Girl Heroes: The New Force In Popular Culture is a 2002 text by Susan Hopkins. It is a cultural analysis of the contemporary archetype of the girl hero in popular culture.
Hopkins argues for a link between the 1990s British band Spice Girls, their vision of girl power, and the creation of a new kind of "girl hero." Hopkins also explores the roles of figures such as Britney Spears, supermodels, Lara Croft, Xena, the Charlie's Angels of the 2000s, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Mulan, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
She also draws comparisons between these images and earlier ones, such as Emma Peel of The Avengers, the 1970s television show Wonder Woman, Madonna and the Charlie's Angels of the 1970s, pointing out the relative independence of this archetype from male and parental support [1].