In Her Shoes - Chapter One - A Seed is Sown

Chloe Bright was in "Giselle's", a trendy wine bar round the corner from where she worked, studying a block of text intensely on her laptop. Out of the corner of one of her pale blue eyes, she spied her closest friend, Fiona Harrington, entering the bar.

"Fi! Over here!" Chloe shouted above the noise of the packed bar, giving her friend a cheery wave. Fiona, a petite woman, wearing an expensive coat and carrying, as Chloe did, a briefcase, sports bag and her laptop secured in a case, smiled at Chloe and made her way over, gratefully dumping her bags on the floor.

The two women gave each other a kiss and Fiona asked Chloe "How's your new article coming along?"

Chloe frowned, her delicate features suddenly creased with lines "It isn't, Fi. I've been here for the last two hours racking my brains for something to write and I'm coming up with a big fat zero!"

Fiona gave her a sympathetic hug and went off to the bar to order them some wine. A few minutes later, she had returned with a bottle of chardonnay and two glasses. Chloe was still hunched over her laptop with her head in her hands.

Chloe and Fiona both worked as reporters for the Daily Informer. Fiona had been working there for almost five years and she had risen to cover international news. Chloe had barely been working there a year and she was charged with covering the womens' page.

As Fiona poured out the wine, Chloe said to her "Fi, for the past year I've been doing recipes, embroidery patterns, childcare and 'womens' issues'. I need something, a project to sink my teeth into".

"You can sink your teeth into my Gary, if you want to". Fiona said, sipping her wine.

It was Chloe's turn to give her friend a sympathetic look "I'm guessing things aren't any better between you then?"

Fiona shook her blonde head sadly "Worse. If anything. Chloe, I don't know what to do! Since Gary lost his job, he's been acting like a big kid! Whining at the world for tossing him on the scrapheap. Resentful of me because I've taken over his role as provider and just moping about the house. Honestly, Chloe, he's like a little boy who's all his toys taken away!"

Chloe shrugged. She had heard this story, or ones like it, many times before. "Fi, he's lost his job and his self-esteem has taken a real battering. You just need to talk to him. Tell him he's still the man, job or no job!"

"Don't you think I haven't tried that? He won't listen! Men! They bottle everything up inside themselves and shut everyone else out, especially me! Before Gary got the pink slip, we were planning to start a family. Of course, that's gone by the by because he's realised that if we do have a child, it'll be him that will have to stay home and take care of it and he's too proud to do that! How's your Steve, by the way?"

Chloe sighed "About as good as your Gary! Since I got my raise, he's been huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf! He hates it that I earn more than him! He's down the pub with his mates most nights. We barely even acknowledge each other nowadays".

Fiona raised her glass "To women - the ones who hold everything together whilst the men fall apart!". In spite of her misery, Chloe managed to give a faint smile and clinked her glass with Fiona's.

"Attagirl!" said Fiona. "What's that you're reading there?" she asked.

Chloe swivelled her laptop around "Only some ATB I found on the net. It's pretty provocative!"

Fiona frowned and began to read.

"The Atlantic Bugle - C Nathaniel Carter III

The Invisible Man - How Feminism is slowly and gently rubbing the modern male out of society altogether

Once, a man could take it for granted that, by virtue of his masculine traits, he was a member of the dominant gender and entitled to an education, headship of a family and the means of providing for his family, as any man should do. A woman's role was to produce and care for offspring and clean and cook for her man.

This is the natural order of things. It worked well for centuries

Then, Feminism reared its ugly head and all hell broke loose. Well meaning, but misguided politicians dictated that, in the name of equality, women had to have the vote and equal access to education and employment. Then, they employed something called "Positive Discrimination" to ensure that females became more equal than males.

The fools in successive governments gave women an inch and the feminists took over the whole show. The natural order has been subverted, warped and turned on its head. The result, as we are now seeing, is the advent of "the invisible man".

Go into any college or university and you will see that males are conspicuous by their absence! Thanks to endless tinkering with the education system to help the girls do better, the boys have been so neglected and discouraged by a system that works against them that they are walking away! Boys are now more poorly educated than girls and less well equipped to do well in the workplace.

And the story is the same in the workplace. The politicians have sold our manufacturing base down the river and turned to "service industries". Where once, our nation was the proud producer of goods, now we make very little, and our economy is a hostage to the goodwill of other nations to trade with us. Both the government and employers have betrayed men by favouring women in the jobs market. A man's means to provide for his family has been taken away from him and he has become an economic eunuch. Male unemployment has never been higher, whilst women are taking the jobs that should be his.

Even within the family, the male is slowly but surely disappearing. Marriage rates have fallen to their lowest level ever. Conversely, divorce rates are at their highest level ever. More and more economically independent women are starting up their own families, but without any men in them. They figure that if they can earn their own money and take care of their own children, what use is a man to them?

It is true that, in the media, men still have a presence. But, Oh, what a presence! Most adverts and TV shows run nowadays show the male as a bumbling buffoon. Bewildered by new technology and a new world he doesn't understand, he turns, childlike, to a woman or even a little girl, who will solve his problem with ease. No wonder the modern male gets little respect from females nowadays.

Thanks to the insidiuous effects of feminism, and political correctness gone mad, the male of the 21st century has been reduced to a feminised eunuch. The education system, the employment system, and most especially women, are all working to make men superfluous and redundant.

Men once used to explore the world, build business empires and expand frontiers, but as we move deeper into 21st century, I predict that the modern male will be reduced even further into a parody of manhood. If feminists have their way, he will end poorly educated, unemployed and unemployable, excluded from the family he is supposed to the head of, and a figure of fun for the media.

Already, feminism has so knocked the confidence of men that they are having to question the very nature of masculinity and there is even talk of having to "re-invent" it to fit more with the modern world.

In my book, that can only mean one thing. "Re-inventing masculinity" equals becoming more like women! In the name of God, where will this lunacy end? With men mincing about in high heels, skirts and make up?

Yes, if the feminists had their way!"

Fiona raised an arched eyebrow "Whoa, this Carter guy REALLY doesn't like women!"

"He's not the only one" said Chloe, with a hint of sadness in her voice. "If your Gary and my Steve saw this, the scales would fall from their eyes and they would blame feminism - and us as feminists - for their woes".

"Yes, they really resent us for being successful, when they aren't as successful" said Fiona "Still, reading that article has given me an idea that I think you can use".

Chloe was intrigued "Go on. If it's any good, the next bottle of wine is on me".

"I used to do the womens' features" explained Fiona "Long before your time, dear. I once ran an article called 'Manning Up'. I got this rather feminine woman to live as a man for a month".

Chloe gasped.

"I told the subject that she had to wear mens' clothes and underwear only, get her hair cropped short, bind her breasts and let her body hair grow. She also had to do her usual job as a beautician and go to the gym and work out and stuff. She had to keep a diary of her experiences and that was the main source for the article"

"How did it go?" Chloe asked her, fascinated.

"It was a complete success! I got a great article and a lot of good reviews. Best of all, though, the subject, who wouldn't normally say boo to a goose, loved the experience so much that she stopped wearing feminine stuff and became more confident and masculine. She's still a good friend of mine".

Chloe frowned again. "As fascinating as this role reversal story is, I can't just copy what you did. I need something completely original!"

Fiona smiled "Don't you see it dear? What I've just told you, and the the anti-feminist bullshit we've just read, have given me a great idea! I've done an article on a woman living as a man. You could..."

Chloe finished for her "do another one, but with a man living as a woman! In high heels, skirts and make up! It would be brilliant! Fi, you're a genius!"

The two women smiled and clinked their glasses together again.