F.
Things had been this way for a very long time.
Women, who suffered these injustices, these rapes, forced marriages, female genital mutilation, acid attacks, blows from hammers or guns, the confiscation of their wombs and genitals, and many other indignities, had finally begun to demonstrate, brandishing the Declaration of Women’s Rights, shouting that they were born free and that they remained equal to men in rights. In vain, their cries were lost in a vast clamor that did not disturb the serenity of men.
One day, however, the sound of their distress reached the clouds and disturbed the gods in their sleep. Seeing that men refused to take action, the gods decided to take matters into their own hands. And so, one fine morning, they were seen descending the great ladder, carrying large images.
Men rushed to greet them, but the gods did not even glance at them. They hung the large images on a wall and called to the women who were standing apart. The gods asked if the large images were true. In unison, they answered, “Yes!” They brought in the men and asked the same question. Only the song of the cicadas broke the silence.
Then each god stood before a man and a woman and said, “Man, you are now Woman; Woman, you are now Man.” Then they burned the large images and climbed back up the great ladder.
The last god was disappearing at the top of the great ladder when an object fell, revealing a flailing, bare foot. The men, now women, picked it up and looked at each other in astonishment. It was a boot, a small red boot with a high heel.
Divine.
