by Lesley Renee Charles
Chapter 2
“You will have a choice to make tomorrow. If you choose to act more manly then the sentence will be vacated, but if you choose to continue on the path you are now, you will undergo the sentence. Lead him back to his cell so that he can think about his decision. Your fate is now in your hands, choose wisely.”
The group of men led me back to my caged cell and threw me in it. Before leaving me they unbound my hands and removed my gag. I was terrified of what lay ahead of me. I wished that I could go back to just a few days ago when I thought I had it all under control.
I knew that I did not really want to do what the group that held me captive wanted me to do to be considered a man. I was not into team sports, especially with the slender build that I had. I was not interested in cars and machines. I wondered why was it wrong for a man to be effeminate if that was who he was. Why did I have to act a certain way to be considered a man. I know that my father and brothers were disappointed in the fact that I did not act macho. I just wanted to be me and did not think that it is wrong for a man to be sensitive and in touch with his feelings.
I guess I have been a quiet dreamer all of my life. I liked to enjoy the beauty of roses and the other flowers in bloom. I loved to smell the fragrance of fresh cut grass. I enjoyed the gurgling of a water fall or the babbling of a brook. Maybe this may make me seem like less of a man, compared to the macho males that were presently holding me captive. I did not know if I wanted to be a girl either. I did not really believe I wanted to live like a woman, but I did want to continue to do the things I loved to do. I just really wondered why mankind was really hung up on what constitutes a man and why if somebody did not follow those guidelines was it considered a serious crime. I was being held hostage by a group of men who followed those guidelines and wanted to force me to fall in line with the stereotypical male behavior. I felt that I was all man even though I had a more sensitive albeit maybe a feminine nature, but did that make me less of a man.
An hour later, one of my captors returned carrying two bags.
“These bags each contain an article of clothing. You are to put on the article of clothing that fits with what you decide to do. You are to be wearing it when we come back. What happens tomorrow all depends on what you are wearing.”
The first bag contained a blue jock strap. The other one held a pink dancer's gaffe. I knew that this second article of clothing was used to hide the male genitals, hence it was to show my decision to be a lady.
I went to sleep after looking into the bags. Upon wakening I reached into the bag and put on . . .
I left this as a cliffhanger. I plan on writing it both ways, but if I get enough comments about either path I will write that one first.
Comments
I love this cliffhanger!
no matter which he chooses, he loses a part of himself. I'm guessing he'd rather be a girl than try and be a macho jerk, but what a choice to have to make ....
I know. Unfortunately this
I know. Unfortunately this mirrors our society to a point. I wonder how many men do things because they have to do that or do they really want to do it.
Act like a Boy
I would say he/she puts on the gaffe as he is built more like a girl and has the soft features of a girl
Richard
Richard, that is definitely
Richard, that is definitely one very real possibility. I am interested in exploring his feelings dealing with being treated like a girl.
Act like a Boy or else . . . Chapter 2
Either way, he loses. Why not BOTH to really see what they'd do?
May Your Light Forever Shine
Stan, I do intend to try to
Stan, I do intend to try to explore the many avenues that this idea can go. I think it may be interesting to see which directions get read the most.
Something many people don't realize
It doesn't matter. If he chooses the manly clothes he is still who he is. If he picks the feminine same difference.
Where it gets interesting is forced feminization, hormones, possible mutilation, that sort of thing. I assume this is a fantasy society, it has been less than 100 years where more sophisticated surgery has made some amazing things possible in real life. Given a society that has several hundred years behind it it may disappear as an issue all together. Old habits and traditions die hard, but they do die with the older people.
I have to ask, did you really intend there to be multiple chapters?
Yes I did intend for more
Yes I did intend for more chapters. This was just a little idea that came to me and is not letting me be. I do definitely intend to take the forced feminization route, but I am thinking of exploring the other avenues also. There are just so many ways to take this story, at least in my mind.
It would be interesting to
It would be interesting to see different takes on this. Reminds me of a horror anime where the 'same' story was told several times, but everytime it went a different route.
grtz & hugs,
Sarah xxx
Right Choice - Bad Result: Bad Choice - Right Result
Just because someone is effeminate in appearance and posture doesn't necessarily make him female in his mind. Nor does a masculine appearing woman have to be butch. Genetics can be a cruel mistress. Because a boy is not athletic, is uncoordinated, and is not muscular doesnn't make him any less of a man. Because a woman is homely, flat chested, with a poorly proportioned body doesn't make her any less a woman. Here is a society governed by stereotypical thinking - not much different than today's.
Our hero/heroine has to make a choice. He/she can't avoid it. Suppose he takes the blue jockstrap - certainly only symbolic. Does that change anything about him physically? What is this society able to do? What the choice means is that he will have to consciously alter every little thing about him that raised the flag in the first place. Can society physically change him so that there is no physical vestige of his femininity. If that was possible, surely he would have had that done years before.
Suppose she chooses the pink gaff. Accordingly, she will have to live as a female for the rest of her life. I'm beginning to sense a society where the transgendered are forcefully made to transition. This is far too 'black and white'.
I am nearly seventy years old, don't present a feminine image, am not very attractive, and have chosen to have breasts - the only slightly detectable feminine thing about me. Suppose fifty plus years ago I had gone to the authorities to admit my female feelings. Would I have been rejected for transition because I was too masculine? I do like sports, but I'm not very good. I love chick flicks. I find men unattractive in a physical sense, and crave - appreciate feminine beauty. Probably, the only way I could ever have transitioned would have been if I had been properly identified when I was prepubescent, and had started treatment at that time. The only problem was at that age I was too afraid to admit my feelings in a homophobic household where one was forced to try to conform to someone else's sterotypical thinking.
So, I come back to this two edged sword. What would I have done in the same situation? For arguement's sake let's say I was outwardly more effeminate than I was. I think I would know, be aware of, what the results of either choice would be. Of course it would be a life alterring decision, a decision I would embrace. The gaff would have been my choice. My life would have been tremendously different. Would I have been any happier than I am now, some fifty years later. The question is moot. But not being able to know the future, that would have been my choice.
Portia
Portia, you hit the nail on
Portia, you hit the nail on the head. I deliberately made this group embrace our present stereotypical behavior. Fortunately, this is a small, radical group, unfortunately our hero, has to appease them to get out and then try to undo whatever develops. I think I am going to have fun exploring the possible outcomes of this story. Thank God, this is fiction but all of us transgendered folks have to make decisions like this everyday. Those decisions are made even harder when our loved ones don't understand our needs and issues.
He could get a labotomy Lesley!
And become really macho!
Age is an issue of mind over matter.
If you don't mind, it doesn't matter!
(Mark Twain)
LoL
Rita
Rita, that is one option I
Rita, that is one option I didn't think of. But I don't know if I want him to be really macho, that may be a step in the wrong direction. :)
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare had a good point when Hamlet spoke "To be or not to be, that is the question." My vote was and still is to BE who I am. Our young person with the binary decision can never be the MAN physically no matter how much they work him over. But being a woman is within reach.
In MY Humble Opinion.
The only bad question is the one not asked.