First published in 1979 and still in print, Benefits is a feminist dystopia in which a patriarchal state uses the social security system to impose repressive lifestyles on women. It was nominated for the Philip K Dick Award for science fiction, and the Hawthornden Prize for imaginative literature. It has been published throughout the world, and adapted for the stage at the Albany Empire in Deptford, London. It is the original source of the quotation widely featured on alternative Christmas cards: “THE BIRTH OF A MALE WHO THINKS HE‘S GOD ISN’T SUCH A RARE EVENT”. Widely interpreted as an attack on Margaret Thatcher's welfare policies, Benefits was in fact written before she came to power. --from the author's website
