With the formation of the Women's International Party in the mid 2000's, political power has been gradually shifting away from the men and into the hands of a group of radical feminists. These women claim that patriarchy is the root cause of most of society's problems, and that a world dominated by females would be free of war, poverty, class divisions, and corporate greed.
While the party is essentially still a fringe group, it has managed to seize power in a few communities on the west coast of the United States. When the party came to power in Seattle in the year 2080, it wasted little time enacting its agenda. Men were suddenly slapped with a 25% "male" tax with the proceeds being redistributed to females, they were removed from any and all jobs invoking any sort of authority, from police officers and politicians to managers in private companies, and all unsupervised (unmarried) males had to register with the local Division of Male Management. They were also stripped of their right to vote, could not smoke, drive a car, serve on juries or consume alcoholic beverages, and were strictly prohibited from possessing anything that could be used as a weapon, particularly against a female.
There was also a curfew. Unescorted males had to be indoors every night between the hours of 9:00 PM and 7:00 AM or face arrest. Teams of volunteer females patrolled the streets and apprehended offenders. Patrols were made on foot, on bicycles and in cruisers. The volunteers were young women, well trained wearing black uniforms with silver badges, usually wearing shorts and athletic footwear in the event they had to give chase to an offender. Most were unarmed, but carried radios and alerted one another when a male was spotted outside without proper female supervision after the curfew.
You are out of compliance with the curfew because the bus that was shuttling you home from your factory job had a breakdown approximately one mile from your city assigned flat. Usually the bus driver had passes allowing for an exception in the curfew law in such circumstances. However, she ran out of them before you had a chance to get one from her. The driver asked you to remain near the bus in the event a curfew patrol came by, but you decide to take a chance and walk home on your own.
You make it approximately one block down the street and see the telltale bike light of a curfew enforcement officer in the shadows. You are close enough to her to see that she is young, dark haired, athletic looking, and pretty. She sees you, shining the flashlight into your face, motions you to come over, and speaks into her radio. "Curfew violation, 26th and East Pine." |