Chapter 1

Manifesto of the Men's Equity Party

Through most of history, women have been unfairly oppressed. But in the 20th century in the US and other western countries, many wrongs were righted. Women were given the right to vote. Official discrimination was outlawed, and unofficial discrimination dropped dramatically. Most careers became open to women in practice as well as in theory. Women began to outnumber men in college enrollment and in many professions. The gender gap in pay steadily narrowed.

Then came the 21st century. Women have continued their gains. Now, in the year 2040, we say to you: Things have gone too far!

Women earn more than men.

A man can be convicted of rape based solely on the woman's word. Women can retroactively withdraw their consent. Cases where women might be lying or mistaken are dismissed as lies contrived by misogynists. In fact, women can easily blackmail men and many do.

In divorce proceedings, women are always granted custody if they want it. Men are liable for child support if they had sex with the women during the relevant time frame or at any time displayed a parental interest. Men are also liable for child support labor levies, as in cleaning the house and doing the children's laundry when no one is home. Women are given a $100,000 credit per child in asset distribution based on the pain and suffering they endured during pregnancy and childbirth. Some women don't want child custody -- indeed, they want to give birth and then give the father the sole responsibility for raising the child -- in both labor and finances -- while they return to their high-powered careers. Women are never liable for child support.

Women's magazines now cavalierly recommend that women arrange to be impregnated by artificial insemination from genetically desirable donors. Women can have it all by not telling their husbands about the artificial insemination. It brings to mind the cowbird who lays her egg in the nest of another bird, duping her into doing all the work.

While sometimes required against their will to take custody of children who may not even be theirs, men are forbidden to be alone with children who are not their responsibility. Failing to take adequate measures to ensure another adult is present at all times is a criminal offense. If a child or woman alleges that a man has sexually abused the child, the man is automatically guilty.

The campaign against sexual harassment has gone too far. In public places, video surveillance is used to issue citations. Consider a woman who has walked by a man and is thus unable to see where he is looking. Even if there is no other human around, if the man is observed on a surveillance camera looking at the woman's rear end, he is liable for a fine of up to $400 for sexual harassment. A citation for sexual harassment means a man is barred from voting. With more than 30% of adult males having received such citations, the electorate is predominantly female. Elected officials -- now themselves 70% women -- are answerable to women alone. A second citation earns a man a place in the category of dangerous criminals and requires him to wear an ankle monitor if he wishes to stay out of prison.

All pornography is outlawed -- a man with a collection of images of women is guilty of a crime if the pattern of images suggests that he was using them for sexual arousal -- even if the images are from ordinary clothing catalogs.

We implore womankind to see the present situation as the injustice that it is. We are your sons and brothers, flesh of your flesh. We deserve equal rights! Restore the vote to all, regardless of convictions for minor crimes that should not be criminal matters. Let us return to an era when everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty and the word of a man is of equal weight to that of a woman.

There is also a fertility crisis in the land.

It has been observed for some time that when women have complete control of their fertility, they choose small families. As of a decade ago, they were choosing very small families -- an average of 1.7 children per woman. Bearing children also has come more and more to have stigma among women -- talented women don't take time for the tedious animal duty of bearing new life. Five years ago scientists identified a further decrease in fertility. It appears that many pairings of individual men and women are infertile, for reasons as yet unknown. But this has caused a further decline in the birthrate. Many women will not become pregnant unless they take active steps beyond having regular intercourse with a partner. For those who are honest with their partners, they hesitate to seek other sperm because he will not be the father. Because of such fears and simple inertia, many never do have children. Surveys show that the unease over fertility has in turn led women to be even more hesitant about bringing children into an uncertain world, and the birthrate is due to decline further.

Our society faces a downward population spiral, with no end in sight. The women who rule society cannot agree on a plan of action. The Men's Equity Party favors lavish incentives to encourage women to bear children. The situation is dire enough that we would even recommend mandatory career leave for women who do not make a good-faith effort to become mothers, to counteract the advantages they otherwise accrue over women who do bear children.

For millenia, women were oppressed, but society flourished. We righted a wrong, achieved equality between the sexes and society continued to flourish. But now women have come to dominate men, you have created a new wrong and this has led to a society in crisis and decline. We must act! Join the Men's Equity Party!

Admiral Burdick let the paper flier drop onto his desk and looked at Lieutenant Chen.

"And this is what President Chelsea Clinton, our fearless commander-in-chief, has banned?"

"Yes, sir."

