I was a Spice Girl for Halloween this year.
No shame in it- I rocked my Sporty Spice alter ego for the majority of the frigid night of Halloween festivities around the U of O campus area, high-kicking in my sports bra, spandex, sky high pony tail, “GIRL POWER” tattoo (thanks to an artist friend and black sharpie) and sneakers. My roommates and I each took on a Spice Girl and ran around being spectacularly obnoxious to anyone passing by and singing “Spice up your life!”
It was awesome.
Until a Quailman and his posse shouted to me across the street to stop being a strumpet (nicer word choice than one he actually used) and that the Spice Girls were not a real symbol of girl power whatsoever and they were all old now anyhow. They then proceeded to move down the street making obscene gestures and hollering insults.
After the initial hot-blooded reaction of retorting how Quailman shouldn’t be yelling at the Spice Girls because Quailman was supposed to fight evil with patience, intelligence, speed and the “Quail Eye,” (none of which virtues were conveyed) we girls brushed off the incident like a grain of salt and ended up having a wonderful night.
Upon reflecting on the evening, my roommates and I had a conversation on what was considered “girl power” and whether or not the Spice Girls possessed this value or not. True, they did popularize the phrase as a quintessence of the 90s, but there has to be more of an active element within those words for it to be meaningful.
What we ended up agreeing on was that the Spice Girls did affect women in many senses, because sometimes all it takes is one word or phrase to trigger a strength of feeling within. The fact that the Spice Girls brought about a cultural phenomenon of “girl power” and how popular it became is a result of women embracing this idea of empowerment. This might be a credible reason why the group was so popular, despite their mediocre singing and dancing skills. The Spice Girls distinctly embraced girl power as their strength. One interpretation of girl power, in my personal eyes, is to know what you want and know how to get it- a ubiquitous idea that can be applied to any age. What if it’s all about doing high-kicks on stage? Do it!
The Spice Girls did, dare I say it, send a ripple of feminism in the hearts of both men and women with a swift platform-heeled kick.
In support of Sarah’s earlier post: My name is Megumi, and I too, am a feminist!