Gender Anxiety

Set in 2050 when the United States has fractured politically into ten sovereign territories, with Los Angeles as the capital of one of these territories, the self-appointed governing council is considering a motion to reduce the female to male ratio. With artificial-womb technology perfected to the point where women are no longer required as gestaters, this move is widely expected to be the prelude to an eventual elimination of “general purpose females”.

Two young people have been selected to present to Council their opposing views on the motion. One of them is Jade, a woman of twenty-five who will be advocating for her own sex. The other is Brendan, a charming man of twenty-five who will be providing an opinion on whether the latest Joy-Bot technology is up to the task of replacing women in their sexual capacity.

Jade confers with some friends as she prepares her presentation for the Council. They debate the merits of womanhood and all the possible arguments for retaining it.

Brendan confers with his buddies at a bar where they drink too much and act like idiots.

Jade is advised by the wife of the Council president that her presentation is for show only, and that Council’s only true concern is in hearing Brendan proclaim the arrival of the long-awaited Joy-Bot Paradise. Jade’s only hope to save the future of her gender is to undermine Brendan’s presentation so that Council will not get the endorsement they want for their motion.

Jade contacts Brendan and convinces him to meet with her to discuss their presentations.

When they get together Jade loses sight of her objective of winning over Brendan and instead becomes frustrated with his willingness to accept girlmageddon. She belittles him and he walks out.

Jade is more than a little surprised when it turns out that Brendan finds her confrontational style to be highly invigorating and much preferable to his Joy-Bot experience.

Brendan’s altered attitude leads to romantic feelings between them. Problems arise when Brendan’s government-appointed handler uses legal coercion to get Brendan to agree to a positive review of the Joy-Bot.

When she delivers her presentation to Council, she warns them of the threat of becoming protoplasmic replicas of the bots they so cherish. This so impresses Brendan that he dispenses with his prepared text and rejects the notion of a Joy-Bot paradise..

Upon learning of Brendan’s actions Jade becomes convinced that a romance with him might be worth a try even if the future for both of them looks decidedly un-promising in the dystopian world of the second half of the twenty-first century.

The script is designed to be produced on a limited budget, with few locations and few actors, and no special effects. There are no robots in this script.