Rebecca Hains
Salem State University, Media and Communication, Faculty Member
In this chapter, Mazzarella and Hains introduce the reader to the history, evolution and expansion of the LEGO brand over the past 80+ years. The authors then briefly situate this book within the broader field of Cultural Studies before... more
In this chapter, Mazzarella and Hains introduce the reader to the history, evolution and expansion of the LEGO brand over the past 80+ years. The authors then briefly situate this book within the broader field of Cultural Studies before introducing each of the chapters that follow.
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Tough topics are inescapable for journalism and mass communication academics. If it’s in the news, journalism and mass communication instructors have to discuss it in class. In Testing Tolerance, Candi Carter Olson and Tracy Everbach of... more
Tough topics are inescapable for journalism and mass communication academics. If it’s in the news, journalism and mass communication instructors have to discuss it in class. In Testing Tolerance, Candi Carter Olson and Tracy Everbach of the AEJMC Commission on the Status of Women bring together a broad range of perspectives, from graduate students to deans, in conversation about ways to address tough topics in and out of the university classroom.Helping instructors navigate today’s toughest topics through discussions of the issues and pertinent terminology, this book provides hands-on exercises and practical advice applicable across student and instructor levels and disciplines. Readers will gain an understanding of the issues and acquire tools to address these topics in sensitive, yet forthright, ways
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The innovative Canadian children’s program Annedroids introduces viewers to “PAL,” a human-like android, whom a child scientist named Anne programmed to choose its own gender. Viewers witness PAL’s explorations of what girlhood or boyhood... more
The innovative Canadian children’s program Annedroids introduces viewers to “PAL,” a human-like android, whom a child scientist named Anne programmed to choose its own gender. Viewers witness PAL’s explorations of what girlhood or boyhood would mean, culminating in PAL’s series-finale decision to eschew a binary gender identity and “just be me.” While some research has examined counter-stereotypical characters’ influence on children’s thinking, the impact of characters actively constructing gender identities is unknown. To address this gap, we showed twenty-one children (ages 8 to 10) in the US selected Annedroids segments highlighting PAL’s gender exploration. We identified themes in their reactions to PAL’s characterization and tracked their reactions to PAL’s decision, measuring the flexibility of their attitudes about gender before and after viewing. We found that children who believed PAL should choose a gender (as opposed to those comfortable with PAL remaining ungendered) showed increased flexibility in thinking about gender after viewing the selected clips.
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Who says a girl cannot be pretty and smart at the same time? In girl power cartoons, girls who are both brilliant and beautiful abound. Preteen and teenage girls star as action-adventure cartoon heroines, using their physical strength and... more
Who says a girl cannot be pretty and smart at the same time? In girl power cartoons, girls who are both brilliant and beautiful abound. Preteen and teenage girls star as action-adventure cartoon heroines, using their physical strength and keen intellectual abilities to fight crime and save the world. They also succeed academically and socially in school, earning good grades, wearing the latest fashions, enjoying the attention of boys, and sporting enviably perfect hair. Through such depictions, girl power texts offer girls cultural support by suggesting that they can be feminine, intelligent, strong, and empowered—they can have it all. This is a significant change, as earlier cartoons rarely focused on powerful, smart girls. Now, pro-girl cartoons proliferate across children’s cultural landscape. After exploring the growth of the girl power movement, this chapter focuses on girl power cartoons’ contributions to changing representations of intelligent girls. Girl power is, in part, a response to cultural concerns about adolescent girls’ plummeting intelligence, self-esteem, and self-image. The brilliant girls depicted in these cartoons are not victims of this crisis. Instead, they subvert the cultural expectation that girls should avoid displaying their intelligence. The characters model the use of “niceness” as a subversive strategy to make female intelligence palatable. By acting nice, smart girls are also able to positively change the world at large.
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"For more than a decade, girl power has been a cultural barometer, reflecting girlhood's ever-changing meanings. How did girl power evolve from a subcultural rallying cry to a mainstream catchphrase, and what meaning did young... more
"For more than a decade, girl power has been a cultural barometer, reflecting girlhood's ever-changing meanings. How did girl power evolve from a subcultural rallying cry to a mainstream catchphrase, and what meaning did young girls find in its pop culture forms? From the riot grrrls to the Spice Girls to The Powerpuff Girls, and influenced by books like Reviving Ophelia and movements like Take Our Daughters to Work Day, Growing Up With Girl Power charts this history. It considers how real girls who grew up with girl power interpreted its messages about empowerment, girlhood, strength, femininity, race, and more, and suggests that for young girls, commercialized girl power had real strengths and limitations--sometimes in fascinating, unexpected ways. Encompassing issues of preadolescent body image, gender identity, sexism, and racism, Growing Up With Girl Power underscores the importance of talking with young girls, and is a compelling addition to the literature on girls, media, and culture."
