text: Eliza lay awake in bed. She couldn’t fall asleep. Tomorrow was her Silencing ceremony, and she was beyond excited, but, well, also nervous. Once she returned from the clinic, she would have lost the power of speech. Of course, it was partially symbolic, she would still be able to communicate through writing and typing, obviously. And she would still go to school, become educated and have a career- in fact her occupation profile was finalized- she would become a software engineer, and as of next term, she would be studying programming almost exclusively. Occupational profiles had to be finalized before the Silencing, in case there were women with exceptional singing voices who would be allowed to keep their vocal chords and join the entertainment industry. All the others were Silenced. Today had been full of celebrations and joy. Her mom and older sisters had spent months planning it. She had the most beautiful dress - everybody had been dressed beautifully, as a matter of fact, the food had been amazing, and a special group of Singers had been hired for live entertainment. It had been a truly incredible experience. What with Dad’s high-paid job as Teacher, money had never been an issue for them. Eliza had wanted to become a Teacher, like her Dad. She had grown up watching him prepare lesson plans, grade assignments with his thick chunky red pens, discussing course content and pedagogy with his colleagues loudly and passionately. She was enthralled by it all and knew, as indeed her Dad told her, there was actually nothing more noble and worthwhile than teaching and shaping the mind of the young. No wonder only men were entrusted to be Teachers. She remembered her mom laughing until the tears ran down her face when she had first mentioned wanting to become like Teacher “Just like Daddy”. Then mom had gathered her in her arms and sobbed as if her heart had broken. Eliza was told about the Silencing a short while after that. She was ready for it. She understood why it was necessary. Dad had explained it all carefully: the history, the benefits to society, the evolution from a symbolic tattoo along the throat, to an actual, painless clinical procedure which disabled the vocal chords of women permanently. She was lucky she had a Teacher Dad who took the time to explain things so beautifully to her- others would usually just get an official brochure with the date and time of their Silencing appointment, although schools sometimes included educational material on Silencing. However, as Dad said, it was very important that it was taught correctly, with proper context, otherwise it wouldn’t be understood properly. That’s why Teaching was such an important job. It didn’t used to be like that, in the bad old days, when women jabbered, chattered, gossiped, wheedled, manipulated men and told stories and yammered and protested and wanted this and that and the other- society had been always in chaos then. Eliza was so happy she lived now, and not in those old days.