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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Town Vs Country and believing in GI.

116 replies

CassOle · 10/05/2026 08:52

I was reading the posts of one of our delightful ploppers, and they commented something like 'what world do you live in? The more I read, the more I wondered if they had ever spent time lambing (or similar). Or whether they were someone who had always lived in a town/city.

The fashion choices are all ones that fall away to nothing when you are checking your animals are OK, have water and forage during a long, wet, cold winter. You (regardless of your sex) need proper outdoor clothing for the weather.

The 'sex is bimodal' idea is just stupid when you are selecting Rams, having the vet scan pregnant ewes, and working hard when the ewes are lambing.

So, I'm wondering whether where you live (and what you do) has any impact on how beliveable gender identity ideology is to an individual?

OP posts:
TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 14:14

What a peculiar thread to start. Trans people exist in all areas and walks of life. I’m trans and I grew up rurally on a farm and I still work with animals, I know many trans people the same, I’m part of a community of trans professionals who work with animals, including vets, farmers, scientists. I’ve got no idea why you think wearing appropriate clothes for outdoor work would affect whether someone is trans or not. This suggests a very facile understanding of what it means to be trans – it’s not about fashion choices. Besides which I’ve known plenty of rural people who are perfectly capable of dressing up if they want to, trans or not, no one’s waist deep in sheep all the time. Seems like you’re making some stereotypes about rural life as well as trans people tbh.

Considering how many castrations and spayings that small animal vets perform, you'd hope that they were a bit more resistant.

I’ve worked at a small animal vet – you’d be surprised how often pets come in for a routine spay/neuter and the vet opens them up to find their organs aren’t the ones they expected. The more you learn about biology, the more you learn that very little in life is strictly binary.

Can you imagine Dian Fossey or Jane Goodall researching 'gender identity in primates'?!

Jane Goodall was a vocal LGBT+ ally. She also described animals as "gendered beings".

Underthinker · 10/05/2026 14:14

ProfessorBinturong · 10/05/2026 12:22

So human height is bimodal - a continuous distribution from tallest to shortest, with a male peak and a female peak within the range. But sex is binary - 2 separate categories and you're in one or the other.

Yes to this except that human height is an attribute that most assume is bimodal but isn't. There is a peak in the male distribution and a peak in the female, but they are close enough that when combined there is one single peak, not two. If the average male/female height difference was a little bigger you'd get a bimodal distribution.

Grammarnut · 10/05/2026 14:34

I think age has a lot to do with being pro-GI. Older women (alas, that includes me) do not believe this guff. Being careful here but I am in a situation where there trans is very much accepted. Conversation in cafeteria one lunch time outed the 'wrong' pronouns from a colleague and our main reaction was 'saying that has got people sacked'. So most of us keep our heads down. We are town-ish, living in a city with many feeder villages most of which are townee populated these days, but in many ways do not follow the mainstream.

Grammarnut · 10/05/2026 14:38

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 14:14

What a peculiar thread to start. Trans people exist in all areas and walks of life. I’m trans and I grew up rurally on a farm and I still work with animals, I know many trans people the same, I’m part of a community of trans professionals who work with animals, including vets, farmers, scientists. I’ve got no idea why you think wearing appropriate clothes for outdoor work would affect whether someone is trans or not. This suggests a very facile understanding of what it means to be trans – it’s not about fashion choices. Besides which I’ve known plenty of rural people who are perfectly capable of dressing up if they want to, trans or not, no one’s waist deep in sheep all the time. Seems like you’re making some stereotypes about rural life as well as trans people tbh.

Considering how many castrations and spayings that small animal vets perform, you'd hope that they were a bit more resistant.

I’ve worked at a small animal vet – you’d be surprised how often pets come in for a routine spay/neuter and the vet opens them up to find their organs aren’t the ones they expected. The more you learn about biology, the more you learn that very little in life is strictly binary.

Can you imagine Dian Fossey or Jane Goodall researching 'gender identity in primates'?!

Jane Goodall was a vocal LGBT+ ally. She also described animals as "gendered beings".

I doubt many vets open up a female animal and find she has got testes somewhere - and if they did that wouldn't make them trans anything but the sufferer from a DSD which has nothing to do with gender ideology. As you don't need to 'open up' a male animal to chop its balls off I think you are telling a cock and b(a)ll story.

