2099 - A Woman's WorldPrologue
A Century In Flux
As we stand here now, at the cusp of a new century, it's important to reflect back on our history and see how far we have come in a mere 100 years. In the grand scheme of things, this span of time is insignificant, but to the human race, it may have been the single most dynamic century since the beginning of history. There have been many ups and downs since the year 2000, many of which people would still be surprised to learn today. Compared to the world today, Earth one hundred years ago might well be an alien planet! And though this world has gone through changed (and growing pains) in every single respect, one of the most significant would be the change in gender roles.
To most today, the idea of a patriarchal society would be completely unimaginable, even with the movies and books we still have from those times. But for the vast majority of human history, this was the reality! When humanity advanced into our current century, women were considered the weaker sex in all but a handful of societies, and as a result, were often taken advantage of by men. And on the other side, men filled almost all positions of power, and were much aggressive than they are today. Historians widely attribute the war-heavy history of our species, at least in part, to these two facts, as life has become considerably less so since the shift in power.
Though it was already showing signs of fading in 2000, culture promoted more aggressive, feminine behavior in men (though it was called masculine at the time!). Movies often depicted strong, burly men who took charge in all situations, and even the sports scene supported this. America's biggest sport (hilariously called 'football' in spite of the total lack of kicking a ball) was exclusively reserved for men, and involved a lot of tackling and shoving. Over time the sport was phased out, however. Not actually due to the shifting gender roles, but rather due to the discovery of how much damage the players' brains suffered due to the shocks they received. This, along with a number of other changes around the world, heavily contributed to the power shift that began to manifest somewhere between the turn of the century and 2020. It was very gradual, so it's difficult to pin down the exact start, but then, such is often the nature of cultural zeitgeists.
But even as zeitgeists go, this was a subtle one. Every aspect of western society during that 20 year span saw changes, especially in media. More sensitive and masculine male characters began to crop up, while an
overwhelming amount of female characters (often sporting more feminine personality traits to go with them) flooded Hollywood (too soon?) and the video game industry. Social media soon began to reflect this, with muscular women taking the internet by storm, becoming more and more popular and socially accepted each year. This also arrived alongside a sexual revolution, in which the LGBTQ population fought for its rights, and gradually won. The widespread acceptance of such 'nonbinary' sexuality further paved the way for the gradual strengthening of women. Economics and education also played a part in weakening men and strengthening women on average, and the process was well under way before people became acutely aware of it. One side of the government back then (there used to be a system of two parties constantly playing tug-o-war back then) fought tooth and nail against the entire process, but after a few years of
massive mistake after mistake, they basically lost all their power and society was free to move forward freely.
It was within two decades of that, that the changes became more overt. While men generally transitioned more smoothly and subtly, women advanced in leaps and bounds. "The Women's Renaissance" began in earnest in, of all places, Iceland. Education and culture was turned on its head, with women receiving encouragement to grow strong and take charge, while men were encouraged to become the way they are today. The rest of Scandinavia followed shortly after, until the land of vikings became more of a land of valkyries. After that, things slowed down, until Thailand began the Asian version of the Renaissance. Already famous for their 'ladyboys', they embraced the idea of reversing gender roles even harder than Scandinavia did, at least on the male side. From there, Malaysia and India followed, eventually accompanied by Korea (just South Korea at the time, until the two halves became one again). Brasil soon followed suit, with their own famous transgender population at the forefront of the movement, spreading to other parts of South America, and up even to the United States border.
Then, to everyone's surprise, Russia embraced the Renaissance. First, it was about encouraging girls to catch up to boys, and remained as such for a long time, the conservative and still very patriarchal government remaining firmly opposed to the weakening of men, but the tide of culture was what eventually won out, sneaking up on them before they even realized what was happening. From there, most of the rest of the world followed. The Middle East, freshly freed from its oppressive conservative regimes and soaring on the high of women's rights movements, eagerly embraced the change. Japan and the United States were the only countries that continued to firmly resist in the end, but both eventually had to relent, during the brief period in which America had 51 states.
What finally put the nail in the coffin of the old system was the advent of gene editing. While culture alone had already rendered the average woman stronger than the average man, the 50s finally saw gene therapy make the leap into common use, and one of the first things it became widely used for, was equalizing the biological gap between men and women. Average heights were evened out, and more importantly, the ability of women to put on muscle was boosted to equality with men. That's right, women were once objectively inferior, down to their DNA. Thankfully, that is unheard of in the first world today. During the period of sea level rise that eventually swallowed Florida and Puerto Rico, a series of revolutions swept through Africa, wherein their own oppressive regimes were shrugged off. With the rapid dying off of corruption in the government, economic growth was quick to follow. Many countries also forgave the debts of the newly freed countries in a globe-spanning movement of justice for Africa. This permitted the Women's Renaissance to spread south through Egypt, as well as north from South Africa, until they followed the rest of the world in the changes. A few pockets still remain without gene therapy throughout the world, but they are few and shrinking every year.
The adjustment period was pretty much painless throughout the world. The transition was smooth and seamless in almost all countries, the only exceptions really being the ones who resisted, such as the United States, but whatever growing pains world cultures underwent have now long since been resolved. And now, at the end of 2099, the tail end of the 21st century, we are about to take out first step into our species' first proper woman's century. And the future looks bright.
