This is an unusual choice of book for me. I usually avoid sci-fi, and I am not particularly interested in feminism even though I am a female. However, I always wonder how the world is like with only woman inhabitants and think that a utopia/dystopia about such a society would give me an idea. Therefore, I gave this book a try. The story is about some young women who started to discovering their possession of a supernatural electrical power that can inflict pain or even kill people.
The power eventually spreads to all women in the world that put men in a physically vulnerable position. Men started to feel dangerous to walk alone at night, they became sexually submissive, and they gradually lost their political power altogether. By this point, one would think that Alderman is only an unsophisticated feminist simply to replace a man’s role with a woman. I was thinking the same also, and even though it is a guilty pleasure to read something like this, it is not very satisfying for it lacks complicity. Fortunately, this is not the case. Gradually, there are women, gang up at night and patrol around the woods looking for their prey. They torture and rape young men and sometimes kill them afterward. These women, of course not all, go around places and find some men to bully and harass them. Many nations start to pass a law that required all men to register with a woman guardian. They are not allowed to drive, to travel, or to do a lot of things without the permission or the company of their guardian. They, of course, do not have any political rights. By now, the message is clear. Alderman wants to show readers that women are not any better than men. The stereotyping of women being more kind, compassionate, or caring could be because they are the physically weaker group. They can be feisty, aggressive, and violent if they are given power. In a way, Alderman is showing us the equally good and equally bad characteristics of women and men, if minus or given the power.