Melanie Chisholm urges female stars to ditch raunchy routines

Former Spice Girls star Melanie Chisholm has called on her fellow female singers to tone down their sexy stage routines to save their "dignity".

The Spice Up Your Life hitmaker makes a deliberate effort not to perform raunchy dance sequences during concerts, insisting it goes against her former band's notorious 'Girl Power' ethic.

And now she's urging other female singers such as Rihanna and Shakira to ditch their erotic routines and focus on their musical talents.

Chisholm tells British magazine Seven Days, "The majority of the most successful artists in the world today are women and a lot of those women are very sexual performers. It's nothing new... (but) now it seems acceptable... We are seeing the signs that young people are being affected by the overexposure of sexual images. Whether it is young girls and their self-esteem and body image or how young boys see women.

"It is the responsibility of parents and adults to protect children. I'm not interested in a slagging match, but why do so many young women want to express themselves in a sexual way? Sex sells...

"It is great to see women doing so well in the pop music business. The Spice Girls came up against certain barriers in the early days. We are proud of these women doing well, but maybe it is at the expense of their dignity."