There's no one perfect girl: Third wave feminism and the Powerpuff Girls

The popular children’s television series, The Powerpuff Girls, was originally conceived by animator Craig McCracken under the name The Whoopass Girls in 1992. Following a name change and three alternative pilot episodes, the series was picked up by the Cartoon Network and ran from 1995 through to 2005. During this time the show won several awards, including two Primetime Emmy awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation (2000 and 2005), and two Annie awards for Production Design and Musical Score in an Animated Series (2001). In this article I will be exploring The Powerpuff Girls from a feminist perspective, focusing on what is unique about this series and where it is positioned in popular media culture, before addressing some of the common criticisms of the show and identifying some of its major strengths. It will be my contention that The Powerpuff Girls embraces third-wave feminist ideology, with its focus on “Girl Power” and consumerism, while also abandoning the more individualistic aspects of this brand of feminism by exploring the meaning of sisterhood and female empowerment through community.