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T H E C O N V E R S I O N B U R E A U :
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Brand New Universe
By Chatoyance
Universe Three: The Friendship Virus
Richard stroked his son's light brown hair. The boy smiled up at him, then rolled over on the grass and gave his father a long, gentle hug.
His son was thirteen now, and that meant that the little boy's breasts were rapidly growing. Richard could feel them pressed against his own.
"Ow!" Dylan pulled away and instinctively rubbed at his chest.
"You really shouldn't do that in public like that, you know." Richard tried to be gentle about it. Breasts for men was new in the world, and while it was universal now, there were still issues about the matter that led to embarrassment and even shame.
"They hurt, dad." Dylan slumped, staring off at the other children playing jump-rope in the wide open part of the park. A boy was chanting for the others "I had a little puppy, His name was Tiny Tim, I put him in the bathtub, to see if he could swim..." As he watched, one of the boys jumping missed and fell. The other boys went to him and helped him up, telling him it was OK, and that they would try again. "They have hard things in there." Dylan frowned and looked at his growing breasts. "Plus my nipples hurt."
"I told you to wear your bra, Dylan." The boy just wouldn't learn. "The reason they hurt is because they are growing. Those 'hard things', as you call them are 'cores'. The milk ducts grow from those cores. They're like little seeds that grow into the parts that make your breasts work."
"It's weird, dad. Can't somebody do something about this? I thought boys weren't supposed to have breasts!" Dylan was being even more moody than usual today. "You said you would tell me how this happened. You said you would explain it to me. So explain! I want to know!"
"I have explained it. Many times. Why do you keep asking?" Richard had explained, again and again. For some reason no explanation ever seemed enough for the boy.
"You never tell me the hard stuff. You only tell it to me like I'm a little kid. Tell me the stuff you work on. Tell me it like I'm an adult!" Dylan pouted. He looked like he might cry. There were the beginnings of tears in the corners of his eyes. His sister had made them up the way he liked; if he cried, the mascara would run. Then there would be more tears because of that. Boys were so fussy with their looks. Now at least.
"Dylan, It's not that I'm treating you like a child. Not one bit. What I tell you is what I would tell anyone off the street. You have to remember that I have a doctorate, and that what I work with is pretty technical. There are a lot of terms and words that most people, even people my own age, would not understand." He'd said this before too.
"Try. Just try me, dad. Pleeease?"
He looked just like his sister when he did that. It melted Richard's heart. "Alright. Alright. I'll try. It may be a little slow going, though. If there is something you don't understand, just ask, OK?"
"OK dad!" Dylan had sat up attentively, cross-legged. He looked like a puppy waiting for someone to throw a stick.
"Alright. Ten years ago, no man on earth had breasts. Most men were also fairly muscular, compared with most women, and they had a very strong sex drive too. You remember how I explained all of that before, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I know how it was, I want to know how it became how it is." Dylan drew lazy circles with his finger in the grass.
"There was a virus. It was an artificial virus, and it infected the entire world. It was called PNY-1, for Polytranscriptase Nuclear Y-chromatin, and the one was because it was the first, and hopefully only, virus of its kind."
"So that's why they call it the Pony Virus?"
Richard lay back on his forearms. They had lost almost all of the long hairs that had once adorned them. His hands looked like his wife's, now. "No, actually. The acronym was chosen because it fit 'Pony', not the other way around. Sometimes scientists have a weird sense of humor."
"So... why is it the Pony virus? Did it come from horses?" Dylan lay back on his arms too, imitating his father. Richard noticed this. Dylan needed a male figure, what was left of maleness, anyway, to look up to. The boy often mimed his father's stance and little behaviors.
"No. PNY-1 did not come from horses. It did sort of come from ponies, but not the real-life kind."
Dylan thought for a moment. "I don't understand."
"Once upon a time, about two decades ago, there was a television program. It was a cartoon. It was called 'My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.' It ran for a number of seasons, and there was a movie. But during the short time it existed, it made a huge impact on the world, especially over the internet, and especially with men. This was unusual, because the show was originally intended for little girls." Richard looked down at his arm. A little ladybug had begun crawling on it. It tickled. Carefully, he let the tiny creature crawl onto his finger, then transferred the insect to a nearby dandelion.
"So the virus was named for this show?" Dylan leaned over and studied the tiny, red, spotted beetle.
"Actually, yes, it was." Richard smiled at his son. He liked the fact the boy seemed cheerier. "There was a fan of the show, or maybe a small group - that part is not known for sure - that had a lot of smarts. He, or they, understood biochemistry and genetic recombination. Whoever it was called themselves 'The Conversion Bureau'. They were kind of like computer hackers, only they hacked biology instead. A lot of people in the early decades of the century had laboratories in their garages, and played around with home genetic engineering, hacking DNA. The 'Conversion Bureau' made the virus because of that show."
"Why? Why did they do it? And what does any of that have to do with..." Dylan dropped his eyes "...With boys having to wear bras?"
Richard scratched his head. Dylan mimicked him. "The show was about friendship. And kindness. That was the basic core of the show, that was what the point of it was. It was about a bunch of intelligent pony beings that lived in a world where everyone was more or less nice to each other. They didn't have war, or crime, or poverty, and they took care of each other. Whoever made the Pony virus wanted to make that world come true, for real."
"How does having tits make the world nice?" Dylan seemed sullen again.
"Dylan! I told you not to use that word!" Richard felt sorry for his son. It would be easier for the next generation. Change was always hard, especially a change like this.
"Sorry, dad." Dylan looked properly shamed. "But still, how? How does it help anything?"
"Breasts were a side effect, son. There were a lot of side effects. I used to have hairy arms, can you imagine that?"
Dylan stared at his father's arms. "How hairy?"
"Pretty darn hairy. But not now. I also used to have a hairy chest, and a hairy back." Some aspects of the change wrought by PNY-1 were not all bad. His hairy back was less than charming. At that thought, Richard smiled.