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Using interviews and oral history, this research illuminates older women's experiences with mass media and popular communication during their teen years. In this essay, we analyze interviews with 14... more
Using interviews and oral history, this research illuminates older women's experiences with mass media and popular communication during their teen years. In this essay, we analyze interviews with 14 Caucasian American women who were born in or before 1933. We conclude that these women gravitated toward adult-focused media, that they recalled “experiences” associated with media rather than its content, and
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This essay reports on the perspectives of young feminist-identified women who have listened to the music of the riot grrrls and/or the Spice Girls. In previous analyses, scholars have found the Spice Girls’ commercialization of the riot... more
This essay reports on the perspectives of young feminist-identified women who have listened to the music of the riot grrrls and/or the Spice Girls. In previous analyses, scholars have found the Spice Girls’ commercialization of the riot grrrls’ feminist message a problematic instance of commodity feminism. This essay offers an alternative viewpoint: Commercialized girl power may actually lead some listeners back to the source, indicating that a consideration of the chronology of encounter is necessary in assessing the merits and problems of commodity feminist texts.
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This essay defines girl power as a playful form of third wave feminism seeking to reclaim the feminine and mark it as culturally valued. The author describes aspects of the movement and how it emerged from The Riot Grrrls in the 1990s.... more
This essay defines girl power as a playful form of third wave feminism seeking to reclaim the feminine and mark it as culturally valued. The author describes aspects of the movement and how it emerged from The Riot Grrrls in the 1990s. Arguing that the girl power icons presented in the media enact without embodying the new female strength, this essay explores literature on previous representations of powerful women to illustrate the progressive aspects of girl power texts, then focuses on the Powerpuff Girls, a keynote girl power cartoon. The author's critical analysis of the content of the Powerpuff Girls underscores problematic aspects of the broader girl power movement.
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In this essay, I examine The Powerpuff Girls as a site of feminist discourse. I propose that the cartoon series reflects and contributes to changes in the construction of fictional female characters. As a text, The Powerpuff Girls’... more
In this essay, I examine The Powerpuff Girls as a site of feminist discourse. I propose that the cartoon series reflects and contributes to changes in the construction of fictional female characters. As a text, The Powerpuff Girls’ discourse exposes the false dualities “power” and “puff” by presenting its audience with girls who are feminine and strikingly cute, yet physically strong and ready to fight. The essay begins with a discussion of popular press commentary linking The Powerpuff Girls with feminism. It then offers a review of theory and previous scholarship on mediated feminist discourse. Finally, it turns to an analysis of how The Powerpuff Girls subverts stereotypical norms in the superhero genre while negotiating Third Wave feminism and the concepts of girl power and power feminism.
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POPULAR COMMUNICATION, 5(3), 191213 Copyright © 2007, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. ... HPPC1540-5702 1540-5710 Popular Communication, Vol. 5, No. 3, Jun 2007: pp. 00 Popular Communication Inventing the Teenage Girl: The
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I n the 1990s, prominent books such as Mary Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia (1994) raised public concern by arguing that as girls approach adolescence, they face problems that boys do not: their self-esteem and academic performance drop, and... more
I n the 1990s, prominent books such as Mary Pipher’s Reviving Ophelia (1994) raised public concern by arguing that as girls approach adolescence, they face problems that boys do not: their self-esteem and academic performance drop, and their concerns with their appearances increase. Since then, numerous psychological studies have indicated that Western cultural beauty ideals are a major influence in the development of these problems. Factors such as family relationships, teasing by peers, and media exposure have a negative effect on girls’ body images, which numerous studies have shown can lead to serious issues including mental health problems and eating disorders (e.g. Archibald et al., 1999; Byely et al., 2000; Davison/McCabe, 2006; Parkinson et al., 1998; Sands/ Wardle, 2003). In the wake of the cultural attention to girls sparked by works such as Reviving Ophelia, the concept of girl power emerged. Girl power suggests that girls are strong and capable of anything, and that play...
