{"id":14964,"date":"2017-03-27T09:05:10","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T17:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&p=14964"},"modified":"2023-08-29T16:09:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T23:09:30","slug":"girl-power-original-squadgoals","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/girl-power-original-squadgoals\/","title":{"rendered":"Girl Power: The Original #SquadGoals (and Just #Goals in General)"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the <\/span>Independent Lens<\/span><\/i> documentary <\/span>Ovarian Psycos<\/span><\/i><\/a>, we’re introduced to The Ovas \u2014 a <\/span>chicanx (xicanx)<\/span><\/i> feminist group who\u00a0bike through the streets of East L.A. in honor of sisterhood. While bike riding in solidarity is definitely an underground movement, <\/span>womxn<\/span><\/i> coming together to uplift and empower one another has been a huge part of recent history and even pop culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2011, Beyonc\u00e9 asked the world a very pressing question, \u201cWho run the world?\u201d The answer was so simple and literally to the beat: Girls. <\/span><\/p>\n

First-Wave feminism had The Suffragettes, Third-Wave feminism has Beyonc\u00e9. Chants and picket signs on women\u2019s rights turned into pop songs about and magazine covers embodying \u201cGirl Power.\u201d I wasn\u2019t the most popular kid in elementary school, but who needed friends when you had The Spice Girls, TLC, Destiny\u2019s Child (who had Beyonc\u00e9), and The Powerpuff Girls. Memorizing the ingredients Professor Utonium used to create \u201cthe perfect little girl\u201d along with the lyrics to \u201cNo Scrubs\u201d was pretty much my Feminism 101 when I just barely learned how to spell the number seventy-eight.<\/p>\n

While there are definitely ~78+ groups consisting of amazing SHEroes, here\u2019s a brief timeline of Third-Wave feminism\u2019s influence on pop culture girl groups and vice versa,\u00a0because #KnowYourRoots:<\/span><\/p>\n

Riot grrrls: 1990s<\/b><\/p>\n

In 1991, a group of womxn in Washington just wanted to rock n\u2019 roll. To stand up against the sexist, misogynistic views of the punk scene, they literally \u201cstarted a riot,\u201d and thus dubbed themselves <\/span>Riot grrrls<\/span>. <\/span>The Riot grrrl family included bands such as <\/span>Bikini Kill<\/span>, <\/span>Bratmobile<\/span>, <\/span>Sleater-Kinney<\/span>, Le Tigre, Pussy Riot, as well as <\/span>queercore<\/span> groups like <\/span>Team Dresch<\/span> and <\/span>The Third Sex<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin\u2019s 2013 film Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer<\/em>\u00a0delivers an 88-minute snippet on one of the most prominent and present bands in the Riot grrrls movement, Russia’s feminist collective (and censored and jailed by the Putin regime), Pussy Riot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spice Girls: 1996<\/b><\/p>\n

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends. If you wanna be a feminist, you have to know the Spice Girls a.k.a. the founders of Girl Power and the reason why I to this day still pose with the peace sign. Leave it to Sporty, Baby, Posh, Scary, and Ginger Spice to let you know that nothing lasts forever and friendship never ends. <\/span><\/p>\n