Gwen Stefani: feminist pioneer/pop icon or....not?

I recently came across a post on a celeb gossip blog comparing the old Gwen (grrrr!) to the new Gwen (Diva!).  It made a bunch of interesting observations about her transformation from someone aiming to bust thru stereotypes and blaze new trails for young women.... to some one who comments about her post-baby weight loss and appearance in national magazines.

On her baby weight:
"...I was a little chubby when I was younger, and I didn't want to be that person forever. I became a swimmer at school -- but only because I wanted to be skinner! I'm extremely vain. I like wearing cute clothes."

On plastic surgery:
"...I've thought it over but I'm not at that stage yet."

Now, I actually believe that how a woman feels about herself in a post-baby state can be a very feminist/political issue given our pop culture climate and messaging. And we're all a little vain and want to be considered cute... no harm in that.  But the comment about needing to be skinnier in order to achieve that... instead of feeling, i dunno, powerful and maternal and strong and sexy and cute is where I take issue.

Thoughts?

Comments

[I_love_ME]

Gwen, if you ever get a chance to read this I hope you know that I used to be you'r fan, L.O.V.E d u... now it's all about weight and fashion! What happened...

[nathalie]

I think Gwen still rocks ... but I'm not sure I ever thought of her as super feminist. If she's quoted correctly in this article, it doesn't sound like she defined herself as a feminist either.
This is a quote from a Vogue article I found on style.com:
Despite the song's defiant lyrics—"I've had it up to here" is the last line, though it's sung in a cutesy, Betty Boop voice—Stefani claimed at the time to have no idea that it would resonate with feminists and tough grrrls."The scene that I grew up in," she said, "with female artists like Bikini Kill and Hole and all these more punk-rock girls, I always had the pressure of 'You've got to be a feminist and you've got to hate guys. And you've got to cuss and be tough.' And I was never like that. I grew up, like, a Catholic good girl. Total Brady Bunch family. That always kind of scared me, the pressure of having to be so cool or like, fuck you to the world. But I kind of got over that and realized that, yes, I love to dress up and I love to wear makeup and be myself. I like being a girl; I like having a door opened for me; I like all that traditional stuff and I won't deny it."

[Sarah Bowolick]

I LOVE YOU AND IM ONLY 9 YEARS OLD! I HAVE ONE OF YOUR CDS AND I LOVE IT, I LITSEN TO IT EVERYDAY YOUR THE BEST!

LOVE,
SARAH BOWOLICK
YOUR BIGEST FAN!

[hi]

hi

[Money Miss]

Hi! I'm back and ready to kick ass!
Gwen Stefani...sick of her, OK? She used to be great, but guess what? She's part of the hollywood set now. Bye, bye, role model...
And that comment about being skinnier? That makes me sick, seeing as one of my best friends is practically aneroxic, so all of this makes me even MORE ANGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ian]

She's more of a mess aurally than she is visually.