"Gross!" Dylan seemed genuinely disturbed "Wait, were you like a bear or something? Did men used to be like bears?"
Richard grinned. "In some ways, maybe so. Come to think of it... um, probably. More than most would like to admit."
"That would be kind of yucky, I think. So the Pony virus got rid of being hairy?"
"Yes. It did a lot of things, some planned and some not. Things like breasts and not being hairy, those were probably unplanned. They weren't the point at all. Just side effects, Dylan."
Dylan scratched his knee. He noticed a grass stain on the skin, and licked his finger and began to erase the green mark. "So what was the point? Why'd whoever did it, do it? What does the virus do?"
"It's more what the virus did. It's gone now. Except in laboratories, like the one I work at, there is probably no Pony virus left. It's probably mostly gone from the world. There might be a few enclaves... it infects some rodents and pigs too. The virus spread around the world, but it didn't make anyone sick. Instead it infected people and changed their DNA. Permanently and forever, even for their offspring. It changed humanity forever."
"What's D-N-A?"
"Deoxyribonucleic acid. It's the stuff inside the nucleus - the center - of a cell that tells it what to do. It's like a computer program that runs every cell in your body." Richard didn't know how much of this the boy would understand, but he had asked for it. "PNY-1 was a reverse transcriptor that used reverse-transcribed single-stranded cDNA to degrade and then replace the original cellular mRNA with a complex of RNaseH activity that..."
"Wait, wait, STOP!!!" Dylan waved his hands in front of him. "OK, OK, enough. Say it simpler. I'm not one of your boring geek friends."
Richard chuckled. Dylan and his sister Megan always wanted to be excused from the table early when one of his friends from the institute was over. It must seem like babble to them both when they talked shop at the table. "Ok, OK, son. Let me try it a different way.
"Um... If the DNA is like a computer program that makes your cells do stuff, then the Pony virus got in and rewrote part of that program for nearly every person on earth. It changed Mankind. Converted all humanity into... what we are now. Understand?"
"So what are we now?" Dylan shifted, a small expression of pain crossing his face. His breasts were probably bothering him again.
"A lot gentler. A lot kinder. A lot more concerned with the feelings of others. The Pony virus changed a lot of things, Dylan. It increased the amount of oxytocin all bodies make. That's a hormone that helps make us care and be nurturing. When mothers care for their children, their bodies are flooded with the stuff. But men used to have very little of it."
"Were men mean, before the Pony virus?" It was a difficult question.
"Well... I guess they were. There were hundreds of wars, all over the planet, all the time. Every single day, there was about one hundred wars going on. Now we don't have any. There aren't any armies anymore. Nobody sees the point of having an army, because all of the money to make weapons and train soldiers is used to feed people, and clothe them, and make sure everyone has a place to live." The world was pretty scary before the Pony virus, Richard had to admit.
"And war stopped because of that oxy hormone?"
"No. Not just that. Oxytocin was only part of it. The virus changed the part of the genes that controlled territoriality and aggression too, and it also... cut the level of testosterone by two thirds. Testosterone is the male hormone. It makes men hairy... or it used to anyway... but it also made them extra aggressive, and extra territorial, and... well... horny all the time. So men were pretty frustrated, and they also were... I guess... a little more mean and prone to anger and violence." Richard decided to leave out the old statistics that showed that 98% of all violence was committed by males alone. Testosterone was probably a very big factor. Maybe the creators of the Pony virus had intended everything after all.
"So... the virus basically made men... less like men." Dylan was a smart kid. He'd pretty much hit the nail on the head.
"Um... yeah. Pretty much. Having breasts is just incidental. The real point was to make males act more like females, to make them more caring, more concerned with feelings, less violent, and less aggressive. That's why there are no more violent contact sports, no more wars, and no more hunger. No man can stand to let another man die in a ditch anymore." Richard watched the boys playing jump-rope. A smaller child wanted to play. They had welcomed him in, and took the time to gently teach him how to play. He couldn't imagine boys doing that when he had been growing up. "But the virus also affected women too, son. It made them even more nurturing than they ever were before as well. Both men and women were made less violent, aggressive, and more caring overall. And it only took eight weeks to spread to every human on earth."
Dylan sat up, hugging his knees to his chest, gently. His painted toenails matched his sisters, they had painted them together the night before. "So basically, the world sucked before the Pony virus."
Richard had to think about it. Decades of masculinity fought in his mind with the reality of the new world he now lived in. Gone was Hockey, Rugby, American Football. Gone was being macho, tough, and hard. The old action heroes and the old war heroes were all monsters now. Being a man was defined more by being pretty than by being rough and tumble.
But there was no war. The world shared, now. It was unthinkable to let people starve. It was even more unthinkable to invade and kill anyone. Rape had ended almost overnight. A night at the pub ended with singing, and not with a fight. And women finally had real and lasting equality in the world. It was like living on a different earth.
But it was a better one. Even though his background, everything he had been taught screamed inside of him, he was a scientist, he was a smart man. Richard had to admit. It was better.
The world had been converted into something new and strange, but it was a safer world. A friendlier world. A less violent and more nurturing world. Whoever those gene hackers were, or whoever it was, had done what all of the philosophers and pundits and saviors had all failed to do. They had made the Earth a planet of peace and relative harmony.
"Yes, son. The world really did kind of suck before the virus. And if a little discomfort during puberty is the biggest problem we suffer from that, then maybe we should just deal with it. That's one thing about being a man that hasn't changed son."
Dylan stretched out again. "What's that?"
"Being strong when things are tough."
Dylan thought about that for a moment. "I'm sorry I kind of... whined... about my little pains. I'm gonna go see if they'll let me play, OK?" Dylan pointed at the children still playing jump-rope.
"Ok, have fun." Richard watched his son get up and run over. Of course those boys would let him play.
