This Has Evolved Into Something More

There are 2 main instances across both the series that immediately come to mind when thinking about the rates of fertility in other countries. The first being in The Handmaids Tale when the Mexican dignitary comes to visit Commander Waterford and says there hasn’t been a live birth in her city (or Mexico as a whole maybe I can’t entirely remember) in several years. That’s not just that it’s difficult to get pregnant and carry to term- it implies it’s near impossible. The second time being in The Testaments when Daisy tells us she not only doesn’t have her period, she doesn’t expect to, nobody does and she only knows one girl who has. Once again this does not indicate a difficulty with fertility, it implies an almost entirely infertile population.

In The Handmaids Tale the implication is made that the Mexicans believe the difference in fertility is not a gift from God in reward for how they live in Gilead, but just a result of better organisation. They have treated fertile women as a finite commodity and therefore organised them accordingly into a conveyor belt of systemic pregnancy until their bodies can’t take it anymore. The Mexicans want to benefit from this organisation of resource and we are encouraged to think similarly as an audience- to begin to question just how far do the ends justify the means. We’re supposed to think about how inhumanely we can justify treating women like this if it would literally save the human race to do so. This works but at what cost.

The Testaments turns that idea on its head though. There’s a heavy implication that most of the plums will get their periods before they finish school with only an unlucky minority becoming prunes. This is backed up by the only plum we see who doesn’t turn green being Shu out of quite a large cast. Obviously the presence of a period alone does not indicate the ability to carry a pregnancy to term as we see in Penny, but it does give some kind of hope that they might.

I’m going to take this a step further and say it’s heavily implied that whatever is causing the problem is environmental and that, if this thing is removed from the environment of a child young enough, the body can heal at least some of the damage. This is exemplified by Daisy who starts her period a few months after moving to Gilead and living in their environment. You could argue that Daisy getting her period is coincidence- that she would have started her period that month whether at home in Toronto or in Gilead. However I think the chances of this being the case when you consider the statistical likihood of her gaining her period in Toronto vs the statistical likelihood of her doing so in Gilead is low. Can we really just say it’s a coincidence that Daisy did not have her period in the place nobody did and then got in the place most girls do?

You could also argue that all of these girls in Gilead were born of women who were still fertile, implying that there is some kind of genetic component to fertility in this world. Daisy could also easily fit this theory as we know she was born in Gilead. However, im not sure I buy into that as technically all people have been born from a fertile person and I can’t see why it would be so genetically different for that person to be in Gilead or not.

The show only says that they've cleaned the water or whatever, but they don't say how. So all we're left with is the thought that it was done by putting women and criminals to work in the various types of colonies.

“but Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him.”

My most current example and the main reason i'm making this post is Becka.

In the most recent episode, Becka is engaged to Garth, who also happens to be Agnes' crush. We also find out in this episode that Becka was given a choice in who she could marry from the small selection given to her, and she chose Garth. Obviously, Agnes struggles with this and is upset by it, but I've also found the fandom to be very upset by it too, in a ridiculous way. They say Becka is a bad friend, that it's shitty of her to choose Garth when she knows that Agnes has a crush on him, that she should've chosen someone else. "Oh, how could she do that to Agnes? I'm so disappointed." yada yada yada.

People are so quick to ignore what world these girls live in and also what choices Becka has. Fucking hell, she didn't even have a choice in who she would marry originally. And when she's given a choice, she does what is best for herself to survive in the system. Garth was the only one of her three choices who had her interests in mind, who wasn't an old man, and who hasn't tried to hurt her in the past. Of course she was going to choose him when given the chance.

Besides that, we are ignoring the biggest part in this whole situation that really shows there was never another option to begin with. We know Becka doesn't want to get married and doesn't like men, but she has no choice in Gilead if she wants to survive. She might as well pick a man that is least likely to make her suffer. If that man also happens to be the one Agnes has a crush on, well, she can't really do much about it. Neither of them ever really had a choice, a real one.

It doesn't matter that Agnes has a crush on Garth, because she never had the choice to act on it or freely experience it the way teenagers do. She has to get married to the man of high standing picked for her and be the dutiful, pure wife everyone expects her to be. It doesn't matter that Becka doesn't like men and has a crush on Agnes, because she doesn't have the choice to explore her feelings or her sexuality the way teenagers do. She has to get married to a man and be a proper wife. To be gay in anyway within Gilead is a death sentence, and Becka grew up knowing that, so she has to push these feelings aside and play the part to survive.

And that's the whole point of this show. These young girls don't have a choice, and any choice they do get is superficial. These girls, that are supposed to be enjoying their childhoods, are groomed to be obedient wives, forced to struggle for every little bit of autonomy and power they can get in a system that constantly oppresses them, turns them against each other, and denies them the ability to be their own people with their own wants and desires.

Joseph Lawrence:

Commander.

Lover.

Moron.

I'm still writing this.

Nowhere near finishing it.

Capitalism is terrible.

My phone has been disconnected.

Paypal: Sally.Block @ gmail dot.com

CashