The Screwfly Solution `` The Screwfly Solution `` is a 1977 science fiction short story by Raccoona Sheldon , a pen name for psychologist Alice Sheldon , who was better known as James Tiptree , Jr . It received the Nebula Award for Best Novelette , and has been adapted into a television film . The title refers to the sterile insect technique for eradicating insect species by adding sterile male insects to the wild population , a technique used against the screwworm fly or screwfly . The story concerns a different but equally drastic shift in human sexuality with disastrous results . Plot The story begins with an exchange of letters and news clippings between Allan , a scientist working on parasite eradication in Colombia , and his wife Anne at home in the U.S. , concerning an epidemic of organized murder of women by men . Although some scientists suspect a biological cause for this sexually selective insanity , the murderers feel it is a natural instinct and have constructed elaborate misogynistic rationalizations for it , including a new religious movement . Allan himself becomes affected , and tries to resist his violent impulses . In the end , Anne , pursued by an entire society bent on `` femicide '' , discovers the source and motivation behind the plague . Other media `` The Screwfly Solution '' was adapted into a television film by screenwriter Sam Hamm and director Joe Dante for the Showtime network 's Masters of Horror series , to air in 2006 . External links The complete story at SciFiction The Screwfly Solution at the Internet Movie Database Categories : Science fiction short stories | Nebula Award winning works 0833098 The Screwfly Solution 