But this world was not only different from ours in that it had this TG flu, but also in that women were utterly submissive to men. The culture demanded it, the law enforced it, and even biology played its part more than in our world: The more aroused a woman became the more vulnerable to male suggestion she became, and male pheromones that were released when the male got an erection could directly stimulate female arousal, so that if a man wanted something from a woman, he basically just had to get hard and tell her to do it, and very few women could disobey.
So the world was utterly chauvinistic with women treated as property, and it was thrown into utter chaos by the emergence of the TG flu. Various religions had various explanations for it. Many arrogant males tried to claim that it only affected men unworthy of manhood, but one way or another most men lived in terror of it and most women dreamed of it. But no doctor could stop it, or even predict it. Some cultures had fanatically resorted to killing the infected or even to burning entire towns to eradicate the flu, but it would just mysteriously pop up again anyway.