Robert looked around his workplace, now governed by what he thought of as a characteristically masculine emotional restraint, and smiled to himself. Johann was clearly in a positive mood after finding out about Charlene's pregnancy, and Beck and Andrew were obviously enjoying their lives as young heterosexual studs, but everyone kept the focus on work. After a brief affair, Robert and Sandy had broken up, as Robert generally thought workplace affairs were more trouble than they were worth. Sandy was loving being a gay man, as had always been his fantasy even when he was a she. Even Hermes, as Hermione had eventually renamed himself, was enjoying a male life. Lupe had given notice, and the office would soon be hiring a new cleaner, but even assuming the new cleaner was female Robert could live with that, and if she was too girly she could get the same treatment as Lupe.
Such was the success of defeminizing the workplace that Robert was wondering what other women could be painlessly eliminated from his life. His aging mother? His alcoholic sister? The woman who lived in the apartment across from him, with the string of abusive boyfriends?