"And her reasons?"

"Creating a climate hostile to women."

"Really..." He tapped his fingers on the desk. "I am looking at a piece of quaint old paper because no one dares to send this electronically?"

"Yes, sir. Hundreds of men have been arrested who had been accessing copies online."

"And I suppose you could be arrested for having this copy and giving it to me."

The younger officer hesitated briefly. "Yes, sir, I could. But I figure we have to take a stand some time!" He realized he had raised his voice and finished with a respectful "Sir."

"Have you shown this to others?"

"A few others -- no one above the rank of Lieutenant Commander."

"I see. And what are you asking of me?"

"Why, nothing, sir! I just thought I'd point out the situation. Women really are something like 65% of the electorate. I don't know how we could possibly change it. And we officers are all sworn to obey our commander-in-chief."

"Indeed we are, lieutenant, indeed we are." After a moment, he went on. "I can keep this, can I?"

The lieutenant suppressed a smile. "Yes, sir, you may keep it, sir."

"Good. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Dismissed."

The Admiral thought long and hard. The United States really was in a sorry condition. He had followed the developments as they happened -- the humiliations of men, one by one. Many of the changes had annoyed him, others outraged him. But it all seemed inevitable, unstoppable. And as an active-duty military officer, he was bound by a very strong tradition to stay out of politics, to make it clear that civilians ruled and the military did their bidding.

He saw the changes in his own family. His wife's interest in sex had dropped dramatically after their kids were born. There were years of begging and trying to do every last thing to make her happy, in the hopes of a sexual union every month or two. More recently he'd given up. She'd surprised him one day as he was looking at online ads for women's underwear. She'd playfully told him that if he was having sexual thoughts while looking at those ads, he was committing a crime. She'd laughed, but it hadn't been entirely a friendly laugh. And it had bothered him a great deal. He had also seen the change in his sons and his daughter. Elizabeth was the youngest, and for years she suffered the indignities of younger siblings everywhere. But when his sons reached puberty, their self-assurance faltered. They could tell they were in increasing danger. One spiteful female classmate could ruin their lives with an accusation. Best not to annoy any girls. And when Elizabeth had become oriented to the world outside the home, where women ruled, she had become far more confident. She had had some revenge on her older brothers. She joked to them in his hearing of how she could say they had abused her. Just a joke. But there was a reality. Her big brothers deferred to her now, made sure not to annoy her. And she did what she wanted. Fortunately she was a decent human being. But it was all so wrong.

The military was one institution which was still predominantly composed of men. The enlisted ranks were still overwhelmingly men. There were more women among the officers, but just not that many talented women wanted that career path. Some advanced on merit. A few could advance for a while by blackmailing men, a source of private anger when male officers congregated.

Everyone assumed that all electronic communication was recorded and monitored by machines if not people. But the officers were a tight group. The large collections at the Pentagon met face to face a lot, both officially and socially. They could exchange ideas, sound each other out, make plans, form networks.

So the Admiral set to work. You don't get to the rank of Vice Admiral without a lot of people skills -- political skills. He was one of the best. He started building his network.

His hand was forced before he was entirely ready. A woman officer found out, and a female-only military police operation was assembled to arrest the conspirators. But moles alerted them to the plan. Military police are helpless if soldiers are brave enough to point their weapons at them. There was a crisis within the military about who would align with who. In theory, they all owed their loyalty to President Chelsea Clinton. But winning over the men, even those who had never heard of the conspiracy, was remarkably easy. You could just say, "Equal rights for men. It can never happen at the ballot box."

At Fort Benning, loyalist soldiers had holed up in a training fortification, a sprawling bunker.

Captain Aaron Cox had three hundred men in his revolutionary unit. His best intelligence suggested a hundred soldiers in the bunkers -- more than three-quarters of them women.

It was 4pm. He spoke into the megaphone. "In the name of the Revolutionary Council, surrender! We have the heavy weapons to breach the bunker. Surrender now and you will be unharmed."

After many seconds an amplified woman's voice countered from inside. "You are traitors, guilty of treason. Our loyalty is to the constitutionally elected government of President Chelsea Clinton. She is our commander-in-chief, and she is yours. The penalty for treason is death. Put down your weapons now, and you may be shown leniency."

Through the sound system they could hear raised voices and arguing in the background. Then another woman's voice bellowed, "Or you may get your dicks sliced off and your balls hammered flat!"

The captain could hear grumbling and cursing from his men.

