More wins for gender fluidity

 First of all, happy International Women's Day. I count myself a woman. 

Here in Italy there is a tradition of giving women a bunch of yellow flowers, known as mimosa (Acacia dealbata, to distinguish from the other plants known as mimosa). 

 

Picture: Eugene Zelenko

There are lots of these mimosa trees here on the coast of NW Italy, but they aren't native but come from SE Australia. The climate here suits them, as it does the various species of Australian gum tree growing behind the house that give off a lovely smell, especially after rain. I digress (again! - curse you, stream of consciousness).

Well, it's nice to get a bunch of flowers but there is still a lot of discrimination in the workplace, there's is still so much violence against women, and other injustices. Who'd be a woman, eh?

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The Sanremo Music Festival is a huge event in Italy, providing five nights of prime-time TV, five hours a night! Common sense would have cancelled it this year but there's too much money and morale riding on it. The Festival spawned the Eurovision Song Contest. 

The winners of this 71st annual festival were a rock band called Måneskin, a somewhat gender-fluid group that remind me in many ways of the glam rockers that had quite an influence on me when I was little (see Who is David Bowie?). 

Instagram screenshot, from BlogLive.it

 

This is a very public way of raising the profile of gender non-conformity, although it's hardly something new in the celebration of camp that is European pop. The band leader insisted that all members receive bouquets of flowers, not just the one genetic girl. This win is a source of satisfaction to the LGBT community here. 

Less content is the local bishop, Antonio Suetta, who is a well-known homophobe and transphobe, and who called this all a disgraceful spectacle during Lent. I'll leave it to you to consider his comments, given that his public appearances are usually in flowing ankle-length numbers with pastel facings, or delicate white lace kaftans and purple boleros.

The bishop and his band; full-length and lacy is their funky style. (c) Riviera24

 

Frankly, he should be defrocked! (goes the old joke).

I can't advise you on the quality of the winning song as I have a poor ear for music, but here it is. I believe it will be this year's Eurovision entry. I won't translate the (surprisingly clear) lyrics as they contain Rude Words, and my blog's not into that.

Måneskin Sanremo 2021 

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More trans advocacy and outreach this past week from various people I know. 

There's a nice article about Jan Eldridge, a friend I used to meet up with quite a bit at Pink Punters in England. She's moved to New Zealand where she works in academia and is out as trans in her profession. Nice photo of her, too.

Mindfood L'Oréal Women of Worth: Jan Eldridge

Lynn Jones of Nottingham Chamaeleons has been guest on talley.app's weekly call on LGBT History Month. Her report here:

Conversations with strangers

Thank you, Lynn. 

And Chrissie Chevasutt, who appeared in the Invisible Prison video I mentioned a few weeks ago (More quality trans videos, blogs and books) has a book coming out in July about her experiences, especially regarding her faith and her church. There are many trans autobiographies out there, almost all self-published, but this is being published by Darton, Longman & Todd, a reputable publisher of mainly religious books. You can pre-order from Amazon but as I cannot approve their business practices it's preferable to go directly to the publisher:

Chrissie Chevasutt: Heaven Come Down

I am sure I will link to it again when it actually comes out. Given my own struggles with an oppressive religion when I was younger, I will certainly find it interesting. I have found Chrissie's story very moving. Here's a link to the video again:

The Invisible Prison

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All quite encouraging in difficult times like these. Keep well and safe.

Other news: I keep losing weight, very slowly but at least steadily.

I notice from the Blogger stats how popular my guide to perfumes in the last post is proving to be (Perfume: a guide for trans women). So I may do more guides as the realities of having a different body mean you can't just wear/do what takes your fancy.

 

A dip in the archives

Covid lockdowns first started in the West this time last year. As if there weren't enough links in this post already, I'll link back to my post last March giving some advice on how to survive isolation at home. It's still valid:

How to survive isolation at home 

A year ago, as Covid started to grip

 

I've been coping all on my own for a year now, but I confess I am getting desperate to go on a long-distance trip, eat in a restaurant again, see friends and hug them. Patience.

Sue x

Cari lettori italiani

Io non m'intendo della musica ma sono contento di vedere che a Sanremo ha vinto un gruppo che ridefinisce le norme sulla presentazione di genere. Ogni piccolo simbolo di fluidità di genere è buono.

Sue x