Sara’s answer to “Do you wish Gilead would come true?” > Likes and Comments

Thanks Sara, you are the best contributor to this question, interesting points. Thanks for seeing the profundity. Some of the other answers are disgusting.

I feel like your answer, Sara, is basically the same answer that an abused woman gives when she claims to love her abuser. Janine, who was gang raped, is brainwashed into thinking that this is HER FAULT (her fault, her fault, her fault, etc.) yet you honestly think that this world would be a "safe haven" for those who are actually hurt?

On the contrary, it is as much of a safe haven as a husband who rapes and abused you might be considered a "protector." Only through the eyes of someone who has become so warped in their thinking would they trade one kind of hell for another and be complicit in making everyone subject to abuse, rape, and hurt.

I can see why you and the original person who asked the question might consider it a profound question rather than an asinine one, but consider just how offensive the implications are... Would you go to a rape survivors' group and ask whether they would rather let someone else be raped and/or be sent to death if it meant that they would be safe? Think about this for a moment. Even from the perspective of a severely abused women, does abuse absolve you of passing on that abuse to others? Because saying this world appeals to them is basically saying that since I have suffered in this world, let me make others suffer so I can be safe.

Can't you find safety and security without giving away all your freedom? That's what the authority in this book seems to be asking women to do. Give up all your ability to take care of yourself (your money is taken from you) and we'll force you into the appropriate hole, no matter if you are round peg or square peg, you get no say in the matter, that is still a form abuse masquerading as "protection." I wouldn't want to live in that kind of sanctuary.

I don't personally see this world as something I would like to live in. But the point of the book is to see it from different points of view. To see it as a cautionary tale. The point of a society like this is to pray on the weak. So they take the few weak-minded women who have been hurt and abused and tell them they can have this 'safe haven' but to join this community you must admit it was your fault, admit that you tempted them and let them do what they did. You must also give up many of your fundamental rights. It could appeal to some women. I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying it could happen. That there are some women, warped and hurt, who may see the basic lifestyle as a safe place.

I think what you're trying to say is that trauma in the form of physical or psychological abuse can manifest in a number of ways, including low self-esteem and altered decision-making. This is not the same as being weak or weak-minded. May want to double-check your word choice there.

@Kat, you are right, weak and weak-minded are poor choices for words. Traumatized is a better choice. And yes, Sarah, Gilead would traumatize them, but I doubt they knew that going in.

You've obviously never been the victim of rape or abuse if you think those who've been raped would wish for this.

Going from one scenario of abuse and rape to another, state-sponsored scenario of abuse and rape, the latter adding to the mix forced illiteracy and imprisonment? I don't get the appeal....

I think I'd rather just willingly date a conservative. And buy my own cigarettes.

Also with Lana Del Rey on repeat

She wasn't given a choice, they were threatening her daughter, and she was still being raped monthly. Not to mention the women forced into prostitution. I fail to see any aspect that would appeal to a rape survivor. It doesn't seem like anyone actually felt safe or protected.

But even in the book, it showed no matter how much those that made the ultimate decision to enforce "Sharia" law, those very same people were the first ones to break the law and commit those very acts they were trying to 'protect' women from. Corruption prevails...

So you think she would trade one kind of abuse for another? I mean she had no say in her life, was still be raped and controlled. However you look at it the answer is no. Even an abused woman wouldn't want her rights, her personality, her identity as a person stripped away from her. I disagree she lived in a safe haven either, Serena Joy had ultimate control over her and could have her killed for the slightest thing. Not to mention, the guardians, the Aunts,, hell everyone was higher up than her and could ruin that "safe haven" as you put it at the drop of a hat.

I agree with Lisa McAfee - I don't think she would trade one type of abuse for another. "She" is still being raped and controlled, it's still under the iron rule inhibiting her rights and freedoms to be seen as an equal, to hold a job, an education, to be treated more than just a child or chattel.

Also, let's remember the part in the book when one of the ladies had to stand up in front of the rest of the handmaids and be shamed and victim blamed for being sexually abused in the old society... She wasn't safe, she was being blamed and told it was her own fault she was raped/ sexually abused... the Gilead is not actually keeping anyone safe just oppressing women further.

I see where you're coming from, but I don't think a woman, even one suffering abuse, would hand over her freedom for this reality. If she did, she would soon learn what a grave mistake she had made. Also, remember the big issue here is that most of the population is baron, and very few women who aren't are in any kind of pleasant situation. Honestly, the women doing best in this society are the older women in domestic work - not being raped, not being an accomplice to rape, not working in a toxic dump.

I can see an abused woman accepting this world as normal or inevitable, or to not be able to see a better way. But to actually want it, that's a little harder to imagine.

And even the women in Gilead who believed being sterile was God's punishment are clearly not happy with the situation.

As a rape survivor, I totally disagree! the handmaid's are repeatedly raped! I don't see why I would think this is a good idea.

I can't imagine any women I've met answering Yes to this, but I can name men I know of who might. :(

Goddamn there's some brilliant conversations from an awareness perspective coming out of this.

I have to say I completely disagree. I very much doubt a woman who has been raped and had her very humanity reduced to her body/genitals would find value in a society that, again, reduces women to their bodies and reproductive organs. This motif of 'freedom from' catcalling/rape/violence is utilised in the novel by those who want to stay in charge - it's very easy to say "well we're protecting you from rape!" but not mention that the circumstances of having to bare children for effectively strangers is, albeit in a systematic sense, also rape (lack of choice = inability to consent).

Seeing it from the view of abused woman is not any reason to claim it is acceptable or might be acceptable; that any abused woman would say that has some deep rooted internalized sexism and misogyny. Folks, we forget that men are not the only people who are sexist and misogynistic. It exists and is practiced by woman against other women. So, even in instances where you might think woman would be okay with this world based on abuses, the fact is that it's not and it's up to us to inform and educate and support any woman who might think otherwise. We can see it from another perspective, but that doesn't mean it's in any way shape or form allowable or acceptable and if a any woman thinks it might be it's up to us to show her it's not.

Give me a break! I have suffered abuse and I would not ever want to live in Gilead and suffer more!

Thank you, Ellen!

I don't understand how the world of Gilead could be considered a safe haven for abused women? Nobody is being protected from rape or abuse in Gilead...

Except that in Gilead women were subject to "organized" rape - and if they didn't go along with it they were basically sentenced to death by being sent to the colonies. None of Gilead made for a better world for women.

I cannot speak for all women who have been subjected to rape and/or other abuse. I can only speak for myself.

No. Gilead does not appeal to me on any level. None.If you are a Wife [Econo- or elite] your husband has the absolute right to harm you at will short of actually killing you. If you are a Handmaid, you will be raped - well, because it's your job - and again any injury inflicted on you by anyone that neither harms a fetus nor impairs your fertility is OK. Daughters - same as wives. Jezebels, again being raped is part of your job and when you are no longer profitable you can join the Unwomen to die a slow death by toxic waste or radiation poisoning.

None of this is appealing. f you are a valuable commodity in Gilead, you have an outside shot at a better situation of very, very limited duration.

This is a REAL BAD TAKE that's convinced it's a smart take.

This only works on the surface as the powerful in Gilead were breaking there own rules to abuse women further , offered is taken to a brothel which should not exit so the Commander can have sex with her outside the state approved way and in Gilead in you were fertile they would make a handmaid out of any fertile rom,an no matter what past trump we might have experienced.

But for me the biggest takeaway is one rule for teh powerful and and another for the not stays no matter what the system is