(repost from Jenna Daugherty's Facebook)
Did you know this iconic ska silhouette is a trans woman and ska singer named Brigitte Bond? The English Beat were inspired to draw her from a photo of her dancing with Prince Buster and it ended up being the inspiration for the now iconic “Rude Girl” silhouette. We’ve always been around and we’ve always been creative icons 💜🏳️⚧️🤘🏻
Update: Apparently my post has gone so viral that the woman who dug up the research reached out to thank me and ask if I could post her documentary on Brigitte which is so good!!!! Joanna Wallace I am so honored to post this, thank you so much for sharing a story of ours that was lost to history, please watch it if you haven’t 💜
I did know this! I love this. I've been a Beat fan since 1981, and she used to show up on the margins of almost every textbook I ever doodled in. Now I know she's trans like me, I have a plan to get her tattooed on my arm, with trans flag programmer socks instead of black tights. :D
@miriamrobern apparently i cannot help myself: yes i DID know this! (my masto handle used to be skaficionado: https://mastodon.sdf.org/@skaficianado/112039472167347159 ).
but i am also always delighted to see this surface again!
incidentally, if you want to know more about Brigitte, because she was* an iconic badass, or other ska history, check out Heather Augustyn, whose work i've followed since 1999.
*(is? she sort of disappeared in the 70's, and was probably born around 1944, so may still be alive....)
thinking of getting a new #mastodon handle. several petty reasons. 1. it's technically misspelled, should be "skaficionado." 2. ends in "o" which vaguely suggests the masculine (since it's a portmanteau of spanish words). 3. not really representative of what i now consider the core of "me," y'know? 4. ok, the spelling thing bugs me more than i like. 5. too many letters for something so forgettable. so... thoughts? [ ] heck yeah, new name! [ ] heck no, keep this one! [ ] heck meh, couldn't care less why am i even voting?
I did not know that. thanks.
@miriamrobern
Interesting - did Buster know she was trans? He was otherwise quite the bigot, playing the race card (blackhead Chinee man) &generally being a righteous christian zealot &misogynist. The ten commandments given to a woman are a shocker, even considering the times.
https://genius.com/Prince-buster-ten-commandments-lyrics
None of this meant to reduce or demean or any such thing. Just curious if he knew, because he would likely not have considered her equal to his gender or the repressed women of his commandments
Avuton Olrich
Miriam Robern • Shopgirl Arc
Agnieszka R. Turczyńska
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Dreaming of dad jazz.
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