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Contents: lana Nash: The Princess and the Teen Witch: Fantasies of the Essential Self - Megan Condis: Applying for the Position of Princess: Race, Labor, and the Privileging of Whiteness in the Disney Princess Line - Guillermo... more
Contents: lana Nash: The Princess and the Teen Witch: Fantasies of the Essential Self - Megan Condis: Applying for the Position of Princess: Race, Labor, and the Privileging of Whiteness in the Disney Princess Line - Guillermo Avila-Saavedra: Ghetto Princes, Pretty Boys, and Handsome Slackers: Masculinity, Race and the Disney Princes - Sara M. Grimes: Rescue the Princess: The Videogame Princess as Prize, Parody, and Protagonist - Karen Wohlwend: Playing to Belong: Princesses and Peer Cultures in Preschool - Diana Natasia/Charu Uppal: Mono- or Multi-Culturalism: Girls around the World Interpret Non-Western Disney Princesses - Kirsten Pike: Princess Culture in Qatar: Exploring Princess Media Narratives in the Lives of Arab Female Youth - Diana Anselmo-Sequeira: Blue Bloods, Movie Queens, and Jane Does: Or How Princess Culture, American Film, and Girl Fandom Came Together in the 1910s - Rebecca Starkman: JAPpy: Portraits of Canadian Girls Mediating the Jewish American Princess and Iden...
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Maya Götz, Caroline Mendel, Dafna Lemish, Nancy Jennings, Rebecca Hains, Fatima Abdul, Meryl Alper, Hania Asgari, Hadiza Babayaro, Catherine Blaya, Dina Borzekowski, Sandra Cadavid, AnneLinda Camerini, Beth Carmona, Cynthia Carter, Mussa... more
Maya Götz, Caroline Mendel, Dafna Lemish, Nancy Jennings, Rebecca Hains, Fatima Abdul, Meryl Alper, Hania Asgari, Hadiza Babayaro, Catherine Blaya, Dina Borzekowski, Sandra Cadavid, AnneLinda Camerini, Beth Carmona, Cynthia Carter, Mussa Chale, Mareike Düssel, Aldana Duhalde, Andria Gayed, Patricia Núñez Gómez, Macarena García González, Yuval Gozansky, Eileen Sanabria Herrera, Kirsten Huang, Liselot Hudders, Yisra Al-Haj Hussein, Hayuki Ishikawa, Ruchi Kher Jaggi, Colleen Russo Johnson, Andreas Klempin, Jennifer Kotler, Cheryl Kotwal, Geoff Lealand, Sun Sun Lim, Thomas Enemark Lundtofte, Mónica Maruri, Giovanna Mascheroni, Markus Mendel, Máire Messenger-Davis, Joél Mulongo, Diana Nastasia, Sorin Nastasia, Christina Ortner, Grace Torres Panganiban, Nilüfer Pembecioğlu, Martina Peštaj, Adrianna Ruggiero, Ulises Soto Ruiz, Isolde Stanczak, Jeanette Steemers, Fadi Taher, Sandra Téllez, Moses Tholley, Ekatarina Yakusheva, Andrew Zi Han Yee
Abstract: This dissertation investigates how preadolescent girls negotiate mediated girl power ideals during the developmentally important task of identity construction. Extending existing feminist cultural theory, this dissertation... more
Abstract: This dissertation investigates how preadolescent girls negotiate mediated girl power ideals during the developmentally important task of identity construction. Extending existing feminist cultural theory, this dissertation considers how cartoons about girl power superheroesa ...
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This international study in 42 countries inquired children’s perception of the coronacrisis, their knowledge on COVID-19 and the role the media play in this. It Shows that children who are better informed about COVID-19 and can identify... more
This international study in 42 countries inquired children’s perception of the coronacrisis, their knowledge on COVID-19 and the role the media play in this. It Shows that children who are better informed about COVID-19 and can identify Fake News are less "very worried" about the corona-Virus.
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In this chapter, Mazzarella and Hains introduce the reader to the history, evolution and expansion of the LEGO brand over the past 80+ years. The authors then briefly situate this book within the broader field of Cultural Studies before... more
In this chapter, Mazzarella and Hains introduce the reader to the history, evolution and expansion of the LEGO brand over the past 80+ years. The authors then briefly situate this book within the broader field of Cultural Studies before introducing each of the chapters that follow.
