Handmaiden's Tale or Harem Maiden's Tale?

The Handmaiden's Tale portrays a "Christian" dystopia in which women are lesser than men, and handmaidens (something of a cross between surrogate mothers and sex slaves), are forced to bear children for couples otherwise unable.

But handmaidens are not the only ones restricted; all women are severely limited in this society. Margaret Atwood's world prohibits women from becoming doctors, lawyers, or other advanced professionals. The only ones excepted from this rule are the "Aunts" whose duties are too eclectic for the purposes of this blog but resemble nothing of what women are allowed to do today.

The different women are identified by their different dress, by their "political veils" so to speak. The handmaidens dress in red with white bonnets, the society ladies or wives dress in blue, and the other servant women dress in green. It is a dystopia in which dress defines function and worth, and that is why Atwood's creations are such fun!

But are they realistic?

For the answer, we must examine Christianity's legal code. Or we would if there was one, but there isn't. This is because Christianity is a decentralized faith composed of three main sects, the Protestants, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox. Each of these factions reveres Christ as God but disagrees about how to express that reverence and live in accordance with Christ's commands. Thus, these three form an unofficial system of checks and balances that results in constant introspection, self- examination, and apologetics. This is no recipe for forming a hardline legal code. Thus, Christianity doesn’t have one.

What Christianity does have is the Ten Commandments, which say nothing about how a woman should dress or what professions she should enter. The Ten Commandments do prohibit murder, which many Christians equate abortion with, but this is a disagreement about the moment a living being becomes a living being, not about women's rights specifically. It is also worth mentioning that some protestant sects do allow for abortion! (See what I mean about disagreement/decentralization?)

There are passages in the Bible advising women to dress modestly, but this a recommendation, not a law. Likewise, the complicated legalistic code in the Old Testament regarding female behavior and cleanliness was deemed unnecessary for non-Jewish followers of Christ at the Council of Jerusalem in 40 A.D.

Paul had this to say about the Mosaic Law for Gentile believers: ""It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood."

That is a far cry from Atwood's Dystopia.

But if that isn't enough for you-Just look around. The United States is majority Christian and has been since its founding. And yet, I have yet to see a true “Christian” political veil outside of feminist protests and comic cons. Seems to me that if Atwood's work had a chance of becoming reality, we would have been knee deep in Marthas, handmaidens, econowives a long time ago!

So, if Atwood's creation is not supported by Christian law or doctrine, then why is it so popular?

Well, my foil hat is telling me that it has to do with the glowing boxes and their power to indoctrinate and manipulate. You've got to remember-the elites hate Christianity because Christianity says that there is nothing greater than God/Christ, and the power addicts don’t' like that. They want people afraid of Christianity, to turn away from it, so THEY can have power!
.
What better way to make people hate Christianity than to sensationalize a fictional scenario, promote fictional political veils while ignoring the actual dystopia of black and blue veils we find in the Middle East? Ignore the factual four wives allowed by the Koran and the harems of captured concubines, in favor of fictional econowives, handmaidens, Marthas, and Aunts created by Atwood!

Don’t' get me wrong, I read Atwood's book and enjoyed it for what it was, a fun fictional dystopia. The writing style was also unique and perfectly portrayed the trauma Offred was living through. It was enjoyable, it was a good read, but at the end of the day, it was just that! It has no doctrinal support, no basis.

There is, however, doctrinal support for political veiling in the books of Islam, and the Sharia, Islam's legal code, provides countless instances of women's second-class citizenship coming into play, especially with regard to claims of rape and child custody.

In short, we are FAR more likely to endure a Harem Maiden's Tale than a Handmaiden's Tale, and I hope the women in Offred cosplay get that, before it's too late.