Ropes of Lace

1

"The revolution of 2030 changed the way that the world ran in all social, economic, cultural and political aspects and the growth of these values and changes has impacted our society today and created a modern utopia of femininity and no injustice for any of the two greater genders, alpha female, and beta female. The leader of Denmark, the first country to oversee these changes, began to recognise that the misogyny in its own country and in others had become too ingrained into society to be undone, so from there came the uprising of the alpha female, a gender that could reprodu-"

"Mom, you've read us this bit before. It's boring, we understand that they decided men were shit, they killed them and then revealed that all along it was their plan to oppress beta females like you and me"

"Don't be so disrespectful. Your mother's ancestors were a part of this revolution. She feels very strongly that you're educated about how lucky you are to be so empowered"

"Not being sent to a concentration camp because I'm not a man isn't empowerment. Neither is being forced to marry by 20"

"And time is ticking, you have to stop being so outspoken towards the women that are interested in you. It's not your looks that are the problem, they seem interested before you open your mouth"

"Well, I hate them. Really they're just men. Misogyny is the least of our problems now, two per cent of the population is men and they're all in camps and in service jobs! How is this better than when in the Middle Ages women were treated like that?"

"Men are poison. They can't be trusted not to oppress women, but the alpha-"

"They're even worse! They kill all men, they don't even give them a chance to prove they're not a rapist or a murderer or even sexist. Why are you okay with the way mother treats you? She ignores you all day until she wants something. I don't think I've spoken to her since someone came to see me. I'm not marrying anyone, I'm gonna stay here"

"You know that mother would be bitterly disappointed to see her last-born child not get married"

"Mother is a cunt. And biologically, she's a male, so call the fucking police cause she's free"

"It's a completely different gene. They're neither"

"They have a-"

"Don't you dare call it that"

"Then what is it?" I asked and she looked at a loss

"You have to stop being such a smart ass. No one wants to feel outsmarted by the weaker gender"

"The weaker gender? So there's still sexism towards women. They cause more problems than men ever did. At least men were moving forward"

"This is forward!" she exclaimed

"This is anything but forward! This isn't humane. I have to act like I think so, so I don't have to suffer all my life in a marriage I'll never want to be in"

"It's not suffering! All these women are your mother's friends, she wouldn't ever put you in that position where you wouldn't be happy. She loves you as much as I do"

"She doesn't love anyone. They're barely human"

"It's not their fault the way the world works"

"Yes, it is!"

"What's going on in here?" My mother was standing at the door and I glared at her

"She's just feeling nervous about getting married"

"Dinner needs cooking," she said and my mom meekly walked past her

"Of course darling," she said and briskly walked out of my room and just when I was about to leave to go somewhere else, my mother blocked me from leaving the room