The Handmaids Tale Protestors Are An Embarrassment
Have you even seen the show?
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I recently finished watching the last season of the Handmaid’s Tale — and a few days ago, I saw a video of American women dressed up as “handmaids” marching through the streets protesting their “oppression.”
Make it stop. I’m so embarrassed for us.
Let’s compare just how *unalike* these two things are.
In the Handmaid’s Tale, “unworthy” women become slaves, raped by their owners, impregnated and forced to give away their biological children. They lose their names (becoming “of Joseph” — the name of their owner), rights, and autonomy.
Women are killed for disobedience, trying to escape, or going against the “moral laws” of Gilead. They have no freedom, are ripped from their families, and are terrorized daily.
Sounds kind of familiar, but in countries that rhyme with Shmafganistan, not Shamerica.
Gilead doesn’t really exist, but places like it do.
…Places like Afghanistan where 9-year-olds are married off to old men.
…Places like Saudi Arabia where women can’t travel alone, show their faces or get a driver’s license.
…Places like North Korea, where people are trapped inside a monstrous, tyrannical government that leaves them helpless and starving.
While delusional American women freely don white caps to cover their faces, in some Muslim countries, women fear for their lives if they remove their veils in public.
While pro-choice American women cry out for the right to kill their healthy, unborn children, Chinese women still mourn the ones they were forced to abandon under the 1-child policy that recently existed.
While entitled American women hold signs reading “We the people were not meant to kneel” in a city where they can literally worship, read, say and do anything they want without fear of punishment, North Korean women live in extreme poverty without human rights of any kind.
Ironically, the only thing about American society that resembles the fictional Gilead is the surge of surrogate pregnancies (which the American “handmaids” are totally down for.)
Surrogacy, at its core, is the use of a woman’s body to produce a child for someone else. The child’s right to their biological parents—or even to know their mother at birth—is cast aside so those with money and power can get what they want.
It may not be as sinister as Gilead (and I think many people go into surrogacy totally unaware of how damaging it is, so we have some educating to do), but don’t let the wrapping paper fool you — it’s wrong and unethical.
»> [More on how Surrogacy Exploits Women + Harms Children here]
“Handmaids” at American protests hold signs that read, “Repro rights are human rights.” It’s a dishonest framing—no one is denying women the right to reproduce. There are simply laws protecting the life of the human created through that right.
And invoking “human rights” to defend abortion is especially ironic, since the entire act strips the most basic rights from the most vulnerable human involved: the child.
As a Mother
Watching the Handmaid’s Tale as a mother is gut-wrenching and at times, I had to take breaks. In the show, there are good, sovereign countries outside of Gilead — those that are trying to work with and negotiate in some way. It’s all too similar to how we do the same with such oppressive, evil regimes in the real world.
As the United States, we must function within the world order that currently exists and hopefully we can eventually help remove dictators in some of these hellscapes where women are destined for fear, depravity and abuse.
Those who complain that women lack rights int he U.S. make a mockery of women who are truly oppressed throughout the world. The only “right” American “handmaids” protest is the right to kill unborn children — it’s a total joke.
Perhaps these protestors really believe they’re standing for something noble. I pray their eyes are opened to the real injustices of this world—first, against the unborn, the most vulnerable of all, and second, against their sisters across the globe who would give anything to trade places with them: women who dream of the freedom they take for granted.
When freedom is the default, some create their own distortion of false oppression. America’s “handmaids” have fallen victim to this affliction.
And I know we’re not talking about the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facility, but many of these “handmaids” also toe the progressive line on that — upset that we got rid of nuclear weapons in the hands of truly evil people. Because…Trump? TDS is still going hard.
Some would say they’re marching for other things too, like the rights of illegal immigrants and transgender individuals.
No matter how you slice it, though, it doesn’t get better than America for nearly any demographic you can name.
The United States is no perfect nation, but it is a light of hope in a dark world, a place of incomparable opportunity, and an example of how the right frameworks can resurrect goodness and bring forth justice.
So much of the dark parts of American history, sometimes embedded on statue names or university hallways, are “reminder[s] of what was, and if we don’t remember it, we’re doomed to repeat it,” said Rep. Wesley Hill on an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher this week.
Let’s acknowledge and mark how far we’ve come and assess why so many around the world look to this country for help, hope and aspiration.
Maybe I sound a little too Polly Patriot for you, friends, but it’s almost July 4th and I will never take for granted what it means to be an American.
Put your Handmaids cloaks away. Throw on an American flag t-shirt and light some fireworks. YOU ARE FREE.
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"Surrogacy, at its core, is the use of a woman’s body to produce a child for someone else. The child’s right to their biological parents—or even to know their mother at birth—is cast aside so those with money and power can get what they want."
I can only partly agree with this. First, it is true that it is the use of a woman's body but I believe that she volunteers to accept the role fully aware of the ramifications and end results. Next, it is the child's biological parents, who are the child's mother and, usually, father that the baby is given to so I'm quite confused by that statement. Finally, on a personal note, this is the process that my Grand Nephew came into being. My nephew and his wife (quite devout Catholics (don't know how they dealt with the Church's position on the subject of IVF or surrogacy)) tried 5 times to have a baby using IVF with their own "material". She miscarried each time to her devastation, as you can imagine. With one embryo left, they decided to hire a surrogate. I admit I don't know the process or the cost or the extent of the contract but they finally have the baby they've wanted for over a decade. And yes they are rather well off and I will assume they took very good care of the young lady both financially and emotionally. Perhaps they are the exception perhaps not but I would suspect they are the norm in this engagement.
Ericka,
Such a good article. Thank you for taking the time to put your thoughts into words that so many of us share but don’t know how to express.