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Power feminism and girl power are two concepts which have received much media attention in the past decade. The former was popularized by Naomi Wolf's (1993) bestselling book, Fire With Fire, while the latter was popularized by... more
Power feminism and girl power are two concepts which have received much media attention in the past decade. The former was popularized by Naomi Wolf's (1993) bestselling book, Fire With Fire, while the latter was popularized by the music of the Spice Girls and by ...
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"Memory and storytelling can provide valuable tools for media scholars aiming to better understand popular media audiences from a historical perspective. Girls’ stories are particularly important because they have been... more
"Memory and storytelling can provide valuable tools for media scholars aiming to better understand popular media audiences from a historical perspective. Girls’ stories are particularly important because they have been absent from most official recorded history and archived documents. In this study, we interview 30 U.S. women born 1918–1948 in order to uncover their girlhood experiences with mid-20th Century media. Their narratives reveal 1) a shared experience of radio listening; 2) an emphasis on the ‘‘experience’’ of using media artifacts rather than on the content; and 3) the appeal of music and dance as a girlhood pastimes."
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Abstract: This dissertation investigates how preadolescent girls negotiate mediated girl power ideals during the developmentally important task of identity construction. Extending existing feminist cultural theory, this dissertation... more
Abstract: This dissertation investigates how preadolescent girls negotiate mediated girl power ideals during the developmentally important task of identity construction. Extending existing feminist cultural theory, this dissertation considers how cartoons about girl power superheroesa ...
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Abstract: This dissertation investigates how preadolescent girls negotiate mediated girl power ideals during the developmentally important task of identity construction. Extending existing feminist cultural theory, this dissertation... more
Abstract: This dissertation investigates how preadolescent girls negotiate mediated girl power ideals during the developmentally important task of identity construction. Extending existing feminist cultural theory, this dissertation considers how cartoons about girl power superheroesa ...
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Research Interests:
The innovative Canadian children’s program Annedroids introduces viewers to “PAL,” a human-like android, whom a child scientist named Anne programmed to choose its own gender. Viewers witness PAL’s explorations of what girlhood or boyhood... more
The innovative Canadian children’s program Annedroids introduces viewers to “PAL,” a human-like android, whom a child scientist named Anne programmed to choose its own gender. Viewers witness PAL’s explorations of what girlhood or boyhood would mean, culminating in PAL’s series-finale decision to eschew a binary gender identity and “just be me.” While some research has examined counter-stereotypical characters’ influence on children’s thinking, the impact of characters actively constructing gender identities is unknown. To address this gap, we showed twenty-one children (ages 8 to 10) in the US selected Annedroids segments highlighting PAL’s gender exploration. We identified themes in their reactions to PAL’s characterization and tracked their reactions to PAL’s decision, measuring the flexibility of their attitudes about gender before and after viewing. We found that children who believed PAL should choose a gender (as opposed to those comfortable with PAL remaining ungendered) showed increased flexibility in thinking about gender after viewing the selected clips.
Research Interests:
Based on oral history interviews conducted with 30 women born in the United States in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, this project presents women’s memories of their girlhood relationship to popular media and culture. Specifically, they told... more
Based on oral history interviews conducted with 30 women born in the United States in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, this project presents women’s memories of their girlhood relationship to popular media and culture. Specifically, they told us about a preference for adventure stories including those of adventurous and/or strong real-life females. We conclude with a discussion of how these findings may reflect the social-cultural constraints placed on girls growing up at that time such that adventure stories enabled them to live vicariously and to negotiate a future identity in which they too could lead lives of daring and adventure.
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Memory and storytelling can provide valuable tools for media scholars aiming to better understand popular media audiences from a historical perspective. Girls’ stories are particularly important because they have been absent from most... more
Memory and storytelling can provide valuable tools for media scholars aiming to better understand popular media audiences from a historical perspective. Girls’ stories are particularly important because they have been absent from most official recorded history and archived documents. In this study, we
interview 30 U.S. women born 1918–1948 in order to uncover their girlhood experiences with mid-20th Century media. Their narratives reveal 1) a shared experience of radio listening; 2) an emphasis on the ‘‘experience’’ of using media artifacts rather than on the content; and 3) the appeal of music and dance as a girlhood pastimes.
interview 30 U.S. women born 1918–1948 in order to uncover their girlhood experiences with mid-20th Century media. Their narratives reveal 1) a shared experience of radio listening; 2) an emphasis on the ‘‘experience’’ of using media artifacts rather than on the content; and 3) the appeal of music and dance as a girlhood pastimes.