ProfessorBinturong · 10/05/2026 15:01

I once delivered a lamb with 7 legs. Doesn't change the fact that sheep are quadrupeds.

zirmgrey · 10/05/2026 15:23

In the village where I grew up there was a cross-dressing male farmer who "came out" as a woman. His wife left him and his children only have limited contact with him. So it does happen even in rural areas. The thrall of autogynephilia isn't limited to urbanite men. There are perverts everywhere.

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 16:13

Grammarnut · 10/05/2026 14:38

I doubt many vets open up a female animal and find she has got testes somewhere - and if they did that wouldn't make them trans anything but the sufferer from a DSD which has nothing to do with gender ideology. As you don't need to 'open up' a male animal to chop its balls off I think you are telling a cock and b(a)ll story.

I doubt many vets open up a female animal and find she has got testes somewhere

You can doubt it all you want, I have seen this happen very recently in fact. And I'm not saying it makes them trans, I'm contesting the OP's point that working with animals means you must think sex is binary; my experience is the opposite, the more you learn about the natural world the more you learn there are exceptions to absolutely everything.

You can fall back on the usual GC technique of simply refusing to see any evidence that contradicts your worldview if you want, but meanwhile the world will continue to be gloriously complex and diverse.

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 16:18

ProfessorBinturong · 10/05/2026 15:01

I once delivered a lamb with 7 legs. Doesn't change the fact that sheep are quadrupeds.

Right, so what you've proved here is that quadrupeds don't always have four legs, well done. Unclear what your point is.

1984Now · 10/05/2026 16:22

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 16:13

I doubt many vets open up a female animal and find she has got testes somewhere

You can doubt it all you want, I have seen this happen very recently in fact. And I'm not saying it makes them trans, I'm contesting the OP's point that working with animals means you must think sex is binary; my experience is the opposite, the more you learn about the natural world the more you learn there are exceptions to absolutely everything.

You can fall back on the usual GC technique of simply refusing to see any evidence that contradicts your worldview if you want, but meanwhile the world will continue to be gloriously complex and diverse.

There's something glorious alright here, and it's your pure silliness.
You'll be telling us next Olympic boxer Imane Khelif is some sort of diverse, complex creature, a little girl to start, and then, whoops, those male genitalia are starting to show, plus the hormones that signify a male, strong enough to punch a female boxer very much harder than another female.
You gonna tell us Khelif is anything other than a male?
Your cross-dressing farmer/vet friends are neither here not there, unless you're trying to convince non binary or queer somehow queers the pitch re male and female binary.

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 16:31

1984Now · 10/05/2026 16:22

There's something glorious alright here, and it's your pure silliness.
You'll be telling us next Olympic boxer Imane Khelif is some sort of diverse, complex creature, a little girl to start, and then, whoops, those male genitalia are starting to show, plus the hormones that signify a male, strong enough to punch a female boxer very much harder than another female.
You gonna tell us Khelif is anything other than a male?
Your cross-dressing farmer/vet friends are neither here not there, unless you're trying to convince non binary or queer somehow queers the pitch re male and female binary.

Edited

I'm not familiar enough with the intimacies of Imane Khelif's biology or life history to make an educated comment. Nor, I suspect, are you, and yet here you are commenting anyway.

Your cross-dressing farmer/vet friends are neither here not there

What a very rude way to stereotype some people you know nothing about and have never met. And they are indeed "here nor there" to the topic of this thread which was the OP's bizarre contention that trans people don't exist in the countryside or rural industries. It's much more relevant for me to bring them up than for you to start banging on about an Algerian boxer.

queers the pitch

Interesting choice of words there, I hope you didn't deliberately choose a word which could be interpreted as a slur in the context.

CassOle · 10/05/2026 16:43

"queers the pitch" is a well-known British saying. The meaning of 'queer' has changed over the last couple of hundred years.

I started the thread because I didn't want to derail an existing thread. It will make a lot more sense if you read the other thread, which I mentioned upthread.

I don't think that wondering whether where you live has an impact on the likelihood of believing in GI is 'bizarre'. Please state where I said 'that trans people don't exist in the countryside or rural industries' because I don't remember saying that or implying it at all.

