A feminist event

Back in your old life you were not a social justice warrior exactly, but you were fairly active and outspoken over some issues; feminism was one in which you believed substantial progress was already reached so you rarely sided with its more radical forms but that did not mean you did not want the society to attend to lesser concerns remaining. In the wake of finding the Rulebook the whole thing slipped out of your focus; perhaps subconsciously you did not want to meet other feminists after making all young women’s bottoms fair targets. Slowly, however, you started to catch up with current topics again and were obviously fascinated to learn how feminism has changed. Today will be your first time at an event.

From your reading and Rulebook-supplied knowledge you learnt a lot of issues feminists battled against disappeared or at least were hugely mitigated. Female workers are easier to train for obvious reasons and the wage gap hardly exists in most industries, for one. Another example is that “mansplaining” is not even a word anymore; if a girl genuinely does not understand something she should, the explaining goes through her bottom. There is, however, an obvious glaring source of inequality and it is the focus of a large part of the existing debate. Some want to abolish or at least severely restrict spanking. Others believe it is a great practice... and as such should apply to everyone, not just girls.

You decided to start your re-introduction by going to a talk held by a group believing in the latter; they might actually convince you to make that happen, after all. Were you not considering to make spankings universal across all genders anyway? You also know that the tension over feminism has not exactly disappeared and while nobody can be spanked simply for voicing their opinions plenty of outspoken feminists have found themselves sore more often than they could have been otherwise. A talk would probably be safer for your bottom than a rally for a first experience. Interestingly, this talk is in two parts with several hours of a gap in between; the organisers are being very vague about their reasons too but apparently it is planned like this for a reason which you are keen to find out.

You are out of bed, showered and dressed quickly but by the time you are ready to get on with the day you already have to get going if you do not want to run or to be late for the first part. The venue is a stage in the building of the old town hall now primarily used for small exhibitions and hire by social and amateur groups and you reach it after a short uneventful walk. It helps that you chose a casual attire of a light jumpers, jeans and comfortable flat shoes, as you expect most in the audience would. You are not wrong in that, but otherwise the audience holds a few surprises. Women are in majority but it is not as overwhelming as you expected, perhaps sixty-fourty. Also most men appear to hold the intention of respectfully listening; only on very few faces you see the look of a person feeling to be in the midst of an adversely-minded group, seeking targets for easy ridicule. Furthermore, about half of those whom you suspect to be there to try and spank feminism out of as many girls they can get their hands on are mid-aged and older women. In retrospect you probably should have seen that coming.

The audience is steaming into the venue already. You see signs (common for most stage events now) asking to refrain from spanking during the even; if it is absolutely urgent, it is to be done in a sound proof room the direction to which is indicated by an arrow. If someone is causing disturbance, staff will deal with it and one need not take matters into their own hands. You find your seat; the last people are still settling in when the speaker, Dr Laura Shueman emerges onto the stage. She is just over 30 but on the sleeve of her smart jacket she is wearing a CPE2 armband; with a smile you recall your excitement from reading about those for the first time, while waiting to be spanked together with Diana. Even if some in her audience may end up sore today, she is safe herself. She holds no notes and exchanges a few sentences with a couple in the first row while the last seats are being taken. Finally a hush falls and she flashes a smile to the people she was speaking with and walks back to the microphone.