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The Spice Girls werent perfect feminists and thats OK – neither are we

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File photo dated 11/05/1997 of the Spice Girls outside the Martinez Hotel in Cannes, during the 50th Cannes Film Festival. The band is believed to be gearing up to announce a UK stadium tour for 2019 - but as a four-piece without Victoria Beckham. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday November 5, 2018. The Spice Girls, formed in 1994 and one of the most successful acts of that decade, have not performed together since the London Olympics closing ceremony in 2012, and they last toured together 10 years ago. See PA story SHOWBIZ Spice. Photo credit should read: Neil Munns/PA Wire
The Spice Girls formed in 1994, of course their particular breed of empowerment was wonky in places (Photo: Neil Munns/PA Wire)

Over the past year, when Ive told other women that I was writing a book about the Spice Girls and girl power (yes, this is convenient timing), Ive had a lot of similar conversations.

First, their eyes would light up. Sometimes theyd squeal. They would tell me in breathless tones how much they loved the group – how their pre-teen bedroom walls were plastered in posters, and their lunchtimes spent mastering the dance routines.

Theyd tell me how gleeful and confident the Spice Girls made them feel; how theyd yell girl power! out of their mums car window, stand up to the boys in the playground and take teachers to task in the classroom.

Then a sheepish look descends. Of course, theyd cough, checking themselves. They werent proper feminists, were they?

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Its a subject we still talk ourselves hoarse over now. Who qualifies as a feminist? Who gets to claim the label, and who gets sneered at for even trying?

Todays girl pop heroes, from Beyoncé to Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Little Mix, are still routinely praised and picked apart for trying to promote empowering messages to their young fans.

Whenever a woman sticks her neck out in the public realm, it feels like only a matter of time before shes told to wind it in again. And while the debates are often valid – we have to keep pushing on, after all, making things better and smarter and more inclusive wherever we can – they tend to overlook the simplest truth: that whatever proper feminism may be, it probably isnt telling women that theyre doing everything wrong.

Sure, the Spice Girls particular breed of empowerment was wonky in places. Nobody really knows where pinching Prince Charles arse was supposed to fit into the manifesto, or why the second verse of Spice Up Your Life wasnt vetoed in the recording studio.

Girl power wasnt diverse or inclusive by 2018 standards, and thank god for progress. But just like the Feminist t-shirts and rebel girl stories we still argue over today, the Spice Girls broad, mainstream appeal was kind of the whole point.

Undated handout photo issued by Dawbell of (left to right) Geri Horner, Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton and Melanie Brown. The Spice Girls will kick off a six-date UK stadium tour in June next year in Manchester as a four-piece without Victoria Beckham. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday November 5, 2018. See PA story SHOWBIZ Spice. Photo credit should read: Dawbell/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
24 years later and they are doing it all again (Photo: Dawbell/PA)

Because broad, mainstream appeal reaches beyond the privileged and the educated elite. It reaches further than the pages of the liberal broadsheets, and beyond those who are going to be left-wing and right-on anyway.

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It teaches people that empowerment and equality dont have to be fringe ideas for grumpy misfits, and that its possible to challenge the status quo without sacrificing cheerful, commercial success.

The Spice Girls showed us that ordinary, working class women were allowed have a go, have a laugh, and have an impact. It might not have been a radical idea to academics or activists, but for a generation of girls raised on boybands and Barbie dolls, watching five bolshy young women stomp their way to world domination felt nothing short of revolutionary.

And looking back now, as a 30-year-old woman, it kind of still does.

I still love the style, for one thing. In todays flawless, perfection-obsessed landscape, the Spice aesthetic might look OTT – but god, it also looks fun. Fierce, theatrical, unapologetic.

They taught us that girls had options; that dressing and acting differently from your mates was not only allowed, but encouraged. And that whatever you wore, be it platforms or your PE kit, it didnt diminish your right to an opinion. Just because youve got a short skirt on and a pair of tits, you can still say want you want to say. Were still very strong, Emma told Entertainment Weekly in 1997.

With each passing year, I like to think we are having fewer of these energy-sapping explainer sessions about how yes, women can enjoy clothes and makeup and also be dismantling the patriarchy with a metaphorical socket wrench – but even two decades on, theyre far from over.

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The idea of feminism as bra-burning and man-hating still lingers, like the scent of stale tobacco for years after the smoking ban kicked in.

The Spice Girls never really felt the need to airbrush their behaviour either, practising a kind of easy, warts-and-all confidence that would still be hailed as brave and inspiring today.

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They talked about politics, friendship and farting, all with the same defiant energy. Their seminal Rolling Stone cover interview from 1997 opens with Mel B picking her nose with a restaurant napkin. Everyone picks their nose, shrugs Geri.

And the songs? Look, while nobodys claiming zig-a-zig-ah has layers of secret profundity, theres good stuff there. Songs like Wannabe and Who Do You Think You Are were rallying anthems of assertiveness.

While the bulk of mainstream pop music was (and still is) about love – silly, simpering love – theirs was more often about fun, ambition, putting your friendships first, and getting what you really, really wanted.

If it wasnt proper feminism, I reply to those grown-up fans, as they glance around waiting for someone to leap out and dock them 10 points, then perhaps it was at least a set of feminist training wheels, and a good push to get us started.

Weve travelled a long way since 1996, but even if this reunion tour is nothing but a shameless nostalgia binge, it could still be an incentive to keep on going – and help the next generation stand up for loud, proud girlhood too.

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Its nice to have a reminder that our heroes dont have to be perfect, and neither do we. Sometimes, thats all the more powerful.

What Would The Spice Girls Do?: How The Girl Power Generation Grew Up is out now.

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MORE: Victoria Beckham breaks silence as Spice Girls announce reunion tour without her

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