OP posts:
CriticalCondition · 10/05/2026 16:52

Given what we saw during Alison Bailey's hearing, I wonder if 'still work with animals' means a support hamster under the desk.

1984Now · 10/05/2026 16:52

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 16:31

I'm not familiar enough with the intimacies of Imane Khelif's biology or life history to make an educated comment. Nor, I suspect, are you, and yet here you are commenting anyway.

Your cross-dressing farmer/vet friends are neither here not there

What a very rude way to stereotype some people you know nothing about and have never met. And they are indeed "here nor there" to the topic of this thread which was the OP's bizarre contention that trans people don't exist in the countryside or rural industries. It's much more relevant for me to bring them up than for you to start banging on about an Algerian boxer.

queers the pitch

Interesting choice of words there, I hope you didn't deliberately choose a word which could be interpreted as a slur in the context.

Don't be so coy re Khelif. Makes you sound very disingenuous indeed.
You're the one bringing gender non-conforming individuals in the group you know to make a point on this thread. Fair enough, but biology conforms and gender doesn't, and in the clash of sex based rights versus temperament...
Queering the pitch is not some kind of threat, why are you interpreting it this way?
In terms of a male dog that has its genitalia tucked away, it's owners bought it a pink body warmer, well, that visit to the vet now means a whole new wardrobe.
Unless you're making another point?

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 17:19

"queers the pitch" is a well-known British saying. The meaning of 'queer' has changed over the last couple of hundred years.

Thanks, I know, I speak English. The word "queer" has multiple meanings, one of which remains a derogatory way to refer to LGBT+ people and that commenter used the word in the same sentence in which they were clearly intending to be derogatory about my trans friends which provides some unfortunate context. As I said, I hope it was not deliberate.

This is your original comment:

*I was reading the posts of one of our delightful ploppers, and they commented something like 'what world do you live in? The more I read, the more I wondered if they had ever spent time lambing (or similar). Or whether they were someone who had always lived in a town/city.

The fashion choices are all ones that fall away to nothing when you are checking your animals are OK, have water and forage during a long, wet, cold winter. You (regardless of your sex) need proper outdoor clothing for the weather.

The 'sex is bimodal' idea is just stupid when you are selecting Rams, having the vet scan pregnant ewes, and working hard when the ewes are lambing.
So, I'm wondering whether where you live (and what you do) has any impact on how beliveable gender identity ideology is to an individual?*

I admit I found your post quite hard to understand because it was so full of non-sequiturs but this is what I took from it:

  • by "ploppers" you mean "person who doesn't agree with me" (rude, but ok)
  • You wondered for some reason if this person who didn't agree with you had ever done any lambing or whether they lived in a town/city (never mind that the two aren't mutually exclusive, or that many rural people have never done any lambing either)
  • You then talked about fashion choices. I'd love it if you could explain this one because it was baffling - how are the clothes one might need to wear when working with animals relevant to a belief in "gender ideology" or trans status or anything related? Do you think there's something in the wellies that would cause an allergy or something?
  • I was further puzzled by this statement as a general stereotype of rural people that I don't find to be true, I know some very glam farmers, just because they wear appropriate clothes at work doesn't mean they don't ever dress up in other contexts. The person I know in the world who is most interested in fashion is my cousin who's a pig farmer.
  • You then announced for some bizarre reason that the bimodality of sex is irrelevant when separating breeding stock - in fact it couldn't be more relevant to this activity.
  • You wondered whether where you live has an impact on belief in "gender ideology". I assume you would include anyone who is trans in your bucket of people who believe in "gender ideology" which is why I inferred from this you thought there weren't any trans people in rural locations or industries. Admittedly, this is a tricky one - personally I don't actually think there is any such thing as "gender ideology", I think it's become a buzzword like "gay agenda" in the 90s intended to make the existence of a group of humans sound more sinister or organised than it actually is. But I accept that you believe there's such a thing, so perhaps you could explain what you meant by this category of people and who you'd include in it, if not trans people?
TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 17:22

CriticalCondition · 10/05/2026 16:52

Given what we saw during Alison Bailey's hearing, I wonder if 'still work with animals' means a support hamster under the desk.

What a nasty little comment.

Tallisker · 10/05/2026 17:23

What are the chances, eh?

