A spectre is haunting feminism—the spectre of Girl Power. This is an exaggeration, of course, but there can be no question that the Spice Girls, the British quintet who unleashed Girl Power two years ago, are the most popular act ever to wave the feminist banner. The biggest musical phenomenon since the Beatles, they have sold millions of CDs, books and movie tickets and have captivated adolescents around the world, inspiring a mass craze of imitation not seen since the heyday of Madonna.

The Spice Girls would be of little cultural interest if not for what their popularity says about contemporary feminism. Opinion on this could not be more divided. New Wave feminist Camille Paglia enthused in the September 30 Salon, "Naturally, I approve of the Spice Girls as splendid embodiments of the ballsy, vampy, street-smart, take-charge contemporary women I've constantly called for. I loved the snappy video for 'Say You'll Be There,' where the Spice Girls mime not only Diana Rigg of The Avengers (one of my idols) but the posturing personae of Charlie's Angels, a show dismissed in the 1970s as empty-headed titillation but that can now be seen as a bold prefiguration of 1990s-style pro-sex feminism."

Her garrulous enthusiasm is not shared, however, by Audrey Kobayashi, director of the Institute for Women's Studies at Queen's University, who condemns the Spice Girls as "work[ing] very hard to undo everything feminism has tried to do over the last couple of generations...I don't see that there's a message there that says, 'Ask questions.' I see the message that says, 'Let's go back to being sex kittens.'"

The Spice Girls are without a doubt sex kittens. But they also claim a political agenda. In Britain they made the front pages of the quality papers after an interview in the right-wing Spectator in which they announced their support for then-prime minister John Major. "We Spice Girls are true Thatcherites," declared Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. "Thatcher was the first Spice Girl, the pioneer of our ideology—Girl Power." The Iron Lady was delighted and replied that the Spice Girls were exactly to her taste.

But it is not only conservatives who praise them. In a February 1 Southam News column left-winger (and feminist) Catherine Ford wrote, "A few years of gangsta rap and heavy metal, of offensive lyrics about whores, sluts and bitches; of violent, sexist and degrading music left a large hole for something that didn't need to be labelled R for content and sprayed with disinfectant. Something that didn't invite drive-by shootings and drug-induced suicide. The Spice Girls are just what little girls need right now."

The Spice Girls have had a remarkable impact for a group that is routinely dismissed as "the Monkees of the '90s." Like the Monkees (the "Prefab Four") the Spice Girls are a manufactured group. The five 20-somethings, none of whom had enjoyed any previous musical success, were carefully assembled by a management team to represent five varieties of young womanhood.

Victoria ("Posh Spice") is the glamorous one, fond of designer dresses and pouting. Mel B ("Scary Spice") is black, and noted for tough talk. Mel C ("Sporty Spice") is, as her name suggests, athletic; she dresses down in track pants and running shoes. Emma ("Baby Spice") wears frocks and pigtails. Geri ("Ginger Spice") is the sexy one, and is the group's leader and ideologue.

In 1994 this advertisement appeared in the British magazine The Stage: "R.U. 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance? R.U. streetwise, outgoing, ambitious, and dedicated?" Five girls (the Mels, Victoria, Geri and a girl named Michelle) were selected. Michelle soon dropped out and was replaced by Emma. In 1995 the girls fired their managers (whom they accused of being too controlling), hooked up with some of Britain's most successful songwriter-producers, hired new manager Simon Fuller and created their sound, a bland but catchy simulacrum of American black music and British teenbeat.

In 1996 their first single "Wannabe" was released and went straight to number one, as did their first album, Spice. "Wannabe" eventually reached the top slot in 22 countries, including Canada and the U.S. In 1997 they signed a worldwide promotional deal with Pepsi and in November their second album Spice World was released. This was followed the next month by a movie of the same name (see review, below). Despite claims to the contrary, Spice World is as big a hit as their first effort. It is currently number five in the Canadian charts, and its release has reignited sales of Spice, which is at number 14. The girls currently have two singles in the Canadian top 50 and three in the American charts. Forbes magazine estimates the Spice Girls earned US$40 million in 1997, an incredible total considering the girls have given only one real concert and have not been able to profit from a back catalogue. One more thing: they fired manager Fuller and let Geri Halliwell manage the group.

Kate Fillion, the Canadian author of Lip Service, says of the Spice Girls, "I admire people who can make a great deal out of little talent, like Madonna." The Spice Girls have certainly made the most of necessity; apart from Mel C., none of them are particularly good singers or dancers. (Late last year, citing the need for more rehearsal time, the Spice Girls cancelled a world tour scheduled to begin this month, and rescheduled it for summer.) Neither do they boast model good looks; in fact, two Spices, Ginger and Baby, are noticeably overweight. But they have taken control of their careers and their images, and have steered clear of the minefields that await any pop group, particularly in tabloid-crazy Britain.