Of course they would welcome him. It was the kind thing to do.
Other Stories About The Friendship Virus
Our Man In Gomorrah
Flight PNY-1 To Jannah
Clean Hands, Clean Heart
This is getting a little.... strange.
312081
No kidding. It's like its saying that men are completely incapable of kindness while women are unable to be cruel with the only solution being men becoming man-ladies. Its like that crappy made for TV movie that was on syfy before it was syfy.
The only thing this has to do with The Conversion Bureau, or even with My Little Pony, is some name-dropping that could be replaced or removed without having any impact on the story. It's just a straight screed about how women are good, men are evil, and testosterone is a hideous psychoactive toxin responsible for all human suffering.
Hey, if these guys ever need a "patient zero", I've got some free time. ;)
Another compelling story by Chatoyance, and one that deals with what I consider to be the most alluring aspect of Conversion Bureau stories: The purging of Humanity's greater destructive evils. I have always seen the actual conversion portion of your stories to be just a very nice added benefit to the latter subject. I guess that means your CB stories have felt more like salvation stories to me, at least, which is one of the many reasons why I love reading them (besides the phenomenal writing and believable characters). In this story in particular resonated with me quite a bit because of its emphasis on this topic, and because, call me an escapist, it seems more down to earth and dare I say possible than actual CB stories. Right, then. Now that I have made myself sound suitably insane with the previous statement, allow me to go for broke. Your story about wiping clean the sins of humanity has touched me in a way that I did not expect such a short story to do. I think it is just wondrous, and if we all get a pair of boobs (or get turned into a candy-colored equine) to go along with it, the more the merrier!
Keep up the good work, Chatoyance.
-Ristar, the Shooting Star
317207
I don't think there's anything wrong with something as completely off-the-wall as this story occasionally. It is bad science, but it's fun bad science! Besides, this has everything to do with TCB. Humanity is transformed into a superior species, but instead of magic changing humans into Ponies, we have a genetic virus (impossibly perfect and pervasive I.E. magic technology and therefore silly bad science) that turns humans into compassion-mans.
This was an incredibly weird and provocative story, quite honestly obviously designed to feature a good solid stick for poking into a hornets' nest of thought with.
It's only tangentially pony and I don't agree with every observation there (for example, I can say with absolute certainty that girls really are good at being absolute bitches), but again, that's not the point. Fantastic in multiple meanings of the word and a little disturbing. Just how I like it. Of all the universes out there though, this one holds no appeal. I'll make sure to set my Equestrian Portal for a different variation if that's alright
Huh. Interesting.
To all those saying that men aren't the bad half, they are right.
But then, there ought to be a reason that men start all the wars, that bar fights are always started by men, and that the social norm for men is to be tougher, meaner then the other half of the world.
341122
There is. It's called culture.
Plenty of places have men in roles where they're expected to be sensitive and kind. Latin America, for example, considers it totally normal for two non-related heterosexual men of similar age to hold hands whilst walking down the street.
There've been quite a few matriarchal societies throughout history, too; they just tended not to be as land-grabby as the patriarchal ones, so they kind of got swallowed up over the last few thousand years.
...
What did I just read? Men cause wars, famine, greed, slavery, and all that because they are men? And the solution is to turn them more female?
I... I really can't begin to describe how naïve that is for the author to assume that. Do you honestly think that women are kinder than men? The trope that girls are fragile butterflies and men are beer chugging mountains of muscles may have been true for most of our history, but the roles are beginning to reverse themselves: you'll see the softer men who are your hairdressers, artists, and others, and you'll also see the tougher women who are buffer than a lot of men and can be meaner than them! While it isn't the norm yet, the qualities you'd find in the different ends of the gender spectrum are equalizing regardless of what sex you are: men are slowly becoming more feminine and women are becoming more masculine.
Ignoring the ridiculously bad science that an artificial virus can change an organism's DNA on the go, the idea of it in itself is deeply flawed. I don't discount traits such as kindness and selflessness as being determined by the genetic make up of a person, but have you heard about the 'Nature vs. Nurture' argument? Let's say you get two genetically exact human embryos and have them developed. However, one of them is born to a European family in a well developed country that is economically and socially stable, while the other is born into an Asian family in a less developed country that isn't as economically and socially stable. Give them even 10 years to grow and develop and you'll get two very different individuals. Why? While they are genetically identical, the manner as to how they were brought up in the world will be different, no matter what. Hell, even identical twins born at the same time, brought up in the same place and manner will still likely be different in personality, genetic differences notwithstanding.
And is it just me, or is the decision of a few to change the many in a deeply fundamental way both terribly irresponsible and unethical? It's like a group of religious fanatics decided to brain-wash you into accepting and following their beliefs. Not just you, but for everyone. If the group or person responsible for the virus was found/discovered, was s/he/they brought to court? I might be a dumb, mean, territorial, and horny man, but I wouldn't agree for you to change what makes me me just because 'it's for the good of everyone' and I'd call that a violation of my own rights. It's my body after all; I'll be damned before that right is taken away from me.
Sorry, this chapter leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. It's well written 'course, but it's mind-bogglingly bad in terms of science and biology.
EDIT: For some reason two comments have disappeared; one that was retorting to this one, and the second my counterargument to the retort. I don't want to assume that you, Chat, are someone who can't take constructive criticism well, but deleting comments doesn't put you in a good light.
THIS!
This is something I have dreamed since I was very young. I have read a few nay sayers were miffed at this conclusion, but it is true that everything a man is supposed to be, even in this modern world, is still a step backward from peace both inner and worldly. Thank you for writing this simple acknowledgement.
Thanks for making me feel sick, I can't look at females in the same way now. Thanks.
Seriously, what the fuck is this?
98% of all violence was committed by males alone
bullshit that opened the floodgates holding back a sea of bullshit
'Sigh'
Ah, a provocative look at what it means to be one gender over another and to consider the variances which are accepted as norm between the genders.
