Smokey
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Lessons Learned (Stepfordization Short Story)
🕑 Added 2021-05-26 14:43:17 +0000 UTCI’m not completely sure why, but I’ve been on a bit of a femdom Stepfordization kick lately. Normally, that might not be so odd, but for Stepfordization it certainly feels like it! That said, I believe I only have one more story up my sleeve currently which features that element.
Truthfully, I just find it interesting to explore the idea of women reinforcing the patriarchal hierarchy of Stepford. Knowing that they won’t be treated on an equal level as men, even as they brainwash their fellow women, but doing so because they genuinely believe it’s the right thing to do. The Specialist offered one look at that, and this story offers another, slightly different, angle on the subject, as it follows a teacher throughout a day in her life in Stepford.
The idea of there being a sort of ”extra grade” in Stepford is one I may come back to eventually. For here, it was entirely just a practical way of making it clear that all the characters were legally of age, but I do think it holds potential as far as infantilizing women (and some men) and forcing them to get a Stepford education, at least until they reach their 20s. Why let someone slip through the cracks just because they moved to town at the age of 19, right?
I also had a lot of fun with thinking about how Stepford might go about teaching history. They’d have to cover certain subjects, but I imagine they’d have a very... interesting... version of events. And, of course, making some rather dubious claims about famous women throughout history.
Lastly, I thought it’d be interesting to sort of show the other side of some stories. You could easily imagine a story focusing on the troublemaker in her class, or the girl who got herself a football player boyfriend, with the teacher playing a minor role in them. But here, we see her playing a role in several stories, all just as part of a day‘s work.
Regardless of all that, please enjoy!
Comments
Smokey
Thank you! I do love worldbuilding, haha~ Currently, I think thar they just keep a general eye out for traits of a more dominant Stepford woman, such as students who talk down to other girls, or who seem to latch onto more complicated subjects with ease, so on and so forth. But there’s a fine line between a dominant woman who upholds Stepford values (gender role conformity and respect for a patriarchal society, for example), and a strong willed woman who resists those things. The former would take an aptitude test, while the latter would be Stepfordized, as would anybody who got a certain outcome on the aptitude test. I may explore that more in a story in the future, actually!
vasily26
Lovely! Really, really love the fake history. There’s something delicious about Stepford rewriting feminist icons to instead be archetypes of servility and obedience. And it makes sense that they would have to tell it like this in order to justify their society. I love your attention to world-building in these stories. Which makes me wonder: how do these dominant lesbian women get selected/confirmed? Is there some kind of aptitude test every woman has to take before they graduate Stepford school, and if they answer questions in certain ways they’re allowed to pursue a job and housewife of their own?
