Kathy Burke: I didn't want to be a boy but I didn't want to be a girlie girl either

[BonfireLady]

My jaw hit the floor several times reading this extract from Kathy Burke's book:

https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/kathy-burke-book

In a parallel universe, I'd have been so happy to read this. She talks about being happy that she was mistaken for a boy, being delighted with her short hair, finding joy in punk rock as her answer to where she fitted in the world, recognising the risk of pregnancy when she was younger and didn't feel old enough for sex.

In that parallel would, she would have been an amazing role model for my daughter. Instead, Kathy Burke is one of many celebrities who represents a massive societal risk to my daughter who is: happy when being mistaken for a boy, delighted with her short hair, finding her confidence with the piano and bass guitar (she has a musical talent that hasn't come from me 😬), appalled at the idea of sex anyway (but thankfully understands that only females can get pregnant) and.... struggling with puberty (hates her breasts, hates periods, hates the way boys look at girls now that she and her peers are no longer young children).

If my daughter met someone like Kathy Burke, I would fully expect her to be told that if she feels like a boy, she is a boy... trapped in the wrong body.... but don't worry, you can remove those breasts and even take testosterone if it want. Etc.

How can Kathy Burke be so close to getting it... yet so far?

My great aunt was considered ‘fast’ for wearing trousers in the 30’s

I think she's let him down badly, from what I've gleaned in X

I saw Ben Elton's show as well , he is definitely GC he acknowledged that he was skating in thin ice with a couple of jokes about GI and asked not to be cancelled in a humerous way

Nothing says ‘has been’ quite like this post 🤣

I doubt she’d be feeling as chipper now if instead of a haircut, she’d been persuaded that her best option was serious over-medication of testosterone, boobs off, menopause in her 20s and crumbling bones thereafter.

Talk about missing the point! Dear me KB, you can do better.

"hate"? that word gets chucked about a lot by people who don't know what it means.

She is fucking ridiculous and i am laughing at her utter stupidity. That is all.

he was on The Rest Is Entertainment podcast this week and he was really interesting. Didn't touch the GC stuff at all though.

Nowt wrong with being a haz bean if what you haz bean is awesome.

Love her!

I for one will certainly listen to the audiobook of Kathy Burke’s new Book. I absolutely love everything about her. My best mate Pam always said I reminded her of Kathy - when her “Little Cracker” aired- me and Pam could not get over how similar our friendship was to the characters- even as much as music taste and my wish to be a journalist for NME to get into gigs free!! Watching KB recently on that irish fellas podcast made me feel happy as KB is always KB. I respect her for that.

Black and white thinking. Again.

If you have a difference of opinion with someone that translates to hating them.

How juvenile.

Not sure why this thread has woken up again after all this time.

@0penurmind what brought you along today to share your love of KB?

She actually says in that extract she was a skinhead so any link between long hair = girl should have been dispelled quick.

I read an interview ages and ages ago with her. Her mother died when she was really young, and it was just her, her heavy drinking dad and lots of brothers. "There was so much porn in the house that at the age of 6 she announced she wanted to be a stripper" was the sentence I still remember from it

Debbie Harry?

But in the 70s, loads of young men had long hair. I think it was sort of compulsory for many rock bands and footballers. And David Essex…

I would have thought by her age she’d have learned that like all of us, she’s uniquely herself and doesn’t have to pigeonhole herself in any way.

I don’t think she’s very bright. Which is fine, not everyone can be. But then maybe she shouldn’t be making documentaries or making proclamations about issues she hasn’t really grasped.

Indeed. Why have so many people forgotten it perfectly possible to be a girl/woman who isn't obsessed with appearance and isn't 'girly'. It was pretty much the norm when I was a teenager in the 90s. Doesn't mean women can become men, the whole point was to beat them at their own game, which I've done quite lucratively in a 20+y career in the male-dominated tech industry.

I hope you enjoyed it. Personally I think such a shallow woman who ditches her friends because she disagrees with their views on a topic and is so desperate to virtue signal that she spouts utter tripe about girly girls and long hair isn’t going to produce much of interest but that’s just me.