Trixie finally finds an appreciative audience for her mentalist act...in a poultry plant on Earth. But behind the scenes, she discovers a game of life and death where she almost always loses.
For Admiral Biscuit's Not-A-Contest about ponies working on Earth.
A free-standing story. (You don't have to read anything else first.)
Admiral Biscuit seems to have inspired a lot of fimfiction authors, like some kind of muse. Biscuit also authorized this story as an unofficial sequel to "Trixie Kicks a Bigot," in case anyone really cares about such details.
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Image source: a show screencap at https://derpibooru.org/images/2443111
(#portal-transformations portal-transformations)
Chapters (1)
Bizarre but enjoyable tale. I'm honestly not sure what's more disturbing, the industrial agriculture or thoughts of what may come of this comment section. Thank you for a lovely vignette.
p interesting exploration into potentially personal and meaningful territory for some folks, gg.
You know strictly going by the title, I'm a little surprised this isn't a clopfic.
10719856
Amusingly, this is the correct animal husbandry term for determining biological sex. I'd have normally referred to "gender" but see the link in the spoiler-tagged part of the long description.
Okay, so while this is a really good idea and makes some poignant points, it is lines like this that make me realize that this was probably written by a cis person. That’s obviously not a bad thing, but the perspective being rough around the edges shows. Non-binary is a gender and it is trans too. The phrasing here is redundant.
The second thing is: Trixie is determining the sex of the chickens via magic. Chickens in our world aren’t sapient and only sapient creatures have shown signs of having gender dysphoria. It would make sense if Trixie wanted to save eggs deemed ‘defective’ because they were intersex or had hormonal problems and she feels their situation mirrors hers. It’s just that those aren’t the same things as being trans, even if those are conditions chickens could have as opposed to one only seen in sapient beings (like Trixie).
Also, there is a specific site function for the author’s notes. Creating your own box and adding to the word count artificially is neglecting the function and against site rules.
10720463
"trans and nonbinary" is pretty common phrasing within the LGBTQ community at least from my experience, and there are a not insignificant number of nonbinary people who don't feel comfortable with "trans" as a label.
10723404
I've not usually seen it used that way, or at least not in an especially inclusive manner? Sometimes I've just outright seen 'non-binary' used in place of 'gender non-conforming' even though that's something very distinct. Clinics and LGBT spaces I've had experience with have always had enbies under being trans too.
Since I read this on mobile, I wasn't able to see the author's bio in any way, and I can see they've got the ol' they/them in there. I definitely didn't mean any offense to them there, and their story was too good not to upvote, I just raised my eyebrow at some of the word choices.
(Though, the chickens being able to have gender dysphoria is something I feel is a legitimate question I'm still confused on.)
10720463
Do we know this for a fact? (That is to say, do we know what animals feel, what they think, etc.?) Would a gyandromorphic bird feel out of place with other birds? Frustrated that it was having trouble finding a mate? Confused that it thinks it’s a male but just laid an egg?
I’ll admit, I have no idea.
10724323
As of this point in history: yes. The closest non-human animals that show any potential for possibly developing gender dysphoria are chimps and bonobos. There are many kinds of animals that can change their sex or do not have the typical male-female-intersex triad, but that isn’t the same thing as being transgender.
This sums it up well and heavily goes through the sapience criteria too, since it plays in on recognition and self-reflection in a way that studying a complex condition like gender dysphoria would need: https://www.sapiens.org/culture/gender-identity-nonhuman-animals/
Obviously this doesn’t mean that other animals can’t have complex illnesses or feelings of their own, I’m just not going to regard my beloved cat the same way I would a chimpanzee.
10724494
I suppose the difficulty, and perhaps I’m overthinking it (I’ll admit, I’ve done very little studying on the subject) is knowing how the animal feels. I can think of some examples I’ve heard of where an animal of one sex takes on the role or behaviors of a different sex, for example, I saw a video where a foal’s mom died in childbirth or rejected him (can’t remember which) so the foal bonded with a gelding who was willing to play Mom. Probably he didn’t always think that he was a mare, though, but how would a researcher know?
I don’t think that the article you linked really answered the question, but then it is a complex question (and probably to an extent, in humans too). I work part-time with developmentally disabled adults, and while I can guess how they might react to a situation, or what they mean with their various methods of communications (not all of them are verbal or know sign language), I have no idea what’s going on inside their head, how they see the world or how they see themselves. Like, how much thought process is going on behind any given action? And I’ll admit I don’t always know for myself, either.
And I now realize by doing a tad bit more research I might also be confusing gender expression with gender identity.
Yeah, it’s really complicated. Personally, I’d prefer a cat to a chimpanzee, even if the cat isn’t as mentally complex as a chimp.
derpicdn.net/img/2020/1/31/2261902/large.jpg
10725645
Sadly, not every horse is Mister Ed. Language is pretty much the only way to help give a clear diagnosis because talking to a patient is used to assess things like if they're just anxious, dysphoric, or a possible million other things. The only animal I can think of that doesn't have that barrier was Koko the signing gorilla. Though, I can't recall if she ever communicated a sense of gender (beyond obvious stuff like 'mother' and the like) or if she just used her name in place of pronouns. That might be the best example of a non-chimp/bonobo who could count as a source of data.
Yeah, there are records of animals that change sex to reflect their environment and others that don't have strict gender roles/castes (like the instance with the horse). Clownfish and frogs can do this. But as for any that we can describe as transgender? Watch this space. Evolution is probably gonna slap some dysphoria into some other poor species.
