| To what extent have The Spice Girls
distorted feminist ideology for young women? In-depth independent study by Tanya Blackwell |
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The Spice Girls and Feminism.
The question with The Spice Girls is not whether they are feminists, but whether their brand of feminism is sound propaganda for the children of the nineties. Seventies feminism demanded that women be equalised. Equal pay and equal rights were fought for, and there is no doubt that this movement helped to bridge the gap between men and women in society. But attempts to castrate men and desexualise women failed because of the very fact that the sexes are different. Modern thought has moved further toward the thinking that in spite of the gender differentiation men and women can still be equal in society. Modern feminism focuses on teaching females to accept, and rejoice, in these differences. Much of today’s feminism is condemned because it allows women to use their sexuality, a tool it argues is always controlled by voyeurism; the male gaze.
Camille Paglia has encountered wide criticism for her liberal views on modern feminist issues. Paglia defines popular culture as an ‘eruption of the never-defeated paganism of the West.’ She writes passionately that, "Contemporary feminism cut itself off from history and bankrupted itself when it spun its puerile, paranoid fantasy of male oppressors and female sex-object victims. Woman is the dominant sex. Woman’s sexual glamour has bewitched and destroyed men since Delilah and Helen of Troy."
The success of The Spice Girls can be attributed to many things; but excellent marketing must come before their sexuality. By September of 1996, The Spice Girls were a household name, and by Christmas their nick-names were in common usage in the press and conversation. The stereotyping of the five girls, the creation of a star persona equivalent to Hollywood stars, was the most inspired piece of marketing in recent years. Each character was just big enough to fit an ideal for everybody. Love them or hate them, everyone has their favourite Spice girl because they encompass five basic types of woman. Scary; dominatrix. Ginger; sexually malleable. Baby; schoolgirl innocence, or as Matthew Sweet from the Guardian called her, "Powder-pink kinder-whore." Sporty; androgynous. Finally Posh; rich trash.
While ten year old girls loved their energy and fun, the sexual signals were unmistakable, and the sado-masochistic undercurrents were available for the spill-over audience of male admirers. Each particular ‘character’ is so clearly defined that when they parodied each other in their film Spiceworld: The Movie, exchanging costumes and mimicking catchphrases, it was impossible to all but devoted fans to tell who was dressed as who.
First there is Scary Spice. Scary Spice always comes first. In interviews she speaks loudest, laughs hardest, and her natural leadership qualities are evident. A half-caste girl of average looks, with a strong Leeds accent, wild afro hair, tongue-bolt and a penchant for all things leopard skin, she oozes street smart aggression like that of the US urban blacks and Hispanics. Scary represents the new nineties woman, in control, admired by men and woman alike. Ginger comes second. The running battle for supremacy between Scary and Ginger was rumoured heavily in the press, and seemed to be confirmed when Geri (Ginger) left the band in 1998.
Geri crusaded Girl Power, and flouted her sexuality, and voluptuous breasts, with vigour. Her kitsch, gaudy glamour of sequinned bustier-leotards (inspired by her heroine Wonder Woman) looked like something stolen from the carcass of a dead movie star, and was finished off with enormous platform shoes. Her Marilyn Monroe curves were denounced in the media; she was tirelessly referred to as fat and old (at 24!), but she never faltered. Her love of her body was incontestable. She knew it held power.
Baby recreated the sixties glamour of Twiggy and Sweet Charity. Her trademarks are her quirky bunches, wide white smile, her little-girl-lost look, and the A-line mini dress. With her finger usually not far from her rosebud lips, it is an image that has been widely criticised for encouraging paedophilia. Posh lent the element of upper class chic with skin tight Gucci dresses, killer stilettos and a sultry pout. The ingenious twist was that her voice held enough Essex twang to suggest she would be more at home on the back seat of a Ford Escort. Lastly came Sporty. Androgynous cheeky Scouser, in her Adidas tracksuit, Nike AirMax, muscly tattooed arms and gold tooth. With football a multi million pound industry, and more girls following the sport than ever before, it was a brave move that paid dividends. There had to be something for everyone; and Sporty represented the girls who stand on the terraces, drink pints and feel dresses are too ‘girlie’.
Their ideology was based on 'Girl Power': girls in control of their destiny. They are five girls who look out for each other as though they were sisters, resembling a desire for family stability, in a time when the family unit is weaker than at any other time in history. It calls to mind the large Irish - Italian families, where there was little money but plenty of love and fun, and everyone looked out for their siblings. Particularly if it is to be believed that they did live together. They advise loyalty to girl-friends before boyfriends and their decision to sack Simon Fuller and manage themselves in November ‘97 reinforced their message. Scary Spice, or Mel B, (or even Mel G since she married,) sees herself as a positive role model for girls of all ages:
"My mission in life was never to be famous; my mission in life is to have an influence on people, to be a positive role model.
Their album cover boasts the sound-bytes: The Future is Female and It’s a Girl Thang. They hailed Margaret Thatcher as the prototype Spice Girl. Their book, not surprisingly entitled Girl Power, declares that ‘girl power’ is "when you and your mates reply to wolf whistles by shouting ‘Get your arse out!". Baby Spice is pictured in a tight black minidress with the caption, "I don’t want to be a cutie, I want to be a hot, sexy bitch." Madonna is clearly an inspiration to these girls who are themselves the very products of the MTV generation, who danced around their bedroom to her records, and copied her dance moves. Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Mel C) admits Madonna is her ultimate heroine - the icon of an icon.
Spiceworld: The Movie continues the Girl Power theme. Spiceworld was hailed as ‘a mad-cap romp’ in the style of A Hard Day’s Night. The film was, of course, a box office success, but more than that - it surprised critics. Matthew Sweet of the Guardian watched in ‘a daze of pleasure’ calling it ‘an uproarious pantomime of ironies that dramatises celebrity in a delightfully topical and sophisticated way.’