The Mister and Miss Farmhand Pageant wasn't the first "pageant" idea that had been floated around Animalia, far from it, in fact given the nature and build of Animalians. It was something that just about everyone noticed in the fact that every adult Animalian, be it by their age or by being double dosed, at least looked to in peak physical condition and athleticism, while their musculature didn't either impede movement seriously or for females the enhancement of their musculature didn't make them look less feminine. In fact for most converted Animalians, the transformation had actually enhanced those features. To add to this, even uplifted Animalians had also gained some knowledge and understanding of human beauty as well.
The result for Animalian culture was ultimately an attitude that was quite comfortable with showing how great they looked physically. Many Animalians were quite intelligent and many people in Lyre had found even with their uplifted pets that Animalians were more than just the size of their muscles, bust, hips or other physical features that could be measured. Though that was mostly due to the fact that most of the people in Lyre dealt with and talked with Animalians on a daily basis. Many converted Animalians lived in Lyre and had jobs in Lyre. It was something that allowed them to know that there was a lot more to Animalia than being beautiful or sexy.
However, that didn't mean that that sort of knowledge was consistent outside of Animalia. This was also known in Animalia and was set over the course of the debate on the issue of the Mister and Miss Farmhand Pageant.
"While I have no problem with those without mates finding them," Scales said slowly, "I'm not so sure that things like pageants are the things we should do... I mean... we have a President who's clearly demonstrated a lack of respect or sympathy for women... who's attached his name to various beauty pageants that would serve to reinforce the opinion that woman are good for nothing more than their looks. We have women nationwide protesting against that sort of behavior. And yet... what's suggested is essentially a beauty pageant? It's not natural. Before the Animalia Virus, a female Gopher Snake would have to do A LOT to live. She'd have to hunt on her own and survive on her own."
"Wolf packs would be similar," Harry nodded in agreement, "The pack isn't the Alpha Male's domain where the females are nothing more than... objects. Female wolves are just as important in hunting and defending the pack's territory, which means that if a female wolf can't fight and can't hunt... she will die if she loses the pack's support."
There were plenty of nods in agreement with that sentiment. Even Josephine, who had some interest in participating had some agreement with the sentiment that Scales and Harry referred to. Now there were obvious differences with regard to dealing human issues and the way non-uplifted animals lived, but their point did represent many of the issues that Animalia ultimately had to confront. She'd followed the various episodes of Animalia Ambassadoria, mostly to see what her daughter was up to in those episodes with the intent of making sure that Abby did anything that were too provocative or inappropriate for Josephine's tastes, she'd be able to let Abby know. Now, while to some extent, the outright hateful and negative comments had gone down, which was a good thing, that didn't entirely mean the situation was truly turning to the positive.
Trolls and haters like "ih8ulibs" were not only still there but becoming more and more combative in the comment section. People debated them, and increasingly that was being done by Sophie, likely to defend her closest friends who were all Animalians, but their presence was an indicator of how far they still needed to go in the sense of changing minds and opinions. And the trolls and haters weren't even the biggest issue that was popping up in the comment section. There were also those that were clearly out to treat Animalians as sexual objects. Many of them seemed supportive of Animalia, but for all the wrong reasons, and Josephine had made sure that the lewd comments that were often aimed at female Animalians (and especially at Abby) were stopped. These sorts of things represented those that only saw an Animalian's exterior and had no intent on find out what went on inside an Animalian's mind. Both Harry and Scales were drawing attention to that point.
"Perhaps pageant is the wrong word," Josephine commented, "as if we do this contest, I agree that we can't and shouldn't do anything that would treat Animalians, male OR female as objects. Now, from the suggestion... that may have been what they had in mind when they made it, but that DOESN'T mean that we have to follow the suggestion entirely."
"What do you mean?" Bambi asked.
"Well... most of the labor on the Brown farm is done manually, right?" one of the newer members of the Animalia City Council asked.
"Correct," Josephine answered.
"Well... suppose that this "pageant" is more on a measure of the output they can do," that member then suggested, "who can plow the most with regard to any and all wheat production... or handle all of the other various tasks that relate to the operation of the farm and who can do it the fastest."
"It'd mean that this event would go on sporadically through the year," Daisy commented, "farmers don't do all their work in just one short period."
"And with specific things... like the spraying for the Apple trees will be time sensitive, as the spraying must be DONE before the trees put out flowers, otherwise the flowers would absorb the poison and ruin any chance at harvesting those apples as they would carry the poison as well," Josephine added.
"But it would get things away from objectifying Animalians, fitting Scales and Harry's point," the new member spoke, "and would help your farm with regard to production and demonstrate that we Animalians work JUST as hard as anyone else in the country. It may mean that this will go on through the year and not in one celebration... but with the emphasis on the work that can be done..."
"We'd do more to show that we are more than what we appear to be," Josephine said slowly with some realization on where the new member was going.
"That could work," Scales said slowly, "show that we can work just as hard as others... Just so long as we don't end up having something that's like some naughty farm worker..."
That earned some nods, and even Josephine nodded at that. As while Animalians had the body to make anything sexy, that really wasn't what they only wanted to be known for. It was nice, and Josephine had no complaints on her new figure, but even she could agree with Scales and the others with regard to their view on how the Mister and Miss Farmhand "Pageant" was to.
"I agree," Josephine nodded, "dressing nice and so on can be something for the end with the final presentation... but there is a lot of work related to farming that you really don't want to be in your Sunday best while doing."
Daisy gave a small chuckle at that, and the others did nod. With that they began to move into a more positive aspect of the discussion and moving things forward. There were differences of opinion on how to do some things, just as in any democratic society, but for the most part there wasn't the sort of partisanship that ultimately made getting things done near impossible, which also happened in just about every democratic society at some point. In this, the debate was more on the exact nature of the issue and was right rather than pushing an agenda.