In some ways it was fairly predictable. Those newly at the highest ends of the power structure wanted to maintain that new height. They had gotten there through a large die-off of the male members of the species.
Loved ones had died in often lingering painful deaths with their endocrine systems shutting down - the women in their lives having to shoulder on in the meantime.
However the ones who had done this were hiding amongst them. While there was some effort in some countries to shift the blame to other groups, including the men themselves, the video was repeated so often and circulated so widely that it became widely accepted.
How the society reacted largely depended on the society itself. The United States had enough sperm banks and similar methods that their numbers might drop, but that they would remain viable nations. Less technologically developed countries were in severe problems, facing a future far less certain. Not only were there less methods of artificial insemination available, the plague had swept through those areas all the harsher.
With Pluto's Kiss killing off a sizable number of males in the mid 80s, it was 1988 that saw a new crime taking off. Male-napping by less developed countries began occurring. The worst case of which was Adrian Gonzales, a US Citizen, who was killed when he was kidnapped but the air holes to his crate had gotten blocked. That received a high degree of publicity and a public outcry - but the crime continued.
Mamoru Chiba, one of the survivors, grew up without parents as a ward of the state. As he was weak and not very masculine in some respects, Chiba was ferried off to a compound in Sapporo where he could be watched over.
Ranma Saotome and his father Genma were united with their local Nodoka Saotome, and it was found that the situation in some ways was ideal - as far as Nodoka was concerned. Ranma would grow up to be very manly indeed.
In most countries, men became "kept" by their women. Polygamy wasn't stricken from the books, but it became an overlooked law. The women who had a boyfriend/husband achieved a higher social status, and it wasn't unheard of for friends to "share" a boyfriend amongst themselves.
Men's rights took a plummet in some countries. Many saw them as a commodity or property, to be sold and traded. Others doted on their male survivors. Most nations took a stance between the two.
In Japan, polygamy was legalized. Large families encouraged through tax incentives. Men were protected by family, kept away from prying eyes and potential male-napping.
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(Posted Thu, 23 Sep 2004 09:53)
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