Girl Power | 6
History of the 90s
Kathy Kenzora
4.7 • 610 Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2019
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of the History of the 90s, Host Kathy Kenzora looks back at Girl Power, a 90’s phenomenon that introduced a generation of young girls to feminism and empowerment.
If you think of the Spice Girls when you hear Girl Power, you are not wrong. But before the Spice Girls were kicking it for the girls with hit songs like “Wannabe,” the Riot GRRL movement in the Pacific Northwest was advocating for Girl Power.
We’ll talk to authors Alison Yarrow and Anne T. Donahue as we track the Girl Power movement from Riot Grrl to the Spice Girls and try to understand how it impacted music and society in the 90s and today.
Contact:
Twitter: @1990shistory
Facebook: @1990shistory
Instagram: @that90spodcast
Email: 90s@curiouscast.ca
Guests:
Anne T. Donahue
Twitter: @annetdonahue
Instagram: @annetdonahue
Allison Yarrow, author of 90s Bitch: Media, Culture and the Failed Equality Promise of Gender Equality
Twitter: @Aliyarrow
Instagram: @Aliyarrow
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey there, it's Kathy. I just wanted to let you know that you can listen to History of the 90s |
| 0:04.7 | early and ad-free on Amazon music included with Prime. |
| 0:09.2 | Ever wondered what power is. Power is transforming the sun into your own energy source. |
| 0:16.0 | Power is getting energy companies to pay you. Power is enjoying your morning coffee, knowing you created the energy to make it. |
| 0:25.3 | Well, you and the colossal ball of fire in the sky. |
| 0:28.4 | Because with solar panels from Hive, the sun works for you. |
| 0:32.2 | Hive, know your power. |
| 0:34.2 | May not cover all electricity usage, roof and weather dependent. |
| 0:36.8 | Paid for surplus requires eligible |
| 0:38.2 | SEC tariff. What do girls want? What do they really, really want? In the 1996 song |
| 0:47.0 | Wanna Be by the Spice Girls, they wanted would-be boyfriends to get their act together so they could |
| 0:53.2 | be just fine. |
| 0:55.1 | But that one song launched something more, much more. |
| 0:59.5 | Go power, feminism, do you know what I mean? |
| 1:02.7 | I'm Kathy Kanzora, and this is the history of the 90s, |
| 1:06.5 | a podcast where we tell the stories that defined a decade that changed the world. On this episode, |
| 1:13.3 | we're looking back at the two words that introduced a generation of girls to feminism and |
| 1:18.7 | empowerment. Girl power. Being a teen girl in the 90s was tough, tougher than it had been in previous decades. |
| 1:30.3 | More and more, girls were falling into drugs, self-harm, and eating disorders, |
| 1:35.6 | as a way to cope with what psychologist Mary Pfeiffer called a girl poisoning culture. |
| 1:42.2 | In 1994, a book by Pfeiffer called Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Saves of Adolescent Girls, |
| 1:49.9 | became a best-selling publishing phenomenon, suddenly putting the spotlight on teen girls. |
... |
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