Sex Wars

Sex Wars

The divorce rate had reached a new high: 92% of people were now getting divorced. Those who stubbornly remained married were looked on with suspicion tinged with envy. Meanwhile the sexual allegation rate had skyrocketed: four out of five men had been accused of some form of sexual misconduct (from assault to insufficient attention). The new consent laws were wreaking havoc. Women were afraid of men and men were afraid of women. Political factions had grown up that fostered this atmosphere of hatred and mistrust: Empowered Women Against the Rape Patriarchy, Concerned Men for Sexual Justice. There were demonstrations, boycotts, and mass movements. And violence too: starting at demonstrations but spilling over into random mayhem. The media ate it up, fanned and fueled it. You were either for women and against men or for men and against women; dissent was not permitted. Things went on like this for a few years, simmering, sometimes boiling over.

Then war broke out. At first it took place on the streets, as gangs sought out members of the opposite sex for ridicule, roughing up, and occasional homicide. There were rapes. There were castrations. Marriage itself was deemed politically incorrect, a form of collaborating with the enemy. A new political language was spoken demonizing members of the opposite sex. Relationships between the sexes still existed, rarely, but they were fraught and frowned upon. Segregation became the norm, with men in one place and women in another (there were no men’s and women’s bathrooms next to each other any more). Neighborhoods were patrolled. If you wanted to meet a member of the opposite sex, you went to a designated neutral zone, furtively and riskily. Homosexuality was rampant, as well as sex robots. Culture split. Universities were single-sex only. There were separate TV channels. Remarkably, racism and other forms of prejudice disappeared under this new regime: men and women became united against the enemy—the other sex. Crude stereotypes and discrimination prevailed.

But that was not the end of it, because there was now a battle for power and territory. The two sides organized into armies. At first it was snipers and nighttime raids, as well as ordinary terrorism, but then it became regimented. People were trained and equipped. Walls were erected and defended, with high-casualty pitched battles. Atrocities too: mass killings, including children. Not that each sex had nothing to do with the other sex: it was recognized that each needed the other for reproductive purposes. This problem was solved simply by introducing a form of slavery: each side imprisoned suitably subdued members of the opposite sex, usually very young and docile. These were used as mothers and fathers, and discarded afterwards. Emotional connections were strictly forbidden. This went on for years with much misery and hardship on both sides. The men tended to be lazy but lethal when roused, whereas the women were better organized and schooled in hatred. There was a balance of power that kept the conflict simmering.

The end result was predictable: both sides acquired nuclear weapons and practiced nuclear brinkmanship. It was only a matter of time until nuclear war broke out and with it the end of humanity. But by that time life was not worth living for most people.