Christine and the Queens - at Glastonbury

[NotHavingIt]

I'd never been fully aware of Christine and The Queens ( Heloise Letissier) before her set at Glastonbury on Saturday, but the complete performance of her new album was pretty phenomenal and worth a watch ( Link to BBC IPlayer below).

As I understand it she has recently 'come out' as a transman and sometimes now uses the stage name of 'Redcar'. Up until recently she has been experimenting and performing as a woman playing with 'masculine tropes'.

She has been in a relationship with a woman called 'Ocean' who has herself now transitioned - but in her case she has documented, on French TV, her transition journey, involving recovery from a mastectomy and the use of testosterone ( she was a good looking woman, not so much as a man).

Heloise says, in an interview I've read, that people keep suggesting to her ways she could do 'being a transman' better - by which she assumes they mean 'top surgery', hormones and cutting her hair short and so on - but she has held back because she says she doesn't feel the need to do all of that to explore her 'transness'. Good on her, and hopefully she holds out on that.

Her performance at Glastonbury was extraordinary. True art; although at times just a little bit mental. It involves numerous interior monologues as she documents her recent experiences ( and traumas) around her mother dying, her mental health struggles, suicide ideation, sex, and finally her re-birth as a boy.

She strips off her waistcoat near the beginning of the set to reveal intact breasts ( I was getting nervous that would not be the case at that point) but with her nipples covered with plasters ( this must have been on BBC guidance, as I think a public display of nipples on a woman is what is considered offensive, whereas not for a man). She performed the rest of the set topless.

So much food for thought and reflection on the back of this stage set - but as peice of complete art it was pretty amazing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0ft6v6z

Her Glastonbury set this year is the set she has been touring since last September. You can see clips from her Paris shows on YouTube.

She seems to be on a journey from dancer/singer to performance artist. She’s very interesting. I think of her as a female, French, David Bowie - but with more mental anguish.

Her last Glastonbury performance (she’s performed there twice) was absolutely fantastic. No small part of the enjoyment was seeing how happy and full of life she was in that performance.

I didn’t know her mother had died, that’s very sad.

She should come and visit Redcar. Soon, before they burn down the seaside shelters again. It might give her a new perspective on life. Or maybe not. She could have a go on the amusements, at any rate!

I wonder if she’s ever been to Redcar 😄

My bloke stayed up to watch Glastonbury and was bemused to see a topless woman on stage, but was reassured when the commentators said her name "of course...she's French so that explains it".

Also Slash was really good, but Axl's gone at the game apparently.

Heloise's performance on Jools Holland was probably the best performance of anyone last year on the show.

Yes she is very talented and such a great performer, I saw her first Glasto performance and was mesmerised.

I always prefer women and men to keep their tops on, to be honest.

Why in 2023 can Lewis Capaldi have his nipples on full display but this person has to cover them up with plasters?

What's this got to do with feminism? 'Her rebirth as a boy'?

Humans can't change sex. There is nothing feminist about saying you're male because you reject conventional feminine beauty standards.

I think she's an interesting artist but she's not a feminist.

I agree. It's not feminism if she's breaking down boundaries set for women by pretending to be a man. Shame, as she sounds interesting.

There's an aspect of this trend that feels very like the younger generation's version of getting religion hard or religious conversion that I've seen in some acquaintances after trauma and loss.

Redcar arose, apparently, because that was the image she kept having after her mother died. A red car. Maybe a red car is symbolic of more masculine energy. She has said in interviews she felt that her femininity was important to her mother.

She says she has differnt names for differnt layers of herself - which seems valid - even if a little fragmented as a personality.

this is aalso a forum to talk about issues around sex and gender, and given that we spend a lot of time talking about trans issues I think it is perfectly well located.

If you watch the performance you'll there is much in there to reflect upon when it comes to presentations of masculinity and femininity - which is definitely a feminist issue. Also the double standards around toplessness.........in fact there is much to discuss.

If you are moving, and socialising, in predominantly 'queer' circles there must be so much unpoken pressure and assumptions about transition and what it means or represents. I think a lot of younger people, especially, feel that nobody has really ever challenged gender stereotypes before and that they are the first generation to be doing so. Each new generation tends to feel they are the first.

A shame, though, that non conformity and individuality has to be associated with bodily harm in the form of drugs and/or surgery. I guess that is where the new craze for 'non binary' comes from...you don't require any physical modifications.

To my mind Heloise is playing around with and performing gender in the same way that Annie Lennox did and is resisting to pressure to conform to what a trans identity is supposed to look like. Hopefully she continues to resist - even if she is using male pronouns at present.

Yes, we spend a lot of time talking about trans issues and how regressive the ideology is.

I'm sad that an intelligent adult woman in her 30s is buying into it.

I think the performance is worth a watch when and if you have the time or inclination.

If you watch the performance you'll there is much in there to reflect upon when it comes to presentations of masculinity and femininity - which is definitely a feminist issue. Also the double standards around toplessness.........in fact there is much to discuss.

Are you suggesting that having a double mastectomy and taking testosterone is all about exploring femininity and masculinity? That surgical mutilation and taking hormones that can permanently affect the body (voice, hair production, fertility) is all about artistic/ creative exploration? Because I see nothing positive and creative in destroying the amazing female body she was born with and I don't think that having your breasts removed is a creative act — more an act of self-hatred and despair, as evidenced by Elliot Page among many others.

Annie Lennox had short hair and wore trousers.
She didn’t spend her time on self indulgent nonsense that she thought made her sound more interesting than she was.
The person you describe is talented and can live their life anyway they see fit but it all seems a bit navel gazing and “oooh, look at me. I’m better than other lesbians “

She certainly won't consider herself a lesbian. 😟

It's all a bit sad. I like her music (or did) but I am really repulsed by the pretending to be male. It's cowardly, not brave.

Annie Lennox wasn’t playing with gender. She simply wore what she wanted. No one was ever in any doubt that a)she was a woman or b) that she knows she was a woman.

such a shame about Heloise - love her early looks and that she feel didn’t forced into femininity. But she now seems to be endlessly navel gazing which is less interesting in a person.

She was a good role mode as an antidote to the over sexualised presence of other female performers, and is incredibly talented.

TBH I could have meant that about both Annie and early Christine!

An amazing artist.

Somewhat ironic to be called Héloïse, given what happened to the lover of the most famous bearer of that name. Or maybe not.

A lot of Monday morning grumpiness, maybe?

It was a captivating performance which is worth a watch and certainly gave me much food for thought and reflection; but than I love music and stage craft.

I’m not grumpy, I just don’t agree with you.
Its allowed