Alternate Reality

Women had always been slaves. That was just the long and short of it. So it stood to reason that women never wore clothes. That would be akin to having property, which was obviously absurd! No, slaves did not own anything, so clothes were always out the window. Young or old, black or white, women were always slaves to men.

Then something extraordinary happened in the 20th Century. A woman refused to be a ! This naturally shocked the world! A woman REFUSING to be a ? The idea was unheard of, ridiculous, horrifying! Naturally she was punished for her insolence but the damage had already been done. Rumours ran rampant amongst the female population about the one woman that had refused serfdom. Was it even possible to be a free woman? They tentatively asked. Men responded NO of course. The assertion was preposterous! Who would serve the men? More than that, women couldn't support themselves! They had no property or money! Surely they would starve?

The idea persisted, however. A free woman. In 1985 it happened instantaneously, almost without warning. Millions of women just got up, left their homes or offices, and marched out in protest. They wanted to be free, and they would not work until they were liberated. There was of course, with many countries responding with , but still women protested. Freedom was too powerful a . Then in a shocking turn of events, one country agreed to liberate its women.

Suddenly nations all over the world were passing legislation freeing women in an unprecedented sign of the new era. Some countries however, weren't as ready. The United States reached a compromise: the enslavement of women would continue as the standard, but should a Master agree to free their , they would become a Free Woman, with some rights to property and personal autonomy. More importantly, the children of these former slaves would also be free as an extension of their parent's liberty.

This resulted in a whole new generation of young free women, so by the 2020s, there was a mix of free and women in the country. Most working women were slaves of course, as had always been the case, and most free women were from the upper echelons of society so they didn't need to work, but there was a peculiar middle class of free women beginning to enter the workforce. This made for very odd situations where women and free women would work together in factories or offices as colleagues, with the obvious exception that one of them was being paid for their labour. The men couldn't really understand it. Why would any woman want to be free when slavery gave them security, accommodation and purpose? Free women had to struggle just to own what little property they could get, and this was usually obtained through men. Most government officials hoped this whole freedom business was a fad and that women would want to be slaves again soon, but as the years went on this seemed less and less likely.

One interesting quirk of this society was that free women still never wore clothes. It was too ingrained in the culture. Famous women had never worn clothes, celebrity women had never worn clothes, and all art depicting women never depicted them clothed. Women in clothes would be like putting top hats on televisions. Amusing maybe, but pointless and outlandish. Who would ever think to do such a thing?!

Of course you might wonder, how could you tell a free woman from a woman? Well, all women had a barcode tattooed around their upper arm. For freed women it was a bit trickier, but they could either have the tattoo lasered off or have some kind of stripe or image tattooed over the barcode to spoil it and make it useless.

It was a difficult world for free women to navigate. Why would a company want to hire a free woman they'd have to pay when there was still a healthy stock of women they could purchase and take far more liberties with? Obviously all the top roles went to men, but there were a lot of smaller jobs that free women began to fill, ones that required more expertise and skill than secretarial or labouring work. Free women started attending universities or developing higher skills. Men didn't know what to do with these free women. A woman was another man's property, so obviously you couldn't flirt with her, but a free woman? What could you do with them? Did they still have to do what you told them or could they now refuse? This truly was a strange new world for everyone involved...