Girl Power: Postmodern Girlhood Lived and Represented

To identify the promises, challenges, and paradoxes of the popular discourse of girl power, this article examines girl power as an artifact of postmodernity whose meanings are revealed through both popular cultural representations and contemporary girls’ practices of doing girlhood. Specifically, by examining the representations of girl power in media texts and the drawings and play projects produced by actual girls, it explores the following questions: What aspects of the girl power discourse pose challenges to the very idea of girls’ empowerment? Can traditional feminine qualities and the new emancipated attitude of a power girl coexist? And are girl power opportunities equally accessible to all girls?