I really did like this story. It was a unique one and had a lot of moments where the characters were strolling into territory that would be considered uncomfortable for the everyday individual (and I also noticed some of the other readers in the comments ranged from praise to confusion and further than that).
You definitely have a skill for seeing consequences that others might not or don't want to understand. I like that expressed here.
You went out on a limb and I think you managed to pluck a very interesting piece of fruit. I'm gonna see what else happens in world 4!
Oh look, here's the asexual male pacifist come to throw the story out of the window.
Disregarding the repeated insults to my gender, which, by the way, is the point of the entire damn story, I would like to counter that many a pacifist was male. Gandhi, MLK Jr., Kant, Tutu, Gautama, Rodgers, Jesus, even the overbearing and rude Beethoven were pacifists, and more importantly, male.
Many of these figures are well known, Jesus is probably the most well known person in the world and founder of the most followed religion, Beethoven was the greatest musician in history, King spearheaded the civil rights movement, Gandhi dealt perhaps the greatest and final blow to colonialism. Gautama founded Buddhism, widely regarded to be a true religion of peace, Kant's ethical theories are revolutionary even today, Fred Rodgers helped many a child deal with the troubles of life, and Tutu is still a powerful figure on the world stage, and maybe even the greatest man still alive today.
These are the true heroes of history, those remembered today, and yet you callously disregard them because of their gender. Wars are caused by greed and selfishness, a trait found in every human being, women included, not by some craving for violence or fascination with bloodshed. That is the making of serial killers, not heroes, certainly not your average Joe.
The great thinkers and artists of any age until recently were men, as were the generals and the warriors, and yet you forget about these men, those creators, writers, makers, the greatest and most powerful examples of humanity.
Next you will be saying that no one in this universe eats meat, because women would never kill or eat another creature of any species!
You are a good writer, Chatoyance, but your gifts have been wasted and spoiled by ideological failings and a sick and twisted disregard for bodily autonomy or the rights due to any sapient creature.
She who fights monsters should see to it that she does not become one herself.
And then half the human race had gender dysphoria with no way to transition.
Isn't the world great?
985019 Oh, hello. I didn't want to clutter your story with unrelated comments so I decided to continue it here. This riff expresses my feelings very well.
1. Men are supposed to have a threatening appearance? That's not real in any way. Have you ever seen a guy in a suit? That's not scary at all
2. Harmlessness and aggression have nothing to do with each other. If a Chihahua is mauling my leg, it's aggressive but harmless. A whale is not harmless, but it's not aggressive. Also, your last point makes no sense.
3. Holding back tears is a matter of pride and maturity, one wants to appear strong so that no one else feels bad. Not to mention that crying for something so pitiful as not getting told something is a sign of brattiness
4. The father makes no sense. Are you telling me that a man who had his legs blown off to save his friend is now villainized just because he was in a war. No, this is a vile slap in the face of all. Men being aggressive and women being pacifist is sexist to both sides and makes no sense. Are you telling me that tom-boys and gentlemen are rare?
Hockey Gone,
fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/170/5/4/spike_nooo_by_physicallypossible-d3jcqgv.jpg
What an... interesting chapter. Putting it out there right now, I'm a guy, so I understand my viewpoint may be skewed. While I agree about a few things, like it is men who cause the vast majority of wars, testosterone creates competition, and some others, this story seemed on the extremist side. This story seemed to take the absolute worst aspects of men and make them the defining characteristics of "man", and that the only way to "fix" it is to become a woman, which means that all women are kindhearted and nurturing mother-types. Now I don't mean to say that YOU think all men are cruel pigs and all women caring angels, because that simply isn't the truth, but your story is quite black and white. Straight biology is not everything. So I can see why people wouldn't be happy with it. That all being said, I still thought that this was an interesting topic and was certainly stimulating, especially correlating insulting men as a whole and seeing the correlation with how men treat women and women's rights/feminists. Men make discriminatory generalities about women all the time, and this is kind of turning the tables.
Fascinating author's notes. I have to play devil's advocate a bit however, due to my snark complex. The notion of reducing that in men that causes them to commit crimes more frequently than women assumes that committing crime is always bad, and that assumes there are never any bad laws. In fact the worst atrocities in history were not only legal but government enforced. It's tempting to change ourselves to be more conformist, less likely to rock the boat, more... herdlike, as a way to reduce violence and chaos. Doing that tends to increase violence and chaos though, when people working together without confronting or disobeying each other collectively make huge mistakes with catastrophic consequences. Not to say all crime is good, or that the majority of laws are not very important to uphold, but the trick of getting you to remove your hatred for violence and cruelty, and substitute it for a hatred of lawbreakers (which are assumed to be violent and cruel) is a common trick that malicious and powerful people use as a way to insert an override they can control at their whim, in between you and your own morals.
I'm sure the PNY guys wanted to reduce violence or make everyone appropriate watchers of a little girl's show, but using the crime rates of men to justify that, not the violence rates, is something I would not advise. Over 50% of all criminals in Federal prison are there for drug related charges. Not violence caused by drugs, but merely using, possessing or selling drugs. That means when you hear someone is a criminal or an ex-convict, they are more likely to be non-violent than violent. Thus, a virus which decreases crime would actually increase violence to a small degree, because whatever kept those men doing the non-violent activity of selling drugs will have been eliminated. As long as we accept that crime is bad without requiring qualification, law makers will always be able to get us to attack what they don't like, regardless of whether we ourselves like it or not.
Increasing Oxytocin in everypony, whether mare or stallion, probably would be a good thing, but high testosterone-levels need not lead to aggression; one can trade aggression for libido. Interestingly enough, Oxytocin-Levels increase during sex, and more so after orgasm.
The reduction in testosterone, could lead to sterility, thus making this the end of humanity.
