The Artificial Wife and #MeToo
I'm well aware that by releasing The Artificial Wife now, I'll look as though I'm jumping on the #MeToo bandwagon. In fact, when I started writing the story in June last year, it was the culmination of a personal rebellion.
I've always been a staunch feminist. I first became "woke" when I read The Handmaid's Tale as a teenager - it forced me to see that the world I lived in wasn't and couldn't be fair as long as men and women were at loggerheads.
It was appalling to learn that women had only been granted the vote within living memory, that they had been barred from being awarded degrees, that they were expected to give up work after they married. I'd already perceived that men and women were treated differently; this archaic baggage was presumably why. I felt as though Nature had played a dirty trick on me by making me female, and wondered why people didn't seem to be angry about it. I was furious.
This sense of injustice has remained with me. I've heard harrowing accounts of domestic abuse, where men have believed they own their partners body and soul. Rapes, harassment, catcalling - these are part of daily experience for women. Every girl and woman has a similar tale. Yet all too often it's dismissed, tidied away, ignored.
Two events galvanised me. The most significant, culturally speaking, was that President Trump was inaugurated, despite being a predator *by his own admission.* Never mind numerous women had accused him of sexual assault - this was somehow shrugged off. I don't think I've ever been as sickened and frightened as I was that day. The election result said to the women of the world: "It doesn't matter what men say and do. They can still aspire to be the most powerful person on earth - and you can do nothing to stop it."
Around the same time, I read Wendy Moore's How To Create the Perfect Wife. It introduced me to Thomas Day, the charmer discussed in my last blog. Although we'd like to think that we know better nowadays - that a strange man couldn't waltz in and buy two young girls simply because he was wealthy and privileged - the truth is we honestly don't know. Recent revelations have shown that once a man reaches a certain rank in society, he's untouchable. It's only now we're uncovering decades of abuse, in all walks of life.
I thought about transplanting Day's experiment to the modern day, but it felt too raw and unsubtle. By making his victims artificials, I'm saying: if you're upset by this happening to robots, why aren't you outraged when it happens to girls and women in real life?
I've always been a staunch feminist. I first became "woke" when I read The Handmaid's Tale as a teenager - it forced me to see that the world I lived in wasn't and couldn't be fair as long as men and women were at loggerheads.
It was appalling to learn that women had only been granted the vote within living memory, that they had been barred from being awarded degrees, that they were expected to give up work after they married. I'd already perceived that men and women were treated differently; this archaic baggage was presumably why. I felt as though Nature had played a dirty trick on me by making me female, and wondered why people didn't seem to be angry about it. I was furious.
This sense of injustice has remained with me. I've heard harrowing accounts of domestic abuse, where men have believed they own their partners body and soul. Rapes, harassment, catcalling - these are part of daily experience for women. Every girl and woman has a similar tale. Yet all too often it's dismissed, tidied away, ignored.
Two events galvanised me. The most significant, culturally speaking, was that President Trump was inaugurated, despite being a predator *by his own admission.* Never mind numerous women had accused him of sexual assault - this was somehow shrugged off. I don't think I've ever been as sickened and frightened as I was that day. The election result said to the women of the world: "It doesn't matter what men say and do. They can still aspire to be the most powerful person on earth - and you can do nothing to stop it."
Around the same time, I read Wendy Moore's How To Create the Perfect Wife. It introduced me to Thomas Day, the charmer discussed in my last blog. Although we'd like to think that we know better nowadays - that a strange man couldn't waltz in and buy two young girls simply because he was wealthy and privileged - the truth is we honestly don't know. Recent revelations have shown that once a man reaches a certain rank in society, he's untouchable. It's only now we're uncovering decades of abuse, in all walks of life.
I thought about transplanting Day's experiment to the modern day, but it felt too raw and unsubtle. By making his victims artificials, I'm saying: if you're upset by this happening to robots, why aren't you outraged when it happens to girls and women in real life?
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