A heavy door in the fortification swung open and two men came out, the door shutting behind them. They were unarmed and walked slowly towards the rebel lines.

"Halt!" came a woman's voice from within.

"That's not the army I signed up with," shouted one of them.

After several more steps, a brief burst of automatic weapons fire issued from the fortification, and both men crumpled to the dirt.

Screams of rage sounded among the captain's men, and they arose as one body and raced towards the fortification. They had acted without authorization, but the captain could hardly blame them.

More shots rang out from inside, and here and there a man among the charging rebels fell.

The captain's aide relayed his instructions through the megaphone, "Revolutionary soldiers, drop in preparation for bombardment." They did. Their initial rage was running up against the fact that they faced impenetrable walls. Orders were given to the tanks behind, already loaded with bunker-busting munitions -- or ones good enough for this training bunker.

They then fired rounds into the predesignated spot in the wall of the bunker. After six rounds the wall gave way and a wide gap appeared.

"Infantry prepare to advance on my signal. Three, two, one ... Now!"

The soldiers rose from the ground and surged forward. There was no return fire any more, and in groups of twos and threes they surged through the gap in the wall. Medics attended to the men who were down.

The word came back minutes later that the fortification was secured.

Captain Cox advanced to inspect the situation. The few men who had been inside with the women had apologized and were readily accepted by the rebel men. This military was now divided by gender.

"This is the men's revolution!" shouted an excited soldier. "And you cunts aren't in charge any more!"

A dozen men surrounded four women who were standing facing the wall, arms outstretched.

"Yeah, show us those cunts!" yelled another, who stepped up behind a woman and pulled down her camouflage pants.

The other men laughed. Encouraged, the first one pulled down her panties too.

The captain could understand their anger, but now he spoke. "The prisoners are to remain unharmed."

"They shot two unarmed men in the back!" screamed a soldier.

Angry murmurs and nods.

"I don't have in mind to kill 'em," drawled another guy. "I don't even want to harm 'em. I just wanna fuck 'em!"

The soldiers laughed and cheered, and as the Captain watched, the women got shoved into position. One was forced down onto a ledge on her back, another got bent over a table on her front. A third was just pushed down on her back on the dirt floor.

Another soldier shouted, "You guys all sick of that 'sexual harassment' shit? Let's show 'em what real sexual harassment is!"

Cheers of enthusiastic assent filled the rooms.

The men's trousers then came down, hard penises appeared, and the fucking began.

"They're fucking the bitches!" echoed through the other areas of the occupied fortification. And throughout, the mass fucking began.

A couple sergeants snuck glances at the captain, and after a moment, he just shrugged. They smiled and pulled their own pants down. He went through a couple passages to the command center and found the ranking officer among the loyalists, a woman with the rank of major.

"Captain, this is an outrage! Control your soldiers!"

"And what about shooting men in the back? What about threatening to hammer our balls flat?"

"Those were unauthorized actions," said the major.

"An officer is responsible for the actions of everyone under his or her command," said the captain.

She had no answer for that. He smirked, then turned her around, slammed her down on the table, yanked her pants down roughly. His cock rose strongly in his anger, and he took her from the rear.

"The captain's doing it too!" went the word through the fortification, followed by laughter, and renewed fucking by all who felt like it.

Most of the women endured their fate in dazed silence, but the major kept up a string of invective and threats.

A passing soldier said to her, "You ain't major of nothing now except maybe the whore corps!" to general amusement, and that shut her up.

The quip cheered the captain and delighted his loins. He fucked deeper and harder, with more enthusiasm, and creamed the deep innards of his theoretically superior officer's pussy.

So, was the Revolutionary Council going to court-martial him? Damned unlikely, he thought. This was a men's revolution!

Admiral Burdick was the leader of the coup, and he was now Acting President. He was prepared to help implement the Men's Equity Party's agenda, but events had overtaken the sensible plans in the party's platform.

It was a tense meeting of the Revolutionary Council, composed of the Admiral and two of the former Joint Chiefs of Staff who served as his top advisers. Two top officials from the Men's Equity Party were close advisers but not official members.

"There's no serious organized resistance -- it's all at the levels of a town here or a valley there," said Army General Christopher Sanchez, leader of the military ground units.

"Congratulations," said Admiral Burdick.

"But what about these reports of rape?" asked General Max Green of the Air Force. "There's a breakdown in discipline among the soldiers."

