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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I am a brain in a jar: AMA

59 replies

theilltemperedqueenofspacetime · 18/12/2024 13:17

Now that I have your attention (hopefully), I have an AIBU. I come from the future, and, having lived as an Earth woman for many years in the 20th and 21st centuries, I then became a disembodied brain in a jar for the last one thousand years. Soon, medics will have perfected the technology to transplant me into a body, although I don't know yet whether it will be human, and, if so, whether it will be male or female.

My question is, am I a woman, or just a brain with some memories of being one? How is it possible to be female without a female body?

IABU - I will always be a woman, no matter what.

IANBU - I am a brain in a jar. If they give me a male human body, I will be a man.

OP posts:
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BeensOnToost · 18/12/2024 22:34

Well, presumably you experienced the pay gap, leery, gropey men, felt worried about rape walking home from a night out, and lived in a world where 5 women and girls are killed every hour across the world by a family member. All of which will have shaped your thoughts and approach to society, rendering you to have a female brain.

Mrswhatsit40 · 18/12/2024 22:19

EatTheBastard · 18/12/2024 13:43

Is your name Anne Uumellmahaye?

Was coming on to say that....dammit!

quantumbutterfly · 18/12/2024 22:18

MouseLouse · 18/12/2024 22:16

I'm currently more interested to know if you've organised anything for future Christmas, OP. Will you get a new jar? maybe a hat?

What about a little cocktail umbrella and an olive on a stick in your jar for Christmas day?

Good call. A drop of sherry? 😁

MouseLouse · 18/12/2024 22:16

I'm currently more interested to know if you've organised anything for future Christmas, OP. Will you get a new jar? maybe a hat?

What about a little cocktail umbrella and an olive on a stick in your jar for Christmas day?

quantumbutterfly · 18/12/2024 21:46

SinnerBoy · 18/12/2024 19:23

theilltemperedqueenofspacetime

You know what you've done now, don't you? Made the TRAs a new fantasy excuse:

"I have had a brain transplant. I was paralysed from the neck down and only a male body was available."

I hope you're satisfied!

...or maybe there was no distinction between a male & female brain once the label fell off the jar so it's living in the sexed body that makes the difference.

SinnerBoy · 18/12/2024 19:23

theilltemperedqueenofspacetime

You know what you've done now, don't you? Made the TRAs a new fantasy excuse:

"I have had a brain transplant. I was paralysed from the neck down and only a male body was available."

I hope you're satisfied!

Cherry8809 · 18/12/2024 17:41

You’d continue to be whatever you were born as; whatever chromosomes dictated.

You could cosplay as a man, but at a biological level you’d still be female.

quantumbutterfly · 18/12/2024 17:30

Hang on ..brain in a jar or jar with a brain?

You've just reminded me to clear out my fridge before the yoghurt becomes sentient and gets onto Mumsnet.

JarWithABrainInIt · 18/12/2024 17:12

popeydokey · 18/12/2024 16:36

I'm a jar without anything in it whatsoever. Stop bragging!

Show quote history

You just need to find the right brain. Perhaps try online dating for jars and brains - that's how I met my amazing brain 💖

popeydokey · 18/12/2024 16:36

JarWithABrainInIt · 18/12/2024 15:48

I am a jar with a brain in it, and just wanted to say 'hello' Smile

I'm a jar without anything in it whatsoever. Stop bragging!

PonyPatter44 · 18/12/2024 16:34

JarWithABrainInIt · 18/12/2024 15:48

I am a jar with a brain in it, and just wanted to say 'hello' Smile

Fgs, what has this site become? Jarred Brain Dating? Plenty Of Synapses.com?

Yuckitshristnsns · 18/12/2024 16:33

You'd be whatever you were born as

CentrifugalBumblePuppy · 18/12/2024 16:31

Even if the majority of your chromosomes are XX in the brain, if you’ve been pregnant with a boy, XY chromosomes can be detected in otherwise XX brain tissue. It’s called micro chimerism, and it’s fascinating
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4769858/#:~:text=Chan%20et%20al.%20reported%20that,of%20their%20mothers%20(5).

Somemothersdoavem · 18/12/2024 16:29

MrsMoastyToasty · 18/12/2024 16:28

You'll be a cat.

An amazing life

MrsMoastyToasty · 18/12/2024 16:28

You'll be a cat.

Somemothersdoavem · 18/12/2024 16:19

theilltemperedqueenofspacetime · 18/12/2024 13:17

Now that I have your attention (hopefully), I have an AIBU. I come from the future, and, having lived as an Earth woman for many years in the 20th and 21st centuries, I then became a disembodied brain in a jar for the last one thousand years. Soon, medics will have perfected the technology to transplant me into a body, although I don't know yet whether it will be human, and, if so, whether it will be male or female.

My question is, am I a woman, or just a brain with some memories of being one? How is it possible to be female without a female body?

IABU - I will always be a woman, no matter what.

IANBU - I am a brain in a jar. If they give me a male human body, I will be a man.

The brain carries male or female chromosomes, so you remain female

parietal · 18/12/2024 16:03

I think your 1000 years in a jar with no connection to the outside world or social contact will have made you hallucinate and destroyed your sense of self to the extent that you are no longer a woman or a man. you probably don't even remember your name or any aspects of your original identity.

however, if you can re-do your origin story such that you were Sheila yesterday and now you've been transplanted into Nick's body (poor Nick died in a car crash) and after a week in the ITU you have come round and are ready to explore the world, well, now we have an interesting challenge. You have Sheila's memories and socialisation etc but you have the physical body of a man. but do you now have male desires?

JarWithABrainInIt · 18/12/2024 15:48

I am a jar with a brain in it, and just wanted to say 'hello' Smile

Twoshoesnewshoes · 18/12/2024 15:48

Don’t know about the sex thing.

BUT, more importantly, are there flying bicycles? Do we live under the sea? Is it worth investing in my pension ?

BulldogMumma · 18/12/2024 15:46

I think you need to put the sherry down

OP posts:
Whiskeyandkittens · 18/12/2024 15:25

How are you typing if you are just a brain?

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 18/12/2024 15:06

Where is butterfly 🧚🏻‍♂️when you need them?

Butchyrestingface · 18/12/2024 15:03

My question is, am I a woman, or just a brain with some memories of being one? How is it possible to be female without a female body?

Depends. How do you feel about eating salad 5x a week, including as a main course on Christmas day?

GiddyRobin · 18/12/2024 14:58

UpUpUpU · 18/12/2024 13:55

@PoliticalPossum, is that you? 😂😂😂

No longer satisfied with mere Christmas debates...she's been on Wikipedia googling cryogenic brain transplants! 😂