"Thank you, Mei," Dr. Prynn says to your classmate, who is sitting straight up in her chair with shoulders back, chest out, and hands folded neatly in front of her. Good Goddess, you think. She's such a sycophant, right down to her perfect posture. You can't wait to knock her down a peg.
"And what makes you so sure men are unthinking, unfeeling animals?" You question Mei.
"Just look at them," she says, turning her nose up at the alpha males still grappling uselessly in their cage. "What do they expect their bloodshed to achieve? Their instincts still drive them to impress women by demonstrating their..." she stops to chuckle, "physical dominance when their pitiful power struggles only increase our contempt for them. The only good thing that comes from men is sperm with an X chromosome!"
You don't know where to begin. "And when you want that X chromosome in order to have a daughter, won't you choose a powerful, healthy man as your sperm source? How do you think he got so strong? The alpha males achieve their dominance through physical aggression, so their violent acts are rewarded with sexual release. On top of that, their sons are more likely to share their father's genetic predisposition toward belligerence. You feel compassion for the omega, yet you would never choose his seed to impregnate you. So, at least indirectly, you are impressed by the alphas' display. You perpetuate the very behavior that supposedly so disgusts you!"
"Men shouldn't connect their behavior now to something that happens so far in the future, that is, if their brains possessed the sophistication to do so in the first place. You still haven't convinced me that men are thinking, feeling animals," she concludes, bringing up a hand to flip her hair back in an unmistakably dismissive gesture. Even though women knew the men who lived before The Great Shrink had thoughts and feelings; albeit thoughts of war and feelings of greed, the tiny creatures that scurried among them in the modern world seemed as distantly related to their giant ancestors as birds did to dinosaurs, even though men and women remained one species.
"Well, Mei, do you think dolphins and apes are thinking, feeling animals?"
She hesitates, not sure what trap you're setting for her. "Yes..."
"Good. Then this should be very enlightening." You unzip your purse and peer into its depths, fishing out your compact and a tube of lipstick. With these items in your possession, you rise from your chair, move to the stairs, and go to the front of the lecture hall, stopping in front of the professor and holding out your free hand. "May I please have the tiny boy?" You request, eyes focused on the poor omega, who has, for at least a minute by this time, been dangling from one leg pinched between the doctor's fingers. A closer inspection of the tiny male reveals that he's probably slightly older than you, but it's common practice for women to refer to a man as a boy regardless of age. The phrase "grown man," in particular, had become a favorite oxymoron of womankind. Even as a little girl, "boy" is how you addressed males old enough to have been your father, who were also helpless in your hands now.
"May I ask what you plan to do with him?" Dr. Prynn asks.
You turn toward the class, looking at Mei more than anyone else. Her eyes have narrowed well beyond their natural shape as she glares at you. "It's called the mirror test, and while it seems incredibly basic to women, few other beings have passed. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, Dr. Prynn." You turn your head toward her and extend your hand once again. "Now, may I please have the boy?"
The professor seems suspicious but offers you the omega. When reaching for him, you twist your wrist so that when your hand is once again in its upright position, so is he. The blood is no longer rushing to his head, but, you soon realize, to a completely different "head," which you can feel pressing against the soft flesh of your palm as he admires you, his savior.
You redirect your attention from the wee worshiper to your fellow demi goddesses. "When most animals look into a mirror, they think that what they see is another animal, but some of the most intelligent animals, like dolphins and apes, recognize themselves. They're self-aware; they realize their individuality. How about we see if a man does the same?" You place the compact mirror on the table at the front of the room and open the lipstick, bringing it toward the man's forehead, which prompts him to writhe in your grip and hold up his arms to shield himself. You can't help but wonder if this is just the usual defensive reflex or if he's been subjected to cosmetics testing in the past; though none of your makeup has been tested on animals, including men. After pinning his arms to his side, you touch the tip of the stick to his forehead, leaving a red spot. "Now, if the boy is self-aware, he should look at that spot of lipstick on his forehead in the compact mirror and try to wipe it off," you explain before flipping open the compact, whose mirror is, to him, full length.
You step away from the table to give everyone a clear view, and the man's gaze finally shifts from you to his reflection.
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