In addition to more Oxytocin for everypony, one would want to increase the threshold for release of adrenalin; one would want to leave the threshold low enough so that ponies can react to life-or-death-scenarios, but not develop a stress from common events like work or family —— ¡most, we might as well make it all, jobs should come with free BetaBlockers (blocks the β-adrenergic receptors which detect endogenous catecholamines epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline))!
So many long hate comments .
This is the most sexist load of shit I have ever read in my entire life. What the hell? 98 percent of crime committed by males alone? There have been female serial killers. Woman can be just as violent as men. This is stupid. Not all men are drinking,abusive pricks who treat woman like punching bags. Where the fuck does this low of an opinion of men come from?
I can see how this chapter would cause a lot of heads to spin and explode, but I'm not terribly surprised by any of the data. It does feel like there's room for discussion on how gender is also a cultural construct rather than purely biological, but ya, having taken ethics, chemistry, and biology in the past I'm not terribly surprised by any of this. I assume you've seen the ethics studies that were performed on people as they were growing up from children to adulthood? I think they were done in the 50's to 70's era, after WWII when everyone wanted to know how the atrocities Germany and Europe performed were ethically possible for humans.
The ones I mean specifically are where guys were statistically found to be more concerned with justice/fairness and gals with compassion when presented with morally complex scenarios. Such as the one where "you need medicine for a dying spouse, the drug seller demands a ridiculous amount, more than you have, and refuses to take half now and let you pay of the rest later with your spouse alive. Would you steal the medicine or not?" Males would rationalize the justice of the situation, either for the theft or against it, while females would come at it from the angle of the wellness of everyone involved, such as how the drug owner would suffer from the theft and what were the chances of you getting caught and thus you being in jail while your spouse died alone, were there children involved etc. Statistically anyway, there were of course some exceptions in either gender.
So ya, I'm not terribly surprised or shaken by the idea. Also, males have more social and systemic power in pretty much almost every culture, let alone genes granting them a statistical advantage in physical strength, so it isn't very surprising to read the data in the Oxford criminology book (I did in fact need Oxford to confirm little to no shenanigans were being done) males commit more violent crime. Power corrupts after all, not to mention testosterone and territorial aspects of being male in general. I'm super relaxed but have continuously had to deal with it my whole life in regards to pretty much every male group I've been in. But I digress, hearing it put at a 90% statistic is kind of hard to swallow, but with the oxford book putting it at 80% males arrested for violent crime and 20% females, there's something to be said and you're number isn't far off. (the data is on page 344 right before the next section, starting with "Despite the fact that the number...")
It should also be pointed out that people don't usually get into fights they feel they can't win and given the genetic advantage of physical strength for males, and any cultural conditioning for females against fighting or to feel inferior in combat, is it really so surprising that females would get into less fights? As for global statistics, I would point out that it's less advantageous or feasible for someone in a disparaged situation to consider violent options with so much systemic and social structure in place against them, so I don't consider many global statistics on the matter to be reliable in that sense. As in, you should expect to hear less about women doing violent things around the globe since they're still so heavily discriminated against just like you'd expect to hear more about slave owners violently whipping slaves than about the slaves whipping their 'owners'. Not disputing any of the evidence, more pondering how all this ties in to the grand scheme of things. I hope we continue to gather evidence about the subject.
As a side note, I was once attacked by several girls in a bus line at school after mentioning my brother had threatened to beat me up if I ever hit a girl. They apologized the next day for the physical and verbal abuse, but they sure seemed to enjoy it at the time and the apology didn't really make me feel better about the whole affair. Anecdotal evidence is anecdotal though, just making conversation really. I had far more male aggressors than female, ties into that statistic well actually. You know, I hadn't actually thought about looking into gender matters in relation to crime rates before this, I think I'll fix that. Thanks for pointing me towards a new and interesting query.
Gender stuff aside, as a point of interest I wanted to point out that oxytocin is found to increase the fear response as well as make initial meetings of strangers more guarded. I also recall hearing about a few studies last year that people given oxytocin were found to be more caring and willing to help friends and family alike, BUT were also more willing to allow harm befall other families of strangers. Not saying increased oxytocin would do this if this virus happened, more pointing out just how complex and insane our hormone system is. Why you so complex brain am I right?
Bitchy, back stabbing, conniving, territorial, judgmental, Shunning, nit picky, slap your face, pull your hair, scratch your eyes out, tear down every ounce of self esteem you may have, prissy, fake tears, emotional train wreck.... I could go on and on. <----That gentlemen is what you find in the ladies room.
If I ever walked on water and farted rainbows 24-7 I'd hang myself.
Heck, in this story even Rainbow Dash would always be in style. Nope, give me the bad ass mare we all know and love.
All I can say is let me have my man. If men ever become what this story intends, I'm going full lez.. full on butch mutha muffin lez.
So far I have loved all of Chat's stories, but this one cut to the heart. Nothing against you Chatoyance, in fact it is written too well, the imagery too sharp. Do Not Want! But thanks for showing us what that sort of manipulation could actually do. A true nightmare in the making.
This is one of the most blatantly Orange/Blue Morality stories I've ever read, which I would regard as a definite good thing.
So is the moral 'girls rule, boys drool' (if this is actually the case I cannot say, for I lack knowledge of appropriate fields) or is it instead 'it is ethical to alter the genetic makeup of the population to reduce violence and/or crime, even nonconsensually' ?
Or both?
Due to the shocking nature of the logical conclusion of your ideas, I recommend including a character to play the Devil's Advocate. Otherwise, it sounds like really blatant propaganda, which is very likely responsible for your extremely large hatebase.
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More shootings - aggressive violence - than days in the year. Not one single woman was in any way part of any of this. It was done only by males, and only males:
pbs.twimg.com/media/CVPqZpaWcAAQiZ6.jpg
And this is 2015, but it could be any year.
Did you not read the author's notes? Let me repeat them:
Every bit of The Friendship Virus is based on fact.