10725663
Even then, signing is language, so it’s limited. And yeah, talking is what you’ve got to do, as much as possible, and you build your diagnosis on that and what you know and (I assume) hope to God you’re right. Like I personally have no doubt that I’m a mostly-straight dude so I probably wouldn’t give much there, but it’s not hard for me to envision the continuum. Slightly facetious, but I’ve worn a kilt which was nice and breezy and a kilt isn’t that different from a skirt and all of a sudden we’re bumping up on gender expression.
As I probably said before, I’m not really up on gender expression, but I do know that while some folks argue that homosexuality isn’t normal, the animal kingdom happily embraces it for any variety of reasons, and maybe it’s for the best that they haven’t got some Biblical moral code regarding their actions. Lesbian horses are IRL canon, and from what I’ve read about animal studies, sliding into a gender role that doesn’t reflect physical sex works for some, jury’s out on their mental feelings.
10725794
The criteria for a diagnosis will vary by age, but they require both behavior and communication assessments at any age. You can't access pre-verbal people for gender dysphoria, and the more persistent the behavioral symptoms are and the more insistent the person is throughout their life, you've more than likely got a transgender person. Congrats, they're a boy/girl/enby!
Unfortunately, I only remember the assessments I had as a teenager and young adult, so anything about how to diagnose children comes from looking into research and psychotherapy on the varying stages/what's-what of why my brain and body decided to have such a Great Divorce.
Though about gay animals: I absolutely love them. Wholesome gay content and cute animals is just a perfect double-dose of d'awww. Last I read, the closest thing to anything being 'unnatural' about it is just that we can't seem to figure out what functional role it plays in a tribe/society/herd/whatever. The closest I've seen was how they allow for a lack of overpopulation (same with asexuality as an orientation) and orphaned babies were able to secure safe homes because the heterosexual animals usually already had their hooves/paws/claws full or were ready to have more. I know a lot of animals also have natural instincts to turn away young that aren't their own more than they do to adopt, unless your use scent trickery or something similar. I'm not sure if gay animals are less likely to have this than straight ones.
...I'm not a zoologist by any means, but I'd love to see what kind of research could be funded in that regard.
10725807
I would imagine that the sooner you get a diagnosis, the better. For lots of things, really.
I got diagnosed with nearsightedness early (don’t know exactly when, but I don’t ever remember not wearing glasses), I think some parent-teacher reports of me having trouble writing down what was on the blackboard, a family history of it (both my parents and at least two of my grandparents wore glasses), and getting hit by a baseball on the playground that I didn’t see were kind of hints that my vision might not be great. I can only imagine how I would have struggled in school and life if my parents didn’t figure it out until I was older, or until I figured it out for myself. And of course there’s not a lot of stigma to wearing glasses.
I’ve also heard that in social species it can be for bonding. But I can’t help but wonder if that’s us putting human morals on animals, perhaps ‘this is fun and it feels good’ is enough motivation. I do know of one study that suggested social pressures in rats (in an overcrowding situation), I don’t remember if some of the male rats turned gay but I do remember that they stopped doing normal male rat things and behaved more like female rats, which led the dominant male rats to ignore them. And I’ve heard things about equines, although I can’t find any sources close to hand.
My former girlfriend, who was a vet, worked in an office where they had a male parakeet (I think) who really liked the bell. Really liked it, and sometimes when they were bored they’d get semen samples from the bell. Someone figured maybe he was lonely, so they got a female parakeet (or whatever) as a friend.
He ignored her and continued to focus his attention on the bell.
Yeah, me too.
10727059
Oh man, I wish I'd gotten this diagnosed sooner. Or, like, people would have paid attention to it sooner.
I'd be more inclined to say that's ascribing that non-straight orientations are merely a behavior instead of a more fixed state. It wouldn't be very scientific to ascribe the value/feelings of romance to animals, but there are pair-bonds and loyalty that can be observed in some species that don't really fit with that.
Animals are weirdos, and we're by far the weirdest of the bunch. I think that's the only definite conclusion to draw from this.
10727217
Yeah, I think that would be fair to say.
This is exactly the kind of story that I want to write and read. The way the story integrates fandom ephemera (Scootaloo is a chicken, Admiral Biscuit’s recent blog), canon details (the absence of Scootaloo’s parents, lack of an origin for Spike’s egg), and its main themes is just masterful. I can’t think of a single sentence to add or take away.
I wish I had better words to talk about this story. The way it actually confronts the ethical dilemmas that logically flow out of a canon where a world where all wild animals are sapient abuts one that practices intensive animal farming is really refreshing, and the depiction of Trixie’s inner thoughts on all of it is haunting and stayed with me all day. She can’t save them all, but she can save some, and that is just so poignant. And the last six paragraphs covering Trixie’s dream are nothing short of breathtaking to me. A meta-commentary on Trixie’s solution, and the arbitrariness of it all. Just everything.
This is one of the best stories I have read on this site. Thanks for writing it.
This story is like an American news article. Saving orphans from the orphan grinding machine one orphan at a time.
10724494
May I see a picture of your cat?
11056850
I have multiple cats.
11057145
May I see one or more of your cats?
11057445
Fimfic makes it hard to send pictures so I’ll send some over discord in a bit.
11057456
Bless you. btw, I always use imgbb.com for uploading pictures, simple and easy, zero complaints
11057919
Cat pics sent. 👀👍
11061060
I eagerly await the pleasant surprise when I next open discord!
Oh boy
MORE SCOOTACHICKEN JOKES
WOOOO!!!