The Men Were the First to Go
This short story was written by our editor who submitted it to the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. She won a Gold Key Regional Award for her work, but did not win nationally.
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The first successful human trial was on patient C-46, a homely woman whose difficulties bearing children were due to her husband. He had undergone extensive chemotherapy for an aggressive brain tumor (which she attributed to karmatic justice for his philandering ways), and due to the truculence with which it affected him he had become quite sterile. After months of inconsequential in-vitro fertilization and at her doctor's suggestion, patient C-46 had undergone a rather unconventional treatment frowned upon by almost all of even the most open-minded of doctors. Three months later, the couple announced their expectancy for a child and seven months after this, Patient C-46 gave birth to a healthy daughter and an even healthier headline that credited her with strength, bravery, and innovation unprecedented by women. The scientists behind this miracle found that the study had a single problem: only daughters could be conceived via this method.
Relief washed over the neonatal clinic after the safe delivery and thorough inspection of the childāafter all, she was the first true daughter of scientific experimentation. Until then, the success rate for the implantation of converted bone marrow stem cells was meager, aside from the occasional fluke in rodent experiments that resulted in freakish two-headed rats and other extreme genetic conditions. However, Patient C-46 was the exception that soon became the norm, and while the procedure that confirmed the redundancy of the male presence was still frowned upon, it only rose in clandestine popularity.
Feminist news outlets clamored for a follow-up with the infamous Patient C-46, with headlines such as "Overturn of the Patriarchy" and "The Rise of the Matriarch" functioning as their battle cries. Patient C-46 and her family were photographed nonstop by the scientific media, C-46 always in front, carrying her daughter, and her husband behind, carrying her purse and diaper bag (as was customary to his new job as his wifeās assistant and publicist). C-46 commented publicly at a press conference and gave exclusive publishing rights to The New Housewife magazine of what she thought of the usual captions published beneath the photos of her and her family: āI suppose my husband looks like my servant hereābut he is not! That isn't to say that he isn't my daughter's!" He took the comment gracefully, giggled, and stepped from behind his wife at the podium into the shadows with the other men.
Patient C-46 became not only a feminist icon, but a social phenomenon as well. Marital or relational consummation was now an option and women took power in the fact that they could leverage to what their partners felt they were entitled. The divorce rate skyrocketed. Independently pregnant women marched through the streets with flags adorned with C-46's silhouette raised high; they chanted and hailed the beginning of what they believed to be the best days of their lives as their husbands and boyfriends protected their purses and looked on, as expected. The 46ers wore their round bellies and the telltale scars at the sight of blood marrow extraction as badges of honor, this form of artificial insemination making it onto trendy blogs everywhere. Their namesake was the modern-day Rosie the Riveter, idolized by her people, the chromosomally homogenous huddled masses; she was the face on their flags in marches and riots and protests, but soon, under her persuasion, the violence stopped and the women of this movementāthis new, golden eraābegan to accomplish even greater things than the men before them. They accrued great wealth and influence, and those who worked under their guidance did as well. When the pioneers of the movement, C-46 included, were asked about their newfound statuses (both marital and monetary), they were evasive like their Sisters, chalking it up to a fortunate change in the way society thought as a whole.
The procedure not only caught on among the egalitarians and feminists of the world, but also among the radicals and the hipstersāthose of the fairer sex, of course. The stigma attached to this procedure all but vanished except for among those who could not partakeāout of jealousy, the 46ers presumed. Within a year, roller coasters were all but obsolete and theme parks shut down. The women could not ride the rides and the men were only to be selfless and take care of their prolific wives. Special accommodations in restaurants became mainstream: recycled seating for the men and small porcelain bells for the women at each table.
It was around this time that men started to disappear.
In the first few weeks, the situation went unnoticed by the local police departments: the male beggars on the streets were of good riddance. Then news reports came out, detailing the newly female-dominated workforce as a product of the influence of the Female Empowerment Movement. Soon the middle class was awash with this sign of the change. The husbands who so appreciatively clung to their protesting wives' handbagsāthe men who patted their wivesā sweating foreheads even when they weren't in laborāwere missing as well.
The women were questioned: all innocent by their accounts and also by the accounts of their local policewomen. When asked about their newfound material gains, they were all as equally evasive as their leaders, but the police quickly complied with their stories as they were all fighting the same battle. At the same time, males became very sought-after commodities. After all, they were strong and able to meet most household needs; as the supply of males went down, the demand for said stock went up. Some women even began to take on multiple husbands, the better off able to switch them out occasionally or whenever the urge to do so struck. Thus began impromptu gladiator games, the strong made to fight the weak to humor its audience and exemplify its own brute strength. This peculiar institution made for a clandestine operation that, due to the nature of its patrons' mouths, was uncovered in a matter of days.