The statistics about the incidence of violent crime and who actually commits it are available easily, it is no secret. Indeed, it is the province of all police and government enforcement - they know, because they have to deal with the issue.
To prove my point, check out:
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/who_commits_crime.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_domestic_violence
http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/160/3/230.full
http://www.gbchealth.org/system/documents/category_1/363/Gender%20Based%20Violence%20Issue%20Brief.pdf?1345232726
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTHEALTHNUTRITIONANDPOPULATION/EXTPHAAG/0,,contentMDK:22421973~pagePK:64229817~piPK:64229743~theSitePK:672263,00.html
http://16dayscwgl.rutgers.edu/component/docman/doc_view/442-gbv-fact-sheetpdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_crime
Want it in infographics?
https://www.google.com/search?q=gender+crime+statistics&client=firefox-a&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=VlsRUuGNNsTYyQH04IEw&ved=0CDcQsAQ&biw=1579&bih=720
Are you a television news person? How about hearing it from actual law professionals?
Or will you simply settle for nothing less than Oxford?
http://www.academia.edu/2573801/Gender_and_Crime_in_Oxford_Handbook_of_Criminology_2012_
Every single thing in The Friendship Virus is based on fact.
More, these facts are acknowledged by all the educated, professional men of the world. Not a bit of any of this is the least bit in dispute.
How do I know such things?
My father worked for the LAPD (where he was eventually thrown out for excessive violence - which in the fifties was saying something) and later for the US government and the World Bank.
I know these things because not only do I study and research, had a parent involved in enforcement, but... I can use Google.
As you can. Everything above is just the first of ten thousand pages verifying everything I wrote.
I have received a lot of crap about this one, single story among my more than one million words of storytelling, and every bit of it comes from one thing: boys who don't like hearing the truth - a truth understood and recognized by all real men in positions of power, authority and enforcement of law and order.
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I think the first chapter has to have a ton of pony stuff in it, then other chapters can be a bit more lax. Take My little Marriage: Mary is a Mare for example; the first chapter is pony related, but then in the next few there are no pony related things. I could be wrong, of course, but I think this is the way it it.
This story made me feel grossed-out. Which is not to say it's a bad story, mind you.
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I've gotten all kinds of statements about this story, but I have never had any reader say that The Friendship Virus grossed them out. Oh, I've been lectured about misandry - as if there even could be such a thing in such a strongly, dominantly patriarchal society - and I've been accused of every sort of evil even after I provided indisputable proof of my assertions in the story from recognized experts in a dozen different fields (see the many comment pages above). I've been sworn at, told to go kill myself, and threatened with death over just this story (not to mention the rest of my work here) but not once have I ever been told that this particular story induced nausea. That one is genuinely new!
So, out of total curiosity (and dearly hoping I won't regret daring to ask - please don't swear at me, call me names, or threaten to kill me, okay?) how, exactly, does The Friendship Virus - as a science fiction story - make you feel 'grossed-out'? I mean... there's no violence, no guts on the floor or blood on the bulkheads, and no characters vomit or poop. It's just a boy and his dad, talking, in a world without war or famine or violence either economic or physical. So... how did it make you feel sick to your stomach?
I'd give both of my feet, below the knee, to live in a world without war, violence, famine, or hate. Seriously, I would. Gladly. So... how the gross-out?
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Why am I grossed out? Short answer: Men have boobs.
Longer answer: I like a world with men and woman. Turning all men into pseudo-woman, well, that sounds like a pretty boring world if you're a woman.
Even longer answer: Genetic engendering has a lot of potential. If I had a little kid, just a fertilized egg. And I had the ability to remove genes that would cause evil, and give him genes that would help him be a good compassionate person: I'd probably do it.
That's not to say I want a world without men and women. I don't want my son deprived of the joy of having a woman, or my daughter deprived of the joy of having a man. Being a man or a woman, being masculine or feminine: That's not evil.
What's evil is to hurt the innocent (or excessively hurt the guilty). Be it with violence, or with a nasty rumor that makes someone an outcast. One is “masculine”, and the other is “feminine”. But it doesn't matter. They're different means, to the same evil end. It's the evil genes I want out of my kid, I don't care how he expresses that evil! Besides, it's not like woman can't be violent and men can't make up nasty rumors.
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You are right, women can be criminally violent, roughly 2% of the time, according to Interpol and the FBI. While infinitesimally small, that 2% does account for... two percent... of violent crime and... I guess that needs to be recognized.
I figured it might be the boob issue. A lot of gay men, as an example, really don't like the boobs. Or any other lady parts. Most straight men, for comparison, when polled, seem to think having boobs would be... ahem... interesting. As in, readily available toys to play with interesting... though I doubt they would want to actually live with them. Men - in general - are so weird about breasts. Some women too... but most women (90%) are capable of bisexual adaptation, according to Masters and Johnson.
Well, I made a point of stating it was an unintended side effect. It's the natural result of lowering testosterone levels. Human males produce a small amount of estrogen from the adrenal glands over the kidneys, just as women make testosterone from their adrenal glands. Lower testosterone, and males start exhibiting gynocomastia - they grow breasts. Because of that small level of estrogen they naturally produce. Many males with gynocomastia resort to surgery to remove the developing milk ducts and fat tissue.
My reasoning here was that this would not happen in a world so suddenly and universally changed: if every male, everywhere, grew breasts, there wouldn't be enough surgeons or money to cut off the breasts of every inconvenienced man on the planet. So... the absolute majority of all men would... just have to lump it (heh heh!) and live with the new normal. It just wouldn't be possible to surgically alter every man, forever more. It would bankrupt the planet!
It is interesting to consider a planet where all violent crime - including war - was reduced to near or below two percent.
If I had the knowledge to use CRISPR correctly, in my garage, I would definitely make PNY-1. A world without war, a world without rape. It scarcely bears daring to dream of.