It was once said of Arnold Schwarzenegger, "He's more than an actor, he's a star." And for any musical act to transcend mere popularity into phenomenon, there must be value added. For the Spice Girls, it has been Girl Power.

If Girl Power has a manifesto, it is one of slogans. The inserts contained in their CDs declare: "Wonderwoman"; "Can you handle a Spice Girl?"; "Silence is golden but shouting is fun"; "Future is female"; "Who's 'she'; I'm me"; "Happiness is a state of mind"; and "I'm a girl, I can do it." Girl power is perhaps best expressed in the song "Wannabe," which warns boys, "If you wannabe my lover, you gotta get with my friends."

So are the Spice Girls feminist? Gwen Landolt, a lawyer and vice-president of REAL Women of Canada, calls them "basically conservative," pointing to their support of Margaret Thatcher. She adds, "I don't think they're feminist, I just think they're being themselves. They are assertive and aggressive women who are proud of being women."

Mrs. Landolt sees the Spice Girls' mass appeal as a rejection of traditional feminism by younger women. "Most intelligent women today agree that women should have choice and women should have economic, legal and social equality," she says. But while the older generation of feminists see men as "the enemy, not to be trusted, dangerous and rapist," younger women see men as "friends, brothers, boyfriends."

To Ms. Fillion, "assertive and aggressive women who are proud of being women" is a fair summation of her brand of feminism. "It's not Gloria Steinem feminism," she explains. "Still it is a brand of feminism, one which pokes fun at gender roles." Ms. Fillion argues, "We make a big mistake when we assume there is one kind of monolithic feminism." Referring to Prof. Kobayashi's denunciation, she remarks, "The term anti-feminist is thrown about by feminists who want other kinds of feminists to adopt their position."

If Girl Power can be boiled down to "stick by your friends and don't take crap from anyone," Ms. Fillion says, "this, frankly, is not a bad feminist message for a 13-year-old." Echoing Mrs. Landolt uncannily, she contends, "It's certainly a better message than all men are rapists and murderers and that if you're a woman, the patriarchy is going to do everything it can to crush your spirit."

Toronto Sun columnist Heather Bird compares the Spice Girls to her newspaper's loved (and loathed) Sunshine Girls. These pin-ups "are not to my taste," she admits, "and if it were up to me I don't know if they would be in the newspaper. But I do believe that women should have these choices." Of the so-called "girly" feminism, playing dumb and acting cute, she says, "I don't think women are terribly advanced by that. What they are advancing is a denial of self. That's not my view of feminism. I don't know how you could be an equal if you're not showing your true self."

Ms. Bird's nieces are Spice Girls fans, and she finds herself asking, "Do I want them emulating that? That's a tough one." But she argues that columnist Ford is right on the money when she calls the Spice Girls, "Barbie on the hoof." She concludes that girls are smart enough to realize that the Spice Girls, like Barbie, are a fantasy. And she, like Ms. Fillion, thinks "Wannabe" has a good message: "It's the classic sign of the domestic abuser that he's a man who cuts women loose from their friends."

Stephanie Gutmann, a conservative American journalist who is writing a book about gender integration in the military says, "I doubt that going around saying 'Girl Power' has much to do with ideology." She is critical of what she calls "bimbo feminism"—wanting to have intellectual respectability without making choices—"I'm a stripper and a feminist and my stripping is a feminist act. Why not say I like stripping because it turns on men? That sort of hypocrisy is very annoying. I don't like traditional feminism in many ways but in many ways I admire these women more than the Spice Girls; they are taking a stand. If we are all feminists then the term is meaningless." Still, Ms. Gutmann is no more upset by the comparison of the Spice Girls to Barbie than Ms. Ford or Ms. Bird: "Who are the Spice Girls' audience? Little girls. The Spice Girls are like dolls and little girls don't like to give up their dolls."

Kari Simpson, head of the Citizens Research Institute, says of the Spice Girls-feminism controversy, "I think feminism was on the way out long before the Spice Girls." The former pilot turned family activist adds, "Do you know what my definition of a feminist is? A woman who is so dumb she doesn't know how much power she has and has to call herself something else." Perhaps coming the closest to endorsing Girl Power, she argues that "each woman is born with a different talent and uses that talent to accomplishes the goals she sets. Does it help to be a woman? You bet. You're always going to have dingleberries on the men's side and bimbos on the women's side. That's life. The feminists need to lighten up a bit and stop spoiling everyone else's fun."

—Kevin Michael Grace

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