The Ladies Book Club

Abstract

What is worse, the attack, or the revenge for being attacked? Can forcing trauma another create empathy? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the ladies book club has morphed. It has become a project for sexually assaulted women to hunt and assault random men in return. They do this, they say, to teach men to live in fear and understand the fear women experience every day. The story centers around Ben, a man lured into a back alley who is then tased and sodomized with a broomstick by the book club women. However, unlike the other men, Ben researches and learns about his attackers, rather than going to the police, plans his revenge. After weeks of planning he lures one of the book club leaders, Marion to his car. He is planning to attack her, just as she is planning to attack him. A fight breaks out, Marion gets the upper hand, and kills Ben.