From that same northern perspective:
The ones dressing up as women for the carnival and at other times feeling insulted be being called women: they've been brought up in that macho culture and have never even thought about it.
A nice mixture of homophobia and medley of stereotypes about women.
Having been brought up to "be a man" to be accepted by daddy.
And the women who spend their lives doing their nails aren't exactly making the guys think about it.
As to the TiMs. They pick one of the stereotypes and ignore the others. I mean, how often do you hear about a TiM aiming to become a grandma cooking, cleaning and doing laundry for the whole clan? That's not the stereotype they have in mind when they prance around doing their nails. I expect they manage to ignore other stereotypes that don't speak to them just as well. What I find curious are these TiMs who insist that now that they are "women", they are physically weak. That's a very specific stereotype that I don't see a lot of actual women glorifying. Or maybe I just don't mix in the right circles, heh.
So did your ex get it, when he got the lecture about why his reaction was so inappropiate?