Genital Modifications Incorporated.
Introduction
19th December 2316 [Old style]; 22nd Mozart 0199 [New style]
As I come to the end of my period of tenure as official historian to the company, I wish to lay out an account of the 200-year activity of Genital-Modifications Incorporated, so that future researchers will understand the role played by a single corporation in the evolution of the human race.
Social and political background.
In 2116 [Old style], a single administration was formed to manage the consequences of climate change, known as the Human Race Directorate [HRD for short], a new calendar was instituted at Year 0 and with twelve months named after great men and women [but no politicians], and controls imposed on the official production of food, fuels, transportation, and on resource-intensive entertainments. Taxation to finance activities outside these categories was strictly forbidden without planetary referendum.
One consequence of climate change has been the lowering of life expectancy for all mammal species, mainly due to increased harmful radiation from the sun, particularly of UV but also of sub-atomic particles previously filtered out by cooler, denser air and by liquid water suspended in the atmosphere. The control of fertility by HRD policy and medication-provision has resulted in a zero population growth with mean live age steady at 38 and mean age at death steady at 54.
The genetic composition of the human population has become infinitely diverse within the temperate zones so that personal identification systems include racial origins of parents and grandparents, as well as family names and professions. Thus a person named Pryanka Moowona Smith could be required to identify herself as a Indian-British-Malaysian-Zulu female graphic designer, and these descriptors became simplified to between two or four initials; in this case IBMZ. There are now 228 descriptor-combinations recognised by HRD for official support and representative purposes.
Also during this period, the rules of human sexual behaviour became very much modified so that previous mores and taboos disappeared in almost all societies and communities. In many ways, normal sexual behaviour became what would have been called perversions in previous centuries. The distinction between "straight" and "gay" disappeared, as did the concept of a fetish. Any activity that added pleasure to human life has become acceptable in human society, so long as no third party is injured, no unlicenced pregnancy occurs and no expense is laid upon HRD.
One particular HRD decision was the provision of subsidies to young people who would forgo parenthood in the interests of controlling the population. Genital-Modifications Incorporated was set up by the HRD with an experimental 10-year contract to modify young people's behaviour and anatomies if necessary. The most immediate result was massive demand for plastic surgery to external organs, rather than the intended amendment to gonads and other internal reproductive systems. Within only 5 years, Gen-Mods Inc was engaged in some of the most imaginative and sometimes outrageous enhancements to the human body for the express purpose of elevating its erotic qualities and it became a fashion accessory to have one of our modifications, about which more below. After 200 years, the company still enjoys the planetary monopoly for anatomical modifications and today almost one fifth of all humans over the age of 18 years have undergone one of our programmes.
The origins of the company.
For a year or two, Gen-Mods Inc performed only vasectomies and other fertility-reducing operations on millions of young people between the ages of 18 and 30 years. In Year 0003 [2119 Old style], a planetary online competition provided any Gen-Mods Inc amendment that a group of winners wished to undergo, and that signalled the start of the company's major excursion into the Serious Modification Programme [SMP, as it is known now]. All 24 competition winners, 12 women and 12 men requested severe modifications to their sex organs and the company was forced to investigate new surgical techniques as well as clearing a number of ethical issues with HRD. Since such matters did not reside within the limited remit of HRD, they were agreed between doctors and patient-representative groups on the basis that there was demand and no precedent for refusal.
For almost 200 years, the company has provided an increasingly unusual selection of anatomical modifications to suit all tastes and is now proud that it has pioneered some of the most difficult surgical procedures including:
-full frontal transplant from a well-endowed donor [from shoulders to ankles] of either sex; 2500 procedures;
-first complete internal, external and chromosomal sex-change; over 152,000 procedures;