And the only price is that some men might be grossed out by lady parts. I argue that, compared to millions of men, women, and children being burned, blasted, and torn to meat by bullets, it would be utterly worth it.
Here's a question: if having boobs on men (horrors!) was the price, would you choose the happiness of all the people of the world, or would you choose your own needs? It's kind of like a personal Trolley Problem, if you think about it!
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It's not as simple as “having boobs”. That's just one part of a larger problem: Feminization of men. And of women too, for that matter. Feminizing people is the intended effect of the virus (I think).
The goal of the virus is to make people more ethical. The means is to induce a partial hyper-feminization. I say “partial”, because it sounds like the virus avoids the negative aspects of femininity. But the point is: It destroys masculinity (both physically and mentally) to fight evil. And that's sad!
Men and women, the masculine and feminine: They both have their place in the world. Rainbow Dash is Rainbow Dash, and Rarity is Rarity. Dash is masculine, Rarity's feminine. And they're both beautiful, in their own way. To lose masculinity or femininity, to turn Dash into Rarity or Rarity into Dash: That would be a tragedy.
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Gender performance would never cease. But rape and slaughter would.
I can't see that as a tragedy.
But, even if all gender performance vanished, and everyone just became 'people' rather than 'men' and 'women', if it meant no more rape, no more war, and no more violent crime, forever, then I can only see that as a very acceptable trade. Three out of four women will be raped within their lifespan. Three fourths. And there are, on average, one hundred wars and conflicts going on in the world at any given time. And, as demonstrated in the many articles offered, all of that is virtually entirely the result of male behavior - 98% of the time. Women don't do that, and the reason is: testosterone. Humans are animals, and testosterone causes dominance behavior in animals. Violent dominance behavior. And yeah, football and violent movies and media help mitigate that a bit - but those rape stats and war stats are still real even with ways to allow males to 'let off steam'.
I think the real tragedy is that women cannot dare walk down a dark street alone - ever - without having to be very aware and careful for their very lives and bodies. A thing men can do casually.
If even Interpol says men are the problem then... well, what other solution is there? The species is broken. It's an engineering fix.
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Gender performance? You mean “[a]nything that you do to express your gender which is not innate but is the result of human cultural ideas of gender”.
I don't think that's what Rainbow Dash is doing. I think she's just being Rainbow Dash. In other words, I suppose: I think her masculinity is innate.
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But this gender prominence stuff isn't your main point. So anyway:
This virus may well result in a better world. It may be effective in curing evil. But it's a crude cure, with a lot of side-effects, that someone cooked up in his garage! A better cure, would be one that didn't feminize or manualize people. But instead, simply removed cruelty and induced compassion (or something).
I guarantee you: Men have no monopoly on evil. There are plenty of evil women in the world! Most of them won't use their fists to hurt you. They'll use their tongues, or some other indirect means. But they will hurt you! Because that's what evil people do, no matter how masculine or feminine they are.
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Making you feel bad is not even vaguely the same as getting an AK-47 and shooting up a mall because the people aren't the right color. Or raping an 8-year old, then chopping off her arms. Both of which happened, and both of which - of course - were done only by males. Because: facts.
I'm not talking about casual evil here. I'm not even suggesting things like 'saying mean words' or 'being passive aggressive'. I'm talking straight up atrocity of the kind that leaves dead burned bodies and headless children.
Yes, women can be evil. And two percent of them can even kill people, though not like men. Maybe one person or three. Not an entire school. Not an entire mall.
When I cite my statistics above, I mean bullets through eyeballs, guts hanging on trees, and men wearing skinned humans. That is not 'women can be evil too' stuff. That is men-only true, deep, there is no god level evil.
When you compare that with women saying mean things and maybe not wanting to date you or whatever, that is like comparing a child's plastic toy tank with all the real weapons of World War Two. That is a firecracker to the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. Frankly... women can be evil? Boo-fucking-hoo-hoo. Men can and will kill entire cities, nations, countries, all because somebody had the wrong color of flag. It's a matter of scale.
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Hm. You do have a point. But I know a truly evil woman, or two. There's a female relative of mine, who has a habit of ruining lives. She doesn't kill, she doesn't maim (as far as I know). But she's still able to ruin lives.
If your goal is to cause suffering: Violence can be an effective tool. It's sometimes more effective then a tongue, or other underhanded methods. If I wanted to hurt people: I could probably hurt a lot more people with a bomb or a machine-gun, then with my tongue.
But are evil men more evil, then evil women? Or is it that evil men are less cowardly, and more willing to risk their lives? I think it's closer to the latter. Horrible as the cause of hurting people is: It is virtuous to be willing to risk your life for your cause.
So if I'm right: It's not that evil men are more evil, then evil women. The women are actuality more evil, because they're cowards! Ironically, being cowards can limit their ability to hurt people. Furthermore: It's probably more honest and noble to punch someone in the face, or even outright kill someone, then it is to quietly ruin someone's life behind his back.
But that said: Don't underestimate the power of a tongue, or other non-violent and underhanded means, to hurt people! It can do a lot worse then "make you feel bad". If I wanted too: I might be able to accuse an old teacher of mine of rape, and get his life ruined. I could probably think of a dozen other ways I could use my tongue, to really hurt people.
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There is an easy way to answer that. Do you like having eyes? Is having arms and legs something you enjoy? Would you rather have your social life destroyed and your reputation ruined - or - your skin burned from your screaming, writhing body? Is being vivisected with an axe worse than being insulted constantly?
In the answer to these, is the answer to your question about male/female evil.
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I can't deny that you have a good point. Though I'm not convinced that (willfully, intentionally) ruining someone's life is less evil then murder. But for the sake of the argument, let's say it is. Let's agree that violent means of hurting people are more evil, then non-violent and underhanded means.