Research Interests:
This essay reports on the perspectives of young feminist-identified women who have listened to the music of the riot grrrls and/or the Spice Girls. In previous analyses, scholars have found the Spice Girls’ commercialization of the riot... more
This essay reports on the perspectives of young feminist-identified women who have listened to the music of the riot grrrls and/or the Spice Girls. In previous analyses, scholars have found the Spice Girls’ commercialization of the riot grrrls’ feminist message a
problematic instance of commodity feminism. This essay offers an alternative viewpoint: Commercialized girl power may actually lead some listeners back to the source, indicating that a consideration of the chronology of encounter is necessary in assessing the merits and problems of commodity feminist texts.
problematic instance of commodity feminism. This essay offers an alternative viewpoint: Commercialized girl power may actually lead some listeners back to the source, indicating that a consideration of the chronology of encounter is necessary in assessing the merits and problems of commodity feminist texts.
Research Interests:
Bratz dolls, popular among pre-adolescent girls, have been the subject of widespread criticism. Many scholars, activists, educators, and parents have argued that the scantily clad fashion dolls contribute to the sexualization of girls... more
Bratz dolls, popular among pre-adolescent girls, have been the subject of widespread criticism. Many scholars, activists, educators, and parents have argued that the scantily clad fashion dolls contribute to the sexualization of girls that has been decried by the American Psychological Association, among others. As is often the case in studies of girls’ popular culture, however, these conversations about the problems with Bratz have rarely incorporated the voices of girls in the brand’s target audience. To address this gap, this article analyzes an afternoon of Bratz doll play by a small group of African-American girls, aged between 8 and 10 years. Th is article suggests that although critical concerns about Bratz’ sexualization are warranted, the dolls’ racial diversity may benefi t some girls’ play, enabling them to productively negotiate complex issues of racial identity, racism, and history while paying little attention to the dolls’ sexualized traits.
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Using interviews and oral history, this research illuminates older women’s experiences with mass media and popular communication during their teen years. In this essay, we analyze interviews with 14 Caucasian American women who were born... more
Using interviews and oral history, this research illuminates older women’s experiences with mass media and popular communication during their teen years. In this essay, we analyze interviews with 14 Caucasian American women who were born in or before 1933. We conclude that these women gravitated toward adult-focused media, that they recalled ‘‘experiences’’ associated with media rather than its content, and that many of their memories were inextricably linked to the world events
of their day.
of their day.
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This essay examines the relationship between power feminism and girl power by exploring their intertwining course in the commercial marketplace. Interrogating the problematic aspects of girl power’s power feminist discourse in popular and... more
This essay examines the relationship between power feminism and girl power by exploring their intertwining course in the commercial marketplace. Interrogating the problematic aspects of girl power’s power feminist discourse in popular and material culture, the author charts how power feminist discourse has manifested in girl power texts and products. The conclusions of this essay have implications for scholars concerned with how the politics of commercial media and marketing shape cultural conceptions of feminism.
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Since the late 1990s, "girl power" programs featuring girl heroes have emerged as an important new trend in children's television. However, girl heroes are not as new as they seem. Producers of mass media texts created many girl heroes in... more
Since the late 1990s, "girl power" programs featuring girl heroes have emerged as an important new trend in children's television. However, girl heroes are not as new as they seem. Producers of mass media texts created many girl heroes in the 1930s, before the adoption of television as a mainstream medium, but the scholarly literature on today's girl heroes rarely acknowledges these pre-television predecessors. To address this gap, this essay presents research on the depictions of the strong orphan girls portrayed by Shirley Temple, positioned as cultural girl heroes in the 1930s. It explores the commercial contexts in which films starring Shirley Temple were produced and offers an analytical discussion of the positive and problematic features of these stories and the product lines associated with them. By understanding the themes, commercial contexts, and controversial aspects of Shirley Temple's on-screen stories as marketplace commodities, scholars can better study the relevance and importance of the girl heroes who are so popular in today's marketplace.
