Kate Tempest - new name, new pronouns and a haircut

[MarSeeAh]

I was listening to Jo Wiley’s show earlier and she announced that Kate Tempest, singer/poet, has announced that she is non-binary, now to be known as Kate, changed her pronouns to they ....

To be honest, I didn’t even know what Kate Tempest looked like, and the only song of hers which I know is “Peoples’ Faces” which Jo had just played - otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clue who she was talking about.

www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/06/kate-tempest-announces-they-are-non-binary-changes-name-to-kae

Going by images of Kate/Kae online, she had long hair until recently.

I grew up in the ‘70s and 80s when hair length was no indication at all of sex - because it isn’t!

Now, every time I see a girl or young woman get her long hair cut short, I’m waiting for the new name and pronouns to be announced.

Why this fixation on the superficial?

Sorry. Should just be 'I met' . Was going to say 'came across' but I did engage in conversation with this person. I didn't comment in any GC way to as it wasn't appropriate or worthwhile in the context.

I'm not really into her music or poetry, but the piece she wrote about coming out as non-binary was beautifully put. Good for her, and the courage she will give to other young people (and older people!) who fear coming out.

We're all non binary. There's no coming out about it.

...should have said 'they're' music. So easy to slip up :-/

Blimey - this is a bizarrely bitchy thread about Kate Tempest!

Come out as what? She's still a woman. A female.
So what exactly has she come out as? Someone who has had a haircut and thinks it makes them something different?
Someone who has too much time on their hands to think about this sort of shit.
Someone privileged enough to think they can deny their femaleness.

It's all bullshit.

I had my hair cut short last year. I've never ever conformed to female stereotypes. I didn't realise I could have been a right attention seeker and declared my non conformity of the binary to the world and be told how different and special and authentic I was being.

Quite frankly I have more important things to worry about (feeding my kids, worrying about this stupid world my kids are growing up in, worrying that my gay son will face actual phobic behaviour from shitty people) than my "gender feels" of the day.

@ValancyRedfern

This upsets me because young girls need role models like KT to show they don't have to grow up to be Barbie. Every time a woman like KT comes out as non-binary the pressure grows on young girls who don't fit gender stereotypes to transition themselves. The space in which to be a girl or woman more and more narrow.

Agreed.

I can't stand all the sexist stereotyping (both ways) which goes hand in hand with the whole bollocking non-binary bollocks.

I always think that people who want to be referred to as 'they' see themselves as some sort of cosy little impenetrable club if individuals. (it's just a quirk of language, I know) Whenever someone mentions Sam Smith on the radio I'm subconsciously waiting for other people to be mentioned but no, Sam Smith is just a cosy little 'they' all on Sam Smith's own.

Have to admit I've never heard of KT but I hear KT is good. I'm not sure what changing KT's name and cutting KT's hair actually does though apart from drawing attention to KT?

We're all non-binary, why do some people have to make a big song and dance about labelling themselves as someone who'll have sex with any specific type of person? If I was chatting KT up with a view to getting KT into bed that might be important. But otherwise, why does KT need to announce it to the world?

onegirl you have come to the feminist board and used a misogynistic term but haven't properly engaged in the discussion.

And it's 'their'.

Onegirl - I am non binary, are you?

whats courageous abouta woman saying shes not a woman?

Talk about making a mockery of the struggle gay and lesbian ppl have had re coming out - all she did was shave her head and take a letter out of her name!

She may as well have 'come out' as a bowl of jelly, that's how much meaning a declaration of non-binariness means.

I mean seriously, does she really think that other women are just jumping with joy at their natural femininity or something?

i think she does think that 🤷🏼‍♀️ and all the beardy woke bros think that too.

I tend to feel that the whole non binary malarkey is a bit 2018. Someone needs to come up with something even sillier if they want attention outwith Twitter & the Grauniad, surely?

I did quite like her description of the etymology of Kae, though. I suspect it's mostly bollocks, but I like bird imagery & symbolism...

and the people on my fb who think having your hair cut is like, a sign of true COURAGE.

i cant help thinking everyone who buys into this shit is an utter twat.

'We're all non binary. There's no coming out about it.'

God yes. This. So much

You're a woman KT. Theres absolutely nothing wrong with you. Wear your hair how you like, dress how you fancy, change your name if you want. There are MANY MANY ways to be a woman, and it can take time to find the way that works for you. This is NORMAL, frustrating sometimes, but NORMAL. Almost everyone feels the same way you do, to some degree.

Takes more courage these days to declare yourself a woman.
Coming out as NB - I really don't get this. You won't experience prejudice for this, bemusement maybe. It does seem to trivialise the experience of lesbians and gay men for whom coming out sometimes has consequences.

Och I’m disappointed. I like Kate Tempest and I’m a bit dismayed she/them/whatever has bandwagon jumped along with self important douches like Jack Monroe.

I think Jack Monroe has conceded she's a woman again, hasn't she? It's true that it feels like someone you admire has sold out, massively, and totally switched teams. Similar to Christine and the queens singer when she declared she was genderqueer and made it sound oh so new and exciting to play with gender as a singer.!! I mean haven't these women heard of prince, David bowie, boy George, limahl, Annie Lennox, Tracy Chapman, Patti Smith, Grace Jones etc etc...?!

@ChattyLion

Text link - good poem and more than a little ironic to read considering this announcement www.panmacmillan.com/blog/march-2016/friday-poem-thirteen

'Thirteen'
From Kate Tempest's first full-length poetry collection Hold Your Own.

The boys have football and skate ramps.
They can ride BMX
and play basketball in the courts by the flats until midnight.
The girls have shame.
One day,
when we are grown and we have minds of our own,
we will be kind women, with nice smiles and families and jobs.
And we will sit,
with the weight of our lives and our pain
pushing our bodies down into the bus seats,
and we will see thirteen-year-old girls for what will seem like the first time since we’ve been them,
and they will be sitting in front of us, laughing
into their hands at our shoes or our jackets,
and rolling their eyes at each other.
While out of the window, in the sunshine,
the boys will be cheering each other on,
and daring each other to jump higher and higher.

Is this really serious though? There are tons of girls sports, lots of girls skate, ride BMX, and while going out after dark depends on neighbourhoods a bit, plenty of girls wander around in the dark.

The poem seems pretty forced to me, in an immature way. I'd not be surprised someone who wrote this decided they were non-binary.

I've never heard of her and have no interest in her gender issues.

I'm in the hairdressers. Short haircut. Changing my name to Jai and identifying as a glottal stop.

Don't like her music, don't like her, why can't she just say she's a lesbian. Tedious as fuck.

She is really young, though, and has had to do a lot of growing up in public.

What? I thought she was knocking on 40!

Certainly too old for this sort of adolescent carrying on.

Maybe it’s a ‘down with the kids’ thing?