Yup, the figures on the cover of this Norwegian classic are upside-down, which is a feature that goes well with the intent of its creator, Gerd Brantenberg (born in 1941). The book has been translated and published in several countries since first publication in 1977 which is no wonder as it's a very well-designed and funny tale of gender squabbles in the fictive country of Egalia. Here the male sex is suppressed the way the female one is in many of our day Patriarchies. When Gerd Brantenberg tells the tale of Egalia she gives a both lucid and ludicrous portrait of the man-woman-situation in our non-fictive world of today: Look guys, follow the lead of the main character, the teenaged boy Petronius, and get to know much more about the "war of the sexes", and how suppression works when it comes to gender.
Gerd Brantenberg, some time in the 1970ies
She studied philology and became a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen for some years. In the 1970ies she was very active in the women's rights movement. Something which was met with acclaim as she got several honorary offices before turning into a full-time author from 1982. Her first books - which I don't think have been neither translated nor published outside of Norway - were about her life as a young lesbian. However, when she published her dystopian novel "Egalias døtre" ("The Daughters of Egalia") in 1977 she won a well-deserved international fame and recognition, and by now, the novel has turned into a genuine classic.
The novel tells the story of young Petronius who is full of romantic notions and longings. Being lean, tall and starting to grow a beard he is not considered handsome, as the ideal of male beauty in Egalia is plump, no special muscular strength, modest and submissive. Actually, men should be what women are expected to be in modern day Patriarchies. After what to us appears to be a somewhat ludicrous sexual meeting with a true "Alpha woman", Gro Maydaughter, who robs him of his virginity by using him sexually without many thoughts of his sexual gratification, he gets hooked on her emotionally. She - this quite coarse and selfish - woman is what he has been taught to consider the female ideal, and he sort of feels honored by her attention at the "Maidmen's Ball" where many young males lose their virginity to someone like her. These feelings are connected to his general inferiority complex because of his "unmasculine" looks, which are exactly what we consider proper and handsome in men of today.
Being a philologist, Gerd Brantenberg works the language in an expert manner, creating new words or giving old words a new meaning. Also bringing new meanings to well-known objects, as e.g. the brassiere, which, by the way, isn't something the women of Egalia are wearing. Actually, I don't think they have ever heard about something like that, but everyone, male or female, know that boys at a certain age have to wear an attraption on their penis.
What Gerd Brantenberg did in such an expert manner was to develop a new set of words, motifs and ideologies within a traditional form in order to tell us of life in a Patriarchy of today. Logically enough, at a certain point, Petronius takes part in the newly established, and very controversial Men's Movement. I guess that his experiences mirror those of Gerd Brantenberg in the 1970ies. However, the novel doesn't appear to be "time bound", it's scope is much wider than that.
https://nordicwomensliterature.net/writers/brantenberg-gerd/
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