The Handmaid's Tale A Story ALL Conservative Women Need to Watch

2018 yes that's the year at thirty-six-year-old I was finally introduced to "The Handmaid's Tale" 30 years after the book was written and after I was born. June 2018 as I was scrolling through Instagram I came across @TheShelahmarie page she came up on my feed and started speaking about a book called "The Handmaid's Tales" a book I either never heard of or did not remember hearing about. So when I resubscribe to Hulu to my amazement I saw the series "The Handmaid's Tales" excited I tune in to watch. Now, if you have not been able to tell, I am a feminist and to see the first episode made me cringe. I never read the book, and the first episode made it so that I ordered the novel. It's now a part of my summer reading collection. Why did I go through high school and college, though I still attending college, without reading this book? Every woman and young girls should experience this book and make them aware of what has happened to women in the past along with what could happen to us if we do not pay attention to the laws used against us. A summary of Margaret Artwood story takes place in what was The Untied States of America but is now the Republic of Gilead. The time period is now but not yet if you get what I mean. The US government was overthrown by religious patriarchal fundamentalist after a terriost attack. The new regime which is totalitarian one, took ALL legal rights from women. They created classes of women and dress them in almost cult like uniforms. One of those groups where know has the handmaids.Why handmaids? In the bible in the book of Genesis verse 30 When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I'll die" I graduated from Catholic school, I am well aware of biblical scripture. As I have heard this one before and scripture like this in my opinion and in many others is why I feel we globally have a rape culture and violence against women. Historically and currently, the Bible is used to oppress women, blacks, Indigenous people, and the LGBTQ community.

OMG, it seems to me that almost everyone has felt the oppression in one way or another by these biblical verses. In my humble opinion this kind of behavior goes for all three major religion we see today. Getting back to The Handmaid's Tales, Genesis 30 was a verse used to enforce the raping of a Handmaid's. One of the scariest things I saw in the series was this misinformation about Science and how it was used against the people to get favorable results. Currently, our Greenhouse Gas emission is through the roof. How do I know this?Currently, I am an Environmental Studies major and I plan on becoming an Environmental Lawyer once I am done with my BA. Now here is the kicker in the series the birth rate had dropped dramatically. They implemented policies that handmaids would move into a home of a wealtthy couple so that she can concieve a baby with their commanders, as the husbands where called (or as I like to call them "Massa"). Since the birth rates of American babies had dropped tremendously they felt this was the only way to get the desired results. I immediately saw the contradiction in the patriarchal society that now was at hand in the in the Republic of Gilead. They made it about science in the beginning somewhat. There was a part that stood out and this is when Mr. Waterford was speaking to the prime minister of Mexico. He told her that once the government was overthrown they decrease the emissions by some crazy percent in 3 years. However, science tells us now that it is the birth of human beings that have created more of gasses. We see again how the patriarch used what they wanted to oppress women. My one plea to women especially women of color is to get more involved in government, become politicians please I beg you get involved. Let's look at the number as of 2018 with the percentage of Women in the 115th United States Congress only 83 women hold seats in the House of Representative there are 435 seats that mean only 19.1% of women hold seats here, making men 80% of the seat holders. The Senate is a little bit better with 100 seats and only 22 women that 22% and 78% of men hold seats in the Senate. Few women hold positions in the US Cabinet the number a whopping 5 women who serve out. of 15. Now if that's scary it even fewer women of color only 7.1% of the total members of Congress are women of color. There are 106 women members of Congress, 35.8% or 35 women are women of color (Quick Take: Women In Government, 2108). I can keep going, now what does this say, it says that we cannot be surprised when laws are put in place to oppress us when we are not doing our part to not allow this to take place. I do want to shine the light on the 2017 elections. This was the election that broke down so many barriers. We had more women elected, we had women of color and the LGBTQ that came in and took over. This show that even this country is tired of the Good Ole Boys clubs. However, we can not and should not forget that 85% of white women vote for Trump. And Hillary had a theory as to why this happened.

