The Sappho Plague

[NapoleonXIV]

A bacterium is inadvertently released from a government laboratory. Its meant to kill almost everybody but is far from ready. It kills 95% of the world's population of men and of women over the age of menopause. Fertile women and girls to age 0 are almost universally spared. The disease itself is an offshoot of flesh eating bacteria and accelerates the decay of the corpse precipitately.

Besides the obvious implications for erotic fiction (which is the major reason I'm pursuing this scenario,) can anyone see any unusual or interesting developments this would lead to?

I'm not putting this with ASB because AFAIK it is pretty much within the realm of possibility, although definitely very unlikely.

[Tom_B]

In it Jimmy Bond (played by Woody Allen) has a disease that kills all men over a certain fairly low height threshold as well as sparing women.

[Diamond]

Fertile women and girls to age 0 are almost universally spared.

What happens when they reach menopause age? Is the bacterium dormant till then? Or is it killed off long before then by (I'm assuming) estrogen? If the bacterium is gone from the system by the time the women reach menopause, eventually you'll have a group of older women who by virtue of age gain leadership positions.

What happens to the surviving 5% of men? Are they rounded up like stud bulls and forced to impregnate dozens of women a day? Oh, the horror... :)

[Doctor What]

What happens to the surviving 5% of men? Are they rounded up like stud bulls and forced to impregnate dozens of women a day? Oh, the horror... :)


A large amazon-like woman grabs hold of Diamond and drags him home

Him make good snu-snu! :D

[David Howery]

there was an episode of Sliders with this theme (it was Saddam who unleashed the plague.. boy, I bet he was sorry in the end...). I don't think men would be forced onto stud farms; more likely, artificial insemination would be massively popular. You have to wonder what 5% of men would survive. What if it was only skinny little D&D/Trekkie geeks? Would women all recoil in horror, or would lust eventually make them lower their standards? What if 95% of the 5% survivors were already married? Oh the fun we can have with this...

[Grey Wolf]

Fertile women and girls to age 0 are almost universally spared.

What does this mean ?

Grey Wolf

[Diamond]

A large amazon-like woman grabs hold of Diamond and drags him home


Just don't touch the hair.




:)

[Wombat]

In Cross the Stars by David Drake (IIRC) one of the stories relates to a palnet where all the men were wiped out by a virus - the women survived via sperm banks and screwing and then killing the crews of any space ships that visited having formed a strictly Amazon society. Its a theme that has been done a lot in sci-fi and film.

I imagins the 5% includes boys, old men, the disabled - a fair representative of what is out there now. If its an ongoing thing I imagine males would be largely coddled - monogamy and homosexuality (for men) would be outlawed - at the same time I imagine lesbianism would be encouraged. Women would tend, in the west, to have children much younger than they do now, so they would be around to watch their children grow up. ALL workplaces would include a creche, but maternity leave would probably not exist.

The problem is with such massive depopulation would ther still be enough people with the technological skills to maintain civilization as we know it, or would you see a rapid drop to a pre-technology civilization? We'd be left with a population that is under-representative of our own in terms of technical training (i'm not saying ability, just training). Would they be able to maintain powerplants, especially nuclear? If not we'd eventually see at least some nuclear disasters.

[David Howery]

Ha! there's a thought... what if all the surviving men were gay? That'd put an end to the human population... or at least put a huge dent in it.... :eek:

[DominusNovus]

More interesting would be in a few generations, as the # of men and women start to balance out again. The women will probably try to legislate their hold on power, so the men will have to be sneaky, manipulative, and deceptive to secure their power.

Which would be totally unfair for the women. After all, thats the only thing they're really good at, manipulation and deception. Men can outsmart and outfight women, now they can outwit them too...

:D

Ain't I an ass?

[Landshark]

Just don't touch the hair.




:)

No, not the hair, never the hair! Would she actually be able to get a grip what with all the nancy boy hair gel your head is covered with?

[NapoleonXIV]

"Girls to age 0 means that women are immune from birth to menopause, then they die. No women who develop symptoms survive.

The men who survive do so by strength alone, so we have the youngest and strongest surviving at first. Immunity is not passed on so 95% of males continue to die at birth or in early infancy, again the strongest survive.

Hopefully, civilization will collapse but not entirely and it will take quite a while to recover. The main thing is we'll have lots of potential for post apocalyptic violence and lesbian love scenes :D

[Susano]

"Ain't I an ass?"
Overhere its called realist :D

[DominusNovus]

"Ain't I an ass?"
Overhere its called realist :D
Heh, well, thats what it used to be called here too. :D

I am an ass though, so I figure stating that would be a good way to cover my ass in case the PC police come along.

[Doctor What]

Hopefully, civilization will collapse but not entirely and it will take quite a while to recover. The main thing is we'll have lots of potential for post apocalyptic violence and lesbian love scenes :D

Hey Napolean--how did you become amazingly good at typing with one hand?.... :D

[Susano]

Lol, guys, this thread just shows again the obvious - we need more female AHers. Or, any female AHers at all :D

[Landshark]

Lol, guys, this thread just shows again the obvious - we need more female AHers. Or, any female AHers at all :D

Okay then, how if we each abduct a young woman off the street and chain her up in the cellar with only a computer permanently linked to AH.Com for company?






What?

[Doctor What]

Okay then, how if we each abduct a young woman off the street and chain her up in the cellar with only a computer permanently linked to AH.Com for company?






What?

Nah--wouldn't work for me--barely got room for the three I've got already...

[Diamond]

Nah--wouldn't work for me--barely got room for the three I've got already...

LMAO!!!

I keep seeing that scene from 'Silence of the Lambs' - "It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again..."

:D :D :D

[robertp6165]

Ha! there's a thought... what if all the surviving men were gay? That'd put an end to the human population... or at least put a huge dent in it.... :eek:

Nah, just require them all to go into a small room with a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger once a day and produce a sample. Then they can go have all the fun they want.

[RMG]

"Ain't I an ass?"
Overhere its called realist :D

I'm gonna have to go with ass. :rolleyes:

[DominusNovus]

I'm gonna have to go with ass. :rolleyes:
Nah. Its both. You can be an ass as you tell the truth. I've done it often enough.

[NapoleonXIV]

Hey Napolean--how did you become amazingly good at typing with one hand?.... :D

Well, it wasn't in the story section here ;)