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In this essay, I examine The Powerpuff Girls as a site of feminist discourse. I propose that the cartoon series reflects and contributes to changes in the construction of fictional female characters. As a text, The Powerpuff Girls’... more
In this essay, I examine The Powerpuff Girls as a site of feminist discourse. I propose that the cartoon series reflects and contributes to changes in the construction of fictional female characters. As a text, The Powerpuff Girls’ discourse exposes the false dualities “power” and “puff” by presenting its audience with girls who are feminine and strikingly cute, yet physically strong and ready to fight. The essay begins with a discussion of popular press commentary linking The Powerpuff Girls with feminism. It then offers a review of theory and previous scholarship on mediated feminist discourse. Finally, it turns to an analysis of how The Powerpuff Girls subverts stereotypical norms in the superhero genre while negotiating Third Wave feminism and the concepts of girl power and power feminism.
Research Interests:
Who says a girl cannot be pretty and smart at the same time? In girl power cartoons, girls who are both brilliant and beautiful abound. Through such depictions, girl power texts offer girls cultural support by suggesting they can be... more
Who says a girl cannot be pretty and smart at the same time? In girl power cartoons, girls who are both brilliant and beautiful abound. Through such depictions, girl power texts offer girls cultural support by suggesting they can be feminine, intelligent, strong, and empowered—that they can have it all. This is a significant cultural change: Earlier cartoons rarely focused on powerful, smart girls, and so something new is afoot. American culture is permeated, however, with conflicting messages about what it means to be a girl. Girls are told that they are able to do anything; they are even told that they are smarter than boys. But they are also taught that producing normative femininity through the skillful consumption of commodities is essential to their female identities. The girl power media charged with supporting girls is itself one source of these conflicting messages: girl power’s emphasis on the feminine implies that femininity is a pre-requisite for girl power, and that only those who look “girlish” are offered cultural support. Furthermore, the production of femininity promoted by girl power makes the movement more palatable and less threatening to patriarchal norms. The intelligent girls in girl power texts take pains to demonstrate their normalcy through elaborate performances of femininity. In the process, however, their intelligence is rendered less visible. This suggests that girls can be smart, but that they should think twice about showing it. This essay explores how texts like Kim Possible, The Powerpuff Girls, and Totally Spies have contributed to the proliferating depictions of extraordinarily intelligent girls who are pretty, perfectly “nice,” and therefore non-threatening. These brilliant girls expend extraordinary energy making their intelligence palatable, and it is troubling to see them confine their appearance and behaviors within strict heteronormative boundaries. However, their efforts to do so can also be read as a subversive strategy: Because of their feminine appearances and their pleasant natures, when these girls use their intelligence to change the world around them, their efforts are warmly received. Only rarely do girl power cartoons feature girls who refuse to conform, such as the title character of Daria—and such girls face serious social consequences. These girls’ depictions reflect and contribute to the socialization of girls in U.S. society, for girls rely on the media texts they consume as arbiters of social norms.
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In recent years, depictions of strong but feminine girl heroes have become common in children’s television programming. These girl power icons reflect changing cultural ideas about girlhood. Nickelodeon’s My Life as a Teenage Robot is a... more
In recent years, depictions of strong but feminine girl heroes have become common in children’s television programming. These girl power icons reflect changing cultural ideas about girlhood. Nickelodeon’s My Life as a Teenage Robot is a cartoon popular among preadolescents, which follows the exploits of Jenny, a powerful, female-gendered robot who must save the world while also surviving the trials of high school. This article examines My Life as a Teenage Robot’s discourse on girl power and the construction of identity. It focuses on a key theme that contradicts other texts about girl heroes: that strength, agency, and normative femininity cannot be embodied in the same individual. This article interrogates the ways in which the show’s messages are simultaneously progressive and regressive, and it calls for further research on girls’ reception of media texts.
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This essay defines girl power as a playful form of third wave feminism seeking to reclaim the feminine and mark it as culturally valued. The author describes aspects of the movement and how it emerged from The Riot Grrrls in the 1990s.... more
This essay defines girl power as a playful form of third wave feminism seeking to reclaim the feminine and mark it as culturally valued. The author describes aspects of the movement and how it emerged from The Riot Grrrls in the 1990s. Arguing that the girl power icons presented in the media enact without embodying the new female strength, this essay explores literature on previous representations of powerful women to illustrate the progressive aspects of girl power texts, then focuses on the Powerpuff Girls, a keynote girl power cartoon. The author's critical analysis of the content of the Powerpuff Girls underscores problematic aspects of the broader girl power movement.