I still think it's a mistake to say that male violence comes from the evil in men's hearts, and female pacifism comes from the goodness in women's hearts. Because this goes beyond violence! Generally speaking: Men are more willing to risk or give their lives, then women. It's much more common for a man to give his life to protect a woman, then the other way around.
I hate to say this (about women in general, rather then evil women specifically). But compared to men, women are cowards! That a huge part of the reason men are more violent then women: Violence requires putting yourself in physical danger. Putting yourself in physical danger requires bravery, a bravery that's much more common in men then women.
I seriously doubt evil women avoid violence, because it's wrong. I doubt they get sadistic joy out of hurting people, but suddenly grow a conscience when it comes to violence. I think it's much more likely that they're cowards, who just don't want to put themselves in danger. In other words: Evil women's actions may be less evil then their male counterparts, because they refrain from violence. But they're refraining from violence for the wrong reasons! So they're not actually less evil then their male counterparts, they're just less brave.
In short: You (if I understand your correctly) attribute female non-violence to the goodness in women's hearts. You say that even evil women refrain from violence, because of their conscience. I disagree. I attribute female non-violence to cowardness, not conscience.
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I never said nor implied that. Such a statement has zero to do with anything I have written. How did you even...?
I said, that high testosterone levels were the primary factor in the difference between petty evil and horrific, violent, deadly evil. Testosterone. The hormone exists in both men and women, but in women it is just a tiny tiny bit, just enough to give them a sex drive. In men it is vastly greater, and in some men, it is absurd.
Testosterone causes behavior changes: increased aggression, territoriality, possessiveness, and shortness of temper. You've heard stories of sports jocks shooting up steroids? Steroids are just artificial testosterone-like hormones. You've heard stories about those same jocks becoming violent, hitting women and children, getting in fights, being dangerous? Yeah. That's the deal, natural or artificial.
Do you know why they castrate horses to make geldings? So they won't kill you. So they won't smash your brains in with a hoof. That's why. That's why gelding horses exists. They calm right down. They behave. They like to be friends and get along with other horses.
And that is basically what the PNY-1 virus does in my stories.
'Evil' doesn't exist. Evil is just a word that means 'bad things that we don't like'. There is no real, physical, actual evil anywhere in all the universe. But there is violence. Physical violence. Torture and murder and war and bullying, those are real. We call them evil, but they are behaviors. Stop the chemicals that cause those behaviors to happen, and you stop the behaviors. That is what the Friendship Virus does.
Those behaviors? They come from what male hormones do. It works in Nature, it keeps animal populations high. But in humans, who no longer live like the animals they are, these behaviors are destructive. They don't work anymore. But humans are still animals and do them anyway. That is why the world sucks. That is why we have child armies and rape and torture and nationalism and racism and all the bad things. The Friendship Virus is an answer to fix that. But, like all things, there is a price.
The price is that in order to have a nice planet, we have to get rid of a lot of what makes males masculine. I say that is a fair trade, compared to, say, nuclear war killing everything everywhere.
If you don't like screaming as your skin burns in a nuclear holocaust caused by men thinking they need to prove how much they love their flags, I think you might agree with me. You don't actually want... to have your skin burned off, right? I hear that sucks.
Oh, and by the way - there is no 'goodness' either. There is no evil or goodness in anyone's hearts. At all. There is just selfishness and aggression, or altruism and compassion. They are behaviors caused by chemicals in the brain. Not the heart. The brain.
Guess what chemicals help to cause altruism and compassion? Estrogen and oxytocin - hormones that women have, especially when they are raising children.
So, you do the math. What would you get if you could force the entire world to have less testosterone and more oxytocin and estrogen?
Pretty much heaven is the answer. Pretty much heaven. A nice world filled with nice people doing nice things because it is nice.
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Well, just shortly after this comment was made I found another thread with similar comments:
{irony}
{/irony}
But also a bit down the stream....
Well, it might be interesting to think about those 'competative' males - may be they just occupy top/most visible place and not allow anyone with lower 'drive' to express themselves, even unintentionally? So, may be this 'high drive' not really needed .
I wonder if there simple/cheap test to see those hormonal levels in blood?
On horses .... my another recent find:
Polygamous Space Horses: Considering Equinoid Sexuality
But I think this line of thinking assumes our little
ponieshorses not really develop means to control whatever work as their hormones and neuromediators up until ~our and above level of technological advancement ...well, magical horses can do it early, may be (due to nature of magic heavily linked to individual's characteristics - something different to chew on long travels thinking about science! . more complex to start from, compared to geometry and physics, too.). So, I have Plan B for Celestia and Equestria-without-fear - even if only one powerful alicorn become ultrasensitive to this violence problem in her surroundings and everywhere - she will be forced, over centuries , to do SOMETHING about all this pain.. may be with pony's own equivalent of pony virus! :}There are many, many things I'd like to say to you. But... well, here's my response.
You are Juror Ten.
That's all you are. Juror Ten. There is no difference between anything you've said in this story and in this comment section and what Juror 10 has said. Absolutely none.
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Except for the massive number of links I provided, above, to police from all over the world, various government agencies from multiple nations, medical articles, and respected scientific studies on the subject. Except for all of the real-world evidence. You may not like what the police, governments, doctors, and scientists have to say, but your dislike does not change reality.
Oddly, I am ever the champion of humanity in all of my stories. But just because I am their champion, does not mean I am blind to their faults. I champion humanity despite their faults, cognizant of both their greatness and their failings. I champion humanity genuinely, and not through some unreasoning devotion or expected allegiance.
Mankind is a dangerous animal, but one that shows great possibility to become truly civilized some day. I believe in that potential. It is simply that such has not quite been realized... yet. But that is okay. Such things take time.
I think you may have miscounted, I am the sitting juror at the table, Juror #4, that speaks at the very end of the clip.
Thank you, Slick 146, for being such a fan of my work, and for reading my stories. I appreciate your loving support and encouragement.