Girl Power!

For anyone that's interested (i.e. 'no-one') I recently read a marvellous article by the f-word (yes, I occasionally read it, so what?) called 'Girl Power' in which a feminist journalist describes her experience of the Spice Girls, and their reunion tour.

If you can't be arsed to read it, here's the jist:

"The near absence of men in the audience proved that they have made their millions by appealing almost solely to women. Standing in an arena full of thousands of (clearly loud and confident) women in the midst of North America, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was partaking in my first ever feminist gathering. Had we all been brought together under one common cause? Was ‘Girl Power’ still alive and kicking, uniting sisters the world over?"

"So, yes, you can wear, act, do whatever you like as long as you’re happy. Don’t let anyone tell you what to do. Which, in many ways, isn’t a million miles away from what would constitute most people’s description of contemporary feminism."

"The Spice Girls promoted female friendship, and provided young girls with images of happy, confident women at a time when boy bands (Boyzone, Take That, the Backstreet Boys) flooded the market. Clichéd as it may be, they did in some ways provide a positive role model for young girls."

I'm not deluded. I'm well aware that they're not the best feminist role models around, but in the context of the 90s, when you're too young to understand the concepts behind it, the Spice Girls were bloody well good enough.

They had personalities, opinions and most importantly: they had fun in an inclusive way.