In fact, I have a distinct memory of a friend getting sent to the office for wearing a Spice Girls t-shirt in first grade, with our teacher saying that their outfits were not appropriate for school.īut while Geri usually rocked her shorter-than-short Union Jack dress and platform heels as Ginger Spice, you could always count on Mel C to be wearing track pants and sneakers as Sporty Spice. Some women would argue the bustiers, short dresses, and high heels that most of the Spice Girls were known for probably aren’t the most comfortable things to wear, serving the male gaze more than an audience of young girls. Their provocative wardrobe could also present an argument against their feminism.
While their lyrics definitely leaned to the female empowerment side (“Be a little bit wiser baby, put it on, put it on, ‘Cause tonight is the night when two become one”) it still makes me wonder who they were marketing to… little girls, young women, or the men who were sexualizing them? As a kid, I found myself equally scandalized and fascinated by the sexuality in their lyrics, with songs like “Naked” and “2 Become 1,” obviously not fully understanding the meaning but knowing it wasn’t really meant for an eight-year-old. Several of their songs were about female friendship, but on their first album alone, nine out of the ten songs are about or directed at boys. Strength and courage and a Wonderbra!” In an era where most girls were ranking their crushes on the members of the Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC, it was inspiring to also see a powerful group of girls topping the charts.
SPICE GIRLS GIRL POWER MOVIE
But I sure had the lyrics memorized to just about every one of their songs, plus cheeky quotes from the movie like, “We’re the Spice Girls, yes indeed.
The prime years of my devotion ran from about ages six to 10, and I’m not sure if I even knew the word back then. But the Spice Girls were maybe the first band of this genre aimed directly at young girls, with merchandise like officially licensed dolls, major label candy and soda, costume jewelry, children’s clothes and sneakers, and even an oddly surreal movie.įor me at least, I didn’t associate the Spice Girls with feminism. Songs like “You Don’t Own Me” and “I Am Woman” served as anthems for the second wave of feminism in the ‘60s and ‘70s and the riot grrrl punk movement of the early ’90s kicked off the third wave.
They certainly weren’t the first musicians to preach the power of women. The Spice Girls were a phenomenon, and their “Girl Power” mantra was impossible to escape. This October marked the 25th anniversary of that single, which was the start of an ongoing spirit of Girl Power for many baby feminists, like myself, coming of age in the new millennium. “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls was released in 1996 and went on to become the best-selling single by a girl group on the planet. Imagine this: You’re six years old, jumping around your room belting out the lyrics to your favorite song, “I wanna really, really, really wanna zig-a-zig-ah, If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends!”įor many of my fellow millennial women out there, you probably don’t have to imagine it, you lived it.
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