"It is an unfortunate development," said General Sanchez. "But it's even worse among the civilians. Men are coming forward in droves identifying themselves as part of this Men's Equity Party. The slogan is, 'We can fuck whoever we want. It's a Party plank!' Playing off 'plank' as slang for penis."

"We need to put a stop to this!" said General Green.

"It's an awfully widespread problem."

"We have martial law. We're in charge. Some highly publicized arrests -- even execute a few guys if we need to."

"I think that could be very dangerous," said General Sanchez. "We'd have some soldiers arresting others. Men arresting men. I think it might introduce a split in the army. It's one thing to tell guys not to rape, but to get them to arrest the other guys, knowing they might be executed -- that's hard."

Admiral Burdick said, "And there's an awful lot of them. I don't know where we'd put them all." He paused. "What have we unleashed here?"

George Cutler, Vice Chairman of the Men's Equity Party, cleared his throat. He was the only intellectual in the group, Professor of History at Yale. "I don't think you can control it. Men have been down for so long. There is an ancient pattern in human warfare -- the victorious soldiers scour the countryside, looking for the young women and raping them all."

"But these aren't enemy women," said General Green. "These are our own daughters and wives!"

"True, it's different in that way. But women themselves have been in power. Women themselves have been the enemy. And even if the situation is a little different, it's tapped into that deep-rooted pattern. I don't think you have any choice. You have to let this phase run its course."

"That's insane!" said General Green. "And talk about a split in the army -- what about other guys raping their wives and daughters?"

"You can protect your own wives and daughters," said the professor. "Protect them with other soldiers. The men don't have to be able to rape all the women -- they just have to have a lot to rape. Enough to keep them satisfied. If you keep your own women out of sight they should be safe."

"You sound like you've thought about this before."

"I had, of course," said the professor. "I've thought about a great many contingencies."

"What about the Men's Equity Party members? Do your wives and daughters get protected too?"

The Chairman of the Men's Equity Party, Leo Chang, spoke. "Perhaps we can reach an understanding regarding our top cadres -- about sixty, would you say?"

"Reasonable," said the professor.

"And the others will just smile and not complaint?"

Leo Chang said, "To be a member of the Men's Equity Party, in the old days when it faced serious harassment, you'd have to be pretty hardcore. And you wouldn't be so madly in love with your wife or so fiercely protective of your daughters. Party membership wasn't usually formal, so we do have the problem of everyone now claiming he was a member."

The Admiral said, "The military has bases, and a tradition of discipline, even if it is wavering in this one respect just now. We can assemble women there to protect them. I think soldiers will leave the wives and daughters of other soldiers alone."

The others nodded agreement.

General Sanchez said, "As I said, we're facing no serious military obstacles, but the casualties are higher than we'd expect. Lots of small units take initiative when faced with resistance instead of waiting for reinforcements."

The professor said, "That's just what I'd expect. You got some guys defending a ranch, but the soldiers know there are women in there. They can wait for reinforcements, but then they've got to share the pussy with the reinforcements. Better to risk your life and have fewer guys to share it with."

The military men looked thoughtful.

General Green said, "Have we descended to savagery?"

The professor said, "No, this is a well known development within civilized societies -- if you take the longer view of 'civilization'."

The meeting adjourned shortly after.

They implemented the plan to protect the military's women. When enough details had been worked out, 24 hours later, the word got passed through the chain of command. Women were formally expelled from the military. Any active-duty male soldier could invite his mother and all his sisters and daughters to live on a military base, guaranteeing them protection from sexual advances by men. In addition, he could specify one other woman to protect, a slot primarily intended for a girlfriend or wife. However, he was under no obligation to protect anyone, and he could revoke their protection and residency on a military base at any time.

The regime identified 1400 women with particularly important expertise and skills, and made them a deal -- they too could live in protection on a military base, if they continued to serve the regime loyally. The number grew over time.

Mike and Lisa lay on her bed, kissing, naked bodies intertwined. The late afternoon sun shone through the windows onto her desk. They were both seniors in high school and had been involved for four months.

His erection pressed firmly against her thigh, his hand between her widely spread legs. They had been kissing, but now her lips drew away as her pleasure started to blot out all other awareness. His fingers caressed her centerline in the way he had learned that she liked best. He could see her pleasure intensifying, feel her getting tense, her little exclamations showed she was getting close. He lowered his head and sucked hard on her right nipple, speeding up his finger motion a little. She gave a big gasp as she thrust her hips upward. Mike smiled, glad he could satisfy his lover. After a few more deep breaths, her eyes opened and she kissed him.