Seeing a couple of critiques about a new Doctor Who episode, that has been given the meme name “Planet of Incels,” I got an idea for a sci-fi short story.
A team of female archeologists explore the ruins of a once thriving advanced civilization. Their goal is to determine why that society collapsed. Through their examination, they determine that the cause was feminism.
I could call the short story “Planet of the Spinsters.” The twist is they have a disagreement over whether to hide their findings. One of the women sabotaged their ship and communication in order to prevent the warning message from being sent. The women descend to fighting one another; all but one dies and she is doomed to live and die alone.
Okay this idea started as a joke but I am liking the story. It is a Bechdel test winner as it is all female characters and they don’t talk about a man.
It reminds me of the lyrics from Roger Waters’ song “Amused to Death”:
“And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen-eyed look-out
Spied a flickering light
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Groups ’round the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data in their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the only explanation left
This species has amused itself to death
No tears to cry
No feelings left
This species has amused itself to death”
Jaycee Woods 
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