We expect to see her arrive in panther pants or a fluorescent jacket. But no: Leslie Barbara Butch opens the door dressed in black, soberly. "I'm shy and lonely in reality," she laughs, a little embarrassed. A reserve far from her photographs in garter belt or shirtless that she shares on Instagram. "He's a character. Behind the camera, I am another ”, confides the artist DJ, in the spotlight since his Une stripped from the magazine Télérama Wednesday, February 5. A cliché where its generous forms, modestly revealed, illustrate a dossier against grossophobia. “The next day, I try to share it on Instagram. Impossible. "
She's not the only one. Many Internet users know the same mishap for "pornographic content". However, no intimate part on the image. Just skin. "There are a lot of naked slim women on this network," she fumes. Those behind it want everything to be smooth. As soon as it exceeds, they do their housework. My curly hair and my belly bothered them. They deleted my account, it's violent. "
So much so that she decides to launch the "barbarabutchchallenge". Are we trying to make it invisible? Never mind, Leslie encourages his community to post posts by brandishing the cover. The first to follow is the writer Virginie Despentes. Since then, the subject has been burning news feeds. Despite attempts by algorithms to hide it, his hashtag is censored. "Not so long ago, it was the same with the hashtag #grosse".
"I started mixing by putting Diam's and France Gall"
Fat, she assumes it. Claims it. For her, but not only. "She's a fighter," says Jean-Philippe, a relative. In the LGBT community, Leslie is well known: she campaigns for sexual minorities. However, there was nothing to suggest that the one who grew up in Paris in a modest traditional Jewish family would draw her round and gentle face in response to intolerance. Harassed? Very discreet about its history, it sweeps with the back of its hand: "No never. "
She passed a CAP Photo, then slanted towards catering in Montpellier. This is where she learned about turntables. A revelation for the one who, as a teenager, practices the saxophone and the guitar. Finally, she returned to Paris to do her ranges among DJs. The galleys begin. “I noticed that fine women, equipped with a simple USB key, managed to win very well paid evenings. I understood that it was easier for them. "
So Leslie tries to bow to "pressure from society". Losing weight, playing sports, eating better. Without success. “At one point, it's either you accept yourself or you die at home. She chooses the first option, goes back behind her turntables and creates her own style. "I started mixing by putting Diam's and France Gall", smiles the brunette who calls herself "Barbara Butch", a nickname borrowed from the mother of the American president. " A word game. Butch, that means lesbian truckers, ”she laughs.
One evening, she performs in Lithuania. In the square where Hitler gave a speech surrounded by flags of the Third Reich. A place that resonates with its own history. “My Lithuanian grandfather was deported to Auschwitz. I played among the rainbow standards of the LGBT community. ” This is the trigger: "I am appropriating the space. "
Télérama's front page has boosted its community
His body too. With a black felt pen, Leslie begins to write on his skin "big dyke", before his mixes. With one goal: "make it something positive." The oppressions, she doesn't forget them. She exposes them. “Like when I went to the doctor for an angina and I left with the advice of a gastric band. All these discriminations, I balance them in the face. "
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Instagram becomes her playground. She gradually federates what she calls "a community of love" (Editor's note: of love) . His response to the violence. “I made a video in June. In comment, a girl put: in any case she will die before 30 years. Comments which still hurt this hypersensitive. "It makes me mad that way social networks control brains. But she gets up. Again. And contacts Telerama when she learns of the project for the file. "He wanted a dressed up photo. I insisted that it be this: you should not be hypocritical and show a real big body ”.
What does it matter if everyone does not like it? “No female media contacted me. It is them that I denounce. They who convey the norms that generate so many neuroses for women, with their rejection of differences. "Ironically, the episode boosted its community of 7,500 followers to 12,000." They wanted to pretend that I didn't exist, it was the opposite effect. I will not drop the case. "And to add, in a tone of confidence:" Actually the character, I think it's really me. "
