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Observations on country life: I see so many old men who have retired, being waited on and looked after by old women who never get to retire, because this is the social expectation. #countrylife
Women look after elderly parents, parents-in-law, often driving long distances regularly, bringing them a week's worth of food at a time, cleaning, doing their admin. The men? They leave it to their wives and sisters mostly. #countrylife
Women are called 'girls' until they're about 90 years old. 'She's a nice girl' said of women in their 40s who've been working all their lives. I'd forgotten how common this is. #countrylife
Women and girls are constantly judged on their weight - the quiet part spoken out loud. Even when I was a lissom teenager I would be teased by male relatives about how many axe-handles I was across the beam. #countrylife
At the pub I asked if anyone knew the name of a woman who had just walked in; she'd served me in a shop and I wanted to say hello to her. Everyone shushed me. 'What's the problem?' I asked. 'What's wrong with asking who she is?' #countrylife
'Keep your voice down! She might hear you!', said the others. Then it dawned on me. It was absolutely inconceivable to them that the purpose of my enquiry was not TO COMMENT ON HER WEIGHT. It did not compute for them. #countrylife
Assessing people's 'race' by their appearance is a constant source of comment. I'm really unused to this these days; probably buffered to a degree by working at a uni. #countrylife
And let's not start on the racism. It's an element in the construction of rural masculinity (not that there aren't plenty of racist women too). The blokes egg each other on. #countrylife
But I will say that in my experience country women are less racist (and less conservative overall) than the men. #countrylife
It's just interesting here because people don't hide opinions that would be unacceptable to express in more urban circles. #countrylife
Another feature of rural masculinity is not looking after yourself. The men have calloused, scarred, mangled hands. (Don't forget the women work just as hard both inside and outside the house). It's partly a choice. #countrylife
Some men of my acquaintance minimise moving their fingers as if manual dexterity is somehow gay. I've noticed it too often to explain it away by individual injuries/conditions. #countrylife