She says, “[Women] will be under tremendous pressure – and I’m talking principally about white women. They will be under tremendous pressure from fathers and husbands and boyfriends and male employers not to vote for ‘the girl’,” she said in an interview as part of a tour promoting her new memoir of the 2016 campaign. Kelsy Kretschmer, an assistant professor at Oregon State University and a co-author of a recent study examining women’s voting patterns. According to Kretschmer's research, single would usually cast votes with the fate of all women in mind, while married women vote on behalf of their husbands and families( the study was based on a poll of straight women conducted in 2012 before same-sex marriage was legalized). Now, this can help explain why even with the Democratic party having women-friendly policies, Republican have traditionally won the married white women's vote.

Now in the series and book Mrs. Waterford was well aware of her husband trying to overthrow the government the goal to put in a religious patriarch in and replace the USA. Not only was she aware but she assisted him in his terrorist acts. From the looks of it the wife was never really comfortable with this decision especially when she would be kept out of meetings before the government was overthrown. This Christian society that takes place in the Republic of Gilead is very scary. And if you think I am joking let's look at what Attorney General Jeff Session was justed quoted saying about his defense on separating family from their children. Last week he cited a passage from the Bible Roman 13 he said and I quote "I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order,” Sessions said. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.”(McFarlan Miller & Shimron, 2018). Later White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "It is very biblical to enforce the law." This is the opening to a totalitarian rule and what scares me, even more, is the fact the white married women will and can allow a government of religious fundamentalist to take control as long as it benefits them and their families. This is not opinion but fact.

We can look at history and see how the use of religious dogma has made people slaves, servants, and many other disgraceful things all in the name of the Bible. My ancestors were a product of the sick way Europeans (who are also my ancestors) use biblical scriptures. This tale is not so far fetched.

I am going to show you now how we as non-white women can be influential in not allowing their needs to dictate ours. 2017 showed me with my own two eyes how black women can drive an election. African American women came out in droves to support Decomcrat Doug Jones. Black voters made up 29 percent of the electorate in Alabama's special Senate election. We can also look at the 2008 and 2012 presidential election to show us how much of our votes matter. The voter turnout was amazing, black voters from the age of 18-24 years-old turnout with 55.4% in 2008 compared to 47.1% in 2004. When we look at the age from 25-44 in 2004 59.3% turnout while 64% turnout in 2008. On the other hand, when we take a look at whites from the ages of 18-34 in 2004 whites came out and made up 49.8% of the votes. 2008 the numbers actually went down by 0.4% to 49.04%. And from the age range 25-44 years, whites turnout in 2004 63.5 % and in 2008 again the numbers dropped to 62.1%. This data shows that we have more power than we ever imagined. Our ancestors understood this but somewhere we lost sight of this. We became more caught up with the party rather than the person that hold our values. Their men do not want to see women in control or in a powerful position and from these studies, the women are afraid to lose their provider (which is understandable in my opinion). But we must do what right for our family, and other families as well. We saw how the White House Press Sectary did not care about the separation of children at the border. And yes folks she is a mother, how can another mother not see this as inhumane. How can you not feel the pain of another mother, or is it that you can and choose to ignore what is happening because it doesn't benefit nor affect you. This has been an eye-opener, to say the least. I will say this one last thing to my white sisters out there your ancestors did not fight, lose their lives during the suffrage movement, wars and protest so that you could hand back all your freedoms to the very people that never want you to have those freedom in the first place. This will not be my last post on this subject since I will am buying the book. And we all know the books are better than the movie/series.

Graves, L. (2017, Sep 25). Why Hillary Clinton was right about white women – and their husbands. Retrieved from The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/25/white-women-husbands-voting#img-1

McFarlan Miller, E., & Shimron, Y. (2018, June 16). Why is Jeff Sessions quoting Romans 13 and why is the bible verse so often invoked? Retrieved from usatoday: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/06/16/jeff-sessions-bible-romans-13-trump-immigration-policy/707749002/

Nilsen, E. (2018, November 8). The women, people of color, and LGBTQ candidates who made history in the 2017 election. Retrieved from Vox: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/8/16622884/women-minorities-lgbtq-candidates-made-history

Quick Take: Women In Government. (2108, April 24). Retrieved from Catalyst: http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/women-government