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 17:24

1984Now · 10/05/2026 16:52

Don't be so coy re Khelif. Makes you sound very disingenuous indeed.
You're the one bringing gender non-conforming individuals in the group you know to make a point on this thread. Fair enough, but biology conforms and gender doesn't, and in the clash of sex based rights versus temperament...
Queering the pitch is not some kind of threat, why are you interpreting it this way?
In terms of a male dog that has its genitalia tucked away, it's owners bought it a pink body warmer, well, that visit to the vet now means a whole new wardrobe.
Unless you're making another point?

I'm not being "coy", I'm not privy to any non-public information about Khelif's biology or life history, and nor are you, and yet you feel qualified to make announcements about what her genitals look like and when they developed which are pure - and rather unpleasant - speculation of the kind I'm not prepared to engage in.

1984Now · 10/05/2026 17:30

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 17:24

I'm not being "coy", I'm not privy to any non-public information about Khelif's biology or life history, and nor are you, and yet you feel qualified to make announcements about what her genitals look like and when they developed which are pure - and rather unpleasant - speculation of the kind I'm not prepared to engage in.

This is absolutely pointless, you can't argue in good faith. Life's too short to talk to you. But you carry on wittering about mammals sex being on a spectrum, hidden genitalia etc, to make your highly partisan point.

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 17:32

1984Now · 10/05/2026 17:30

This is absolutely pointless, you can't argue in good faith. Life's too short to talk to you. But you carry on wittering about mammals sex being on a spectrum, hidden genitalia etc, to make your highly partisan point.

There's nothing "good faith" about making up facts about the body of a total stranger. The "good faith" option is admitting when you don't know enough about something to assert an opinion, you should try this sometime, definitely in preference to announcing your fantasies about the genitalia of someone you've read about in the media.

Captainaircoolplatini · 10/05/2026 17:35

1984Now · 10/05/2026 17:30

This is absolutely pointless, you can't argue in good faith. Life's too short to talk to you. But you carry on wittering about mammals sex being on a spectrum, hidden genitalia etc, to make your highly partisan point.

The style is verrry familiar isn't it

1984Now · 10/05/2026 17:37

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 17:32

There's nothing "good faith" about making up facts about the body of a total stranger. The "good faith" option is admitting when you don't know enough about something to assert an opinion, you should try this sometime, definitely in preference to announcing your fantasies about the genitalia of someone you've read about in the media.

No need to check any genitalia.
No, Khelif admitting publicly he posseses the X chromosome.
That's two sex tests running.
You know about males with a DSD?
Kinda relevant in the ring punching women.

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 17:38

Captainaircoolplatini · 10/05/2026 17:35

The style is verrry familiar isn't it

I mean, it would be surprising if I'm the first person to point out that sharing your fantasies about the development of the genitalia of total strangers is both weird and a little crass.

CriticalCondition · 10/05/2026 17:41

Yes, a familiar 'voice'. I also forgot that it's exam season and there's a bunch of teenagers stuck in their bedrooms on study leave.

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 17:42

1984Now · 10/05/2026 17:37

No need to check any genitalia.
No, Khelif admitting publicly he posseses the X chromosome.
That's two sex tests running.
You know about males with a DSD?
Kinda relevant in the ring punching women.

Edited

No need to check any genitalia, that's your peccadillo not mine since you keep mentioning it.

No, you mentioned it. From your earlier comment: "then, whoops, those male genitalia are starting to show". You have absolutely no idea what Khelif's genitals look like, and anything you have to say about them is nothing more than your personal fantasy.

No, Khelif admitting publicly he posseses the X chromosome.

You also possess an X chromosome. Everybody possesses an X chromosome. Do you need to go and do some biology revision?

Kinda relevant in the ring punching women.

But not in the least bit relevant to this thread, which is about trans people in rural communities, which is another reason I've been trying not to be drawn into the subject despite your determination to derail.

1984Now · 10/05/2026 17:43

TransRuralLife · 10/05/2026 17:38

I mean, it would be surprising if I'm the first person to point out that sharing your fantasies about the development of the genitalia of total strangers is both weird and a little crass.

No, sex test results will do just fine.
It's the trans community always banging on about genital inspections, in sport, changing rooms/toilets.