Yay or Nay Wednesday: Did the Spice Girls' mantra of 'Girl Power' change your life?
The Metro's Metrosexual has a post up today called "What Women Want", which asks the question, "Did the Spice Girl's mantra make a difference to women?" Apparently, a survey done by Vauxhall Tigre found that "75 per cent" of 1,000 women were "'profoundly affected' by Girl Power". Profoundly affected? This seemed a little much to me so I asked all of the Shiny Ladies:
“Yay or Nay: did the Spice Girl’s mantra of ‘Girl Power’ have an affect on your life?”
Glenda Young:
Nay. The only contribution the Spice Girls made was to further promote the male idea of what a woman should be i.e. wear little clothing, loads of make-up and appear sexy. The Spice Girls took women's lib back 50 years. Girl power? My arse.
Katherine Hannaford:
Yay. I was the perfect age for the Spice Girls to start tearing up the charts, at age 11, and fully embraced their Girl Power attitude. I can honestly say I wouldn't be the woman I am today if it weren't for them and their kick-ass, sassy, independent girls-can-do-it-for-themselves attitude. Cheers, Sporty, Scary, Ginger, Baby, and, to a lesser extent - Posh. You never could sing well, tsk...
Cate Sevilla:
Nay. I didn't pay that much attention to them, and can only remember trying to copy their accents when I was 12. Girl Power always seemed cheesy to me. Plus, I wasn't Posh, Sporty, Ginger, or a Baby, so I didn't feel I really fit into what they were trying to sell.
Charlotte Howells:
Nay. No, the most profound effect they had on me was that I bought a pair of Buffalo platforms.
Gemma Cartwright:
Nay. I was always sure of what I wanted so I can’t say the Spice Girls particularly had an effect on my life. My dress sense, maybe…I was all about the babydolls and blonde pigtails!
Zara Rabinowicz:
Nay. The Spice Girls gave me a reason to feel empowered in unfeasibly high platform trainers, though they always felt slightly embarrassing, their sentiments were treasured.
Alex Roumbas:
Not really. Whether this was because I was already entering my late teens and growing out of my snobbish, “different”, indie kid phase and therefore knew very well that I was independent and lucky enough to have a great education and opportunities or whether it was because their music was painfully shit, I don’t know. Bit of both, I imagine.
Amber McNaught:
Nay. I quite liked the Spice Girls, but couldn’t say they had much of an effect on my life, other than providing a soundtrack to some cheesy club nights of my youth. I always saw “Girl Power” as a bit of a gimmick – it didn’t make me feel any more empowered, but then, I always was a feminist anyway!
Katie Lee:
Nay. The only effect it had at the time was to annoy me, but now I actually think that female role models in the pop world are a bit shit – at least Girl Power was fun and positive rather than bitchy.
Susi Weaser:
Nay. I got the feeling that I could do anything, regardless of my gender, from my family rather than a pop band. I think had the spice Girls not happened, I would be the same person, with the same view on life, that I am today.
Laura Street:
Nay. I wouldn’t say that they changed my life at all. I liked them a lot and loved dressing up as them with all my school friends. I suppose it provided a good bonding opportunity for girls and still sorta does.
Keris Stainton:
Nay. I loved them, I thought they were great fun, but "Girl Power" isn't much use once you're already familiar with feminism!
Isabelle O'Carroll:
Nay. If you're asking me whether a pop act with more eating disorders than talent had more effect on me than Germaine Greer, Naomi Wolf or even Just Seventeen magazine the answer would have to be a firm 'no'!
Carly Holmes:
Nay. Considering I was a fat 12 year old kid in 1996 when they first made an appearance, by 1998/9 when they were world renown, I disliked all the members apart from Jerry who (even at that young age) I thought had a more a realistic full figure than the other girls in the band. . I did feel like the spice girls attitude was pushed onto me rather than me wanting to embrace it.
Although my fashion changed due to all other kids following the spice girls “exposing all” attitude, I think they probably pushed me more to showing off my brain rather than my union jack knickers.
Abi Silvester:
Nay. I was just starting university when the Spice girls 'phenomenon' happened and really not very impressed by it all. I was also a card-carrying goth at the time, and 'Goth Spice' never really featured. Girl power? jiggle around in front of the camera then marry a footballer, more like...Since then I've come to like a few of their songs and think they were pretty harmless, really. I don't think they did anything at all for feminism though I'm afraid!
All I can remember of the Spice Girls is that in their pop music video "wannabe" Scary had her nipples on show through her skin tight top.
For a group whose mantra was "girl power" they were very highly sexualised & the clothes worn couldn't have been shorter if they were belts, not exactly empowering women it was more a case of portraying women as sex objects.
I didn't like them then & I think even less of them now, this is one phenomena that belittled the female sex & should stay in the history books.
Posted by: Amanda Regan | August 22, 2007 5:57 PM