Skin (Skunk Anansie)

[Shedbuilder]

Skin is appearing at the Hay Festival. Apparently she's an LGBTQ+ activist. First I've heard of it. I'm a lesbian and I keep an eye out for lesbians in the media and entertainment world and I failed to spot her. The blurb from the festival says she's been championing LGBTQ+ issues during her 25-year career. Who knew?

www.hayfestival.com/p-17148-it-takes-blood-and-guts.aspx

@7Days

What do you mean the bathroom Bill's are designed to enforce gender conformity? It's about recognition of biology, nobody cares how you present once biology is acknowledged.

And whatever about the fringe loons you've mentioned, nobody with any power is giving them the time of say.
So while a gender non conforming person would be unlucky to meet a rude or even violent one, so would women, or a member of any other minority they might not like.

We should join up against them.

The fringe loons have just taken power in Poland and are a growing threat across Europe.

Examples please of any mainstream right wing or Conservative political party promulgating this.

To be fair this does pretty much sum up my Conservative MP. I did reach out to him re the Trans Activist debate a few years ago and got a very supportive reply, but I realised immediately we were coming at it from very different angles so did not engage any further.

I live in the UK. I read The Times, The Spectator , The Guardian and generally follow current affairs. I've never heard of either of these organisations.

There is no evangelical movement in the UK.

You're fairly skipping across the continents Jj, wherever a fringe loon appears, there you are putting yourself in the face of danger

She's beautiful, Hedonism is possibly the most gorgeous song ever and her voice on it is incredible. The nostalgia is I feel for that time when I hear it is almost painful.

God, this.

I also knew. One thing that really strikes me about her is that she’s so gently and softly spoken but her singing voice is something else!

Had a massive girl crush on skin back in the day when I was 17. Not a lesbian myself but thought she was / is just amazing. She's never hidden her sexuality as far as I know.

@DidoLamenting

I live in the UK. I read The Times, The Spectator , The Guardian and generally follow current affairs. I've never heard of either of these organisations.

There is no evangelical movement in the UK.

They are not as overt as in the US but they are here, and they have influence.

www.theguardian.com/world/2012/apr/13/gay-cure-christian-charity-mps-interns

“Spokeslesbian” 🤣 that’s awesome.

I'm really confused by JJ posts.

JJ what do they have to do with skin? The woman the thread is about?

@NiceGerbil

I'm really confused by JJ posts.

JJ what do they have to do with skin? The woman the thread is about?

We were discussing Skin's comments about trans people and feminists needing to work together against right wing conservatives.

Skin is amazing. I loved SA in the 90s and was reminded recently of them when she was a random duck back in the oh so far away days of January.

She's always been outspoken about her sexuality. I guess I'm the right age to know about her though , being a 90s teen.

Are trans people showing signs of wanting to work with feminists against right wing conservatives?
I have seen Fascinating Aida live. Not as cool as seeing Skunk Anansie obv

@tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz I can absolutely relate to the painful nostalgia when I listen to Skunk Anansie. Oh to be back in those heady moments for even a second!

They're my favorite band, and as a vocalist, she was my absolute idol.

I would give anything to see her live again but live in the Caribbean now and won't be back in the UK anytime soon.

Ok fair enough JJ.

Do you know who skin is, out of interest? I mean before this thread?

OP fair enough tbh. They were definitely well known in the 90s if you were an alternative type- they got played at the indie rock type places.

I always thought skin was absolutely gorgeous and although we always point out that back years ago there was lots on gender nonconformity. Iirc they were around the same time it all started going oasis and laddish in what I recognise now as a general pushback from the mainstream against the alternative.

This is the one I remember (96)

imvdb.com/video/skunk-anansie/weak

@BlueCatRedCat

Skin singing with Pavarotti and it’s bloody brilliant

Has anyone read her autobiography yet? It's on my pile and my fingers are crossed it's not rubbish.

From her Far Right comments, what I would anticipate is that, having been in a minority group (black lesbian, overtly political and a front woman) and toured the world over the last couple of decades with the band - which also includes Cass, a black male - she and the band will have encountered a lot of views. Met a lot of people, heard a lot of stories, been aware of politics across the world. They were a huge band but I never got the impression she was in a 'rich and famous' bubble experiencing nothing but adulation. I would be amazed if she hasn't encountered a lot of hostility and negativity and in some countries the right are having a resurrgance, and it does need worrying about. I also expect she has come to the conclusion that there are right wingers who would rather she didn't exist, which I'm sure is true. Pure speculation on my part I know, but she's not a gobby kid who has never left her hometown and she's not going to have plucked the view from nowhere, however hyperbolic it might sound.
As for being an activist, depends what your definition of an activist is I guess as to whether you think she's done enough to deserve the title.

I listened to her music in the 90s and a couple of women I knew at the time would have gone a long way to hear her live, but never at any time then or since knew about her sexuality.

My nigel LOVED Skunk Anansie back in the 90s so I heard Skin a lot although the music never especially spoke to me.

but my goodness if you want to talk about looking gender non conforming then Skin is that (still knows she's a woman though ). I expect she has got a great deal of shit for looking that way.

it's quite a coup that someone whose life will have been made difficult for the way she looks while being a woman has been inveigled into even tangentially campaigning for people to pretend to be members of the opposite sex. quite breath taking when you think of it

I remember Skin from the 90s and she was very clear she was an out and proud lesbian, groundbreaking at the time.
It’s a shame the L word isn’t anywhere on that bio from the Hay Festival. Why isn’t it used anymore?

She has vocally supported trans people

Does she support kids being medicated if gender non conforming and does she as a lesbian accept males as sexual partners?

I suspect her support for the T is from knowing trans people (or what is now known as trans) and stems from sympathy to them being a minority group as she was/is also in one as PP noted above.

I imagine she has her own personal lines on gender ideology and is probably more critical of it in her personal life than has been suggested or alluded to in interviews.

Christian evangelism is alive and well in the UK, even if less flamboyant than the US. I would imagine it's difficult to be out in those communities - something I do have a limited experience of.
I think Skins comment of having been part of an exclusive group but now favouring inclusion is very illuminating. I'm happy for her to feel that empowered, but it pays scant empathy to anyone who would still need or prefer a more narrow group.

I've had a look over the last couple of years of her twitter posts and done some google searches. I can't see anything about trans children, or trans women are women or JKRowling is evil etc. In the main it's trans people shouldn't be perscecuted or thrown out of the American Army, and Caitlin Jenner coming from privilege of being white and wealthy and not having to scrimp and save for surgery. She also referred to to transsexuals rather than transgender. I think the reference to surgery is interesting, because it suggests a view of transgender that's much more old school.

ShagMeRiggins wow, thank you, that was beautiful. She's utterly mesmerising, isn't she.

@NiceGerbil

Do you know who skin is, out of interest? I mean before this thread?

Yes, saw them live in 96.