Punk Girl Diaries: Toyah Willcox
An interesting feature on Toyah, published by Punk Girl Diaries, in June.
Since the day we set up this blog and Twitter account, Polly and I have sometimes encountered the view that such-and-such ‘isn’t really punk’. By which they mean 1st generation saw-the-Sex-Pistols and lived-in-a-London-squat sort of punk. Here at punkgirldiaries.com, we tend to think that punk’s a way of thinking that lives on, and what’s more, it probably existed under another name back in Ancient Greece.
But having seen the Sex Pistols and then forming a band doesn’t even guarantee you full punk kudos. Some people seem to be sniffy about Toyah and whether or not she counts as a ‘proper punk’. There’s a Daily Mail article which describes Toyah as ‘the acceptable face of punk’.
Toyah cites the reason that punk attracted her was that it allowed her to be herself. As a child, she had many operations and years of physiotherapy to overcome spinal and leg problems. She was bullied due to her speech impediment and didn’t fit into the 1970’s version of fixed gender identity and roles.
• Continue reading at Punk Girl Diaries. See also Quadrophenia – Punk in Parkas.
