these did not serve to undermine the overall message that women are independent and strong.
If someone remembers one thing about the Spice Girls, there’s a good chance that it’s their famous catchphrase, “Girl Power!” that comes to mind. The term itself was not coined by the band; it originated with riot grrrls in the Pacific Northwest U.S. punk scene, who coined the term as a means of critiquing misogyny in the scene, often through creative means like music, zines, or art. Girl power and the riot grrrl movement situated women as content creators and critics rather than passive consumers, and frequently dealt with issues of race, class, and sexuality. Quickly co-opted by the mainstream media, by the time it reached the Spice Girls it had been commercialized and depoliticized, emblazoned on mall-store t-shirts and used to sell makeup in Seventeen magazine (Reid-Walsh, J., & Mitchell, C., 2008; Schilt, K., 2003). Interviewed by the Village Voice, Ginger Spice said, “feminism has become a dirty word. Girl power is just a nineties way of saying it” (Douglas, qtd in Schilt, 6). In other words, in co-opting the girl power phrase, the Spice Girls were making feminism “nice” or “cool” again, using it to appeal both to those who worried that their daughters would grow up to become “bra-burning feminists” and those who worried that they wouldn’t. For the Spice Girls and their fans, girl power wasn’t about attending pro-abortion rallies or challenging the pay gap: it was about being yourself, being sexy, and having fun, enjoying your life and your womanhood. Friendship was paramount, and romance always took a backseat to it. Women were encouraged to get out there and “do it”, but what “it” referred to or in what social space the doing it should happen was never made clear (Lemish, 2003). The point was that something was being done. In the Spice Girls’ conception of feminism, all you needed to be a powerful woman was “strength and courage and a Wonderbra” (Spice World: The Movie, 1998; Ashby, 2005).
Naturally, many people objected to the band’s adoption of the phrase, suggesting that a group who still heavily pandered to the male gaze and relied on patriarchal standards of womanhood could not be feminist (Lemish, 2003). However, to reduce the Spice Girls’ take on Girl Power as simply “inauthentic” or “wrong”, the crucial context in which these statements were made is ignored. Certainly, if the band were attempting to lay claim to the same ideas that riot grrrl bands like Bratmobile or Bikini Kill were promoting, the levelled criticisms would be fair. However, as Schilt tells us, this was not the point of the Spice Girls’ feminist image:
"[W]hile the Spice Girls might lack the political edge of the Riot Grrrls…it is unrigorous to ignore the extent to which they provided positive role models for pre-teen girls. Rather than position the Spice Girls’ celebration of ‘girl power’ as a diluted and media-friendly repackaging of the angry rebellion proposed by the Riot Grrrls and the Girlies, it is more useful to recontextualise its mainstreaming in relation to the Spice Girls’ majority market – that is, pre-teen girls, rather than the adult Grrrls and Girlies who have reclaimed girlhood as a postmodern feminist strategy" (Schilt, 2003).
The Spice Girls’ feminism was not intended for the Bratmobile crowd; it was aimed squarely at young women who might not encounter it anywhere else, who were just beginning to learn what it meant to be a woman. While it lacked nuance, the Spice Girls’ version of feminism was simple, approachable, and a good starting point: women deserve equality. Sure, it came with a side of sex appeal, but this does not invalidate the overall positive message being delivered. This project is an attempt to interrogate how the Spice Girls made use of various modes – including their music, film, and personalities – to deliver their Girl Power message. It examines how each of these modes highlighted particular elements of Girl Power feminism, with particular importance placed on friendship and sexuality. Finally, it suggests that while the Spice Girls’ brand of feminism certainly had its problematic elements, these did not serve to undermine the overall message that women are independent and strong.