Straw poll

[ethelthefrog]

I guess this is aimed at the womenfolk of my flist, but I'm not going to restrict.

Just to help with a debate I have been having with $someone, how would you feel if someone referred to you as "on heat"?

Comments

Have a poorly-thought-out essay

[kaberett]

Almost certainly offended, with some allowances for gerald-duck and context - particularly given that being-fertile and bleeding are separate in humans and therefore it wouldn't necessarily be clear what was being referred to, etc.

Whether or not I'm currently fertile really isn't my defining characteristic. Yes, it has an effect on my sex drive, but most people don't get to know that, where with cats and horses, actually? Yes, it does show. So... it's offensive because of being viewed as a baby-making machine first and foremost, I suppose, and also because of the implied lack of discretion.

No, that's not quite what I mean.

I suppose that what I mean is that my sexuality is my business and my partner's business and no-one else's, and making a comment that personal is simply rude, even before one gets into the more complicated comparing-women-to-animals thing. (Sorry, have recently read Peter Mayle. What I'm actually getting cross about here is comparing people to animals-as-objects, and then there's more cross about viewing animals as objects, and argh complicated.)