Spice Girls do not corrupt young girls, research finds
Posted on 15 April 1998
Children reject the adult side of the Spice Girls and see only their relevance to them say researchers at the University of York.
The findings come in the first research of its kind to be done amongst girls aged 6 to 8. Researchers Krista Cowman and Ann Kaloski found that parental concerns about the corrupting influence of the Spice Girls are unfounded. The more adult aspects of the Spice Girls go over the heads of younger fans, who do not include notions of adult sexuality in the term 'girl power'.
Young fans liked Sporty Spice and Baby Spice best because they behave more like eight year olds. Young fans feel that the Spice Girls copy them and not the other way around. High heels were a turn off; track suits were a big draw. The girls found nothing in common with Posh Spice - her image was part of an alien adult world and her clothes and high heels were disliked. "Everyone else is wearing trousers and Posh is wearing a skirt and high heels. Walking on the grass!", exclaimed one child.
The girls thought that girl power was about having fun with your friends - dancing, role-playing, and singing. One said it was "doing what you girls do and sticking up for yourselves and not doing what boys think". Researchers found that girl power is not only about being different from boys, but also about being different from women. Their role-plays feature practising Sporty Spice back flips, learning the dance steps and pretending to be different Spice characters. What young girls like most about the Spice Girls is that they believe the band are just like them already - and vice-versa.
Researchers also found that girls did not spend much money on Spice Girl goods. The girls enjoyed listening to the music and watching the videos, usually as a prelude to perfecting the songs and dances. The more expensive merchandise was usually an unsolicited gift from an adult. Unaware of what it is their daughters like about the Spice Girls, adults often encouraged them into consumption. Hardly any of the girls in the survey asked for or negotiated for items beforehand.
"What young girls seem to want from the Spice Girls is not an excuse to spend or a desire to be like them, but an affirmation of what they already have in themselves," says researcher Ann Kaloski. "They see the group as fun, feisty, within reach. The Spice Girls make them feel good about themselves."
Notes to editors:
Researchers interviewed nine groups of six to eight year old girls in three North Yorkshire schools in March 1998.
The questions they asked were:
- Who is your favourite/ least favourite Spice Girl, and why?
- What sort of Spice Girl goods do you own? Who buys them for you?
- Do you listen to the Spice Girls by yourself or with others?
- What is Girl Power? Do you have it?
- If we had a magic wand and could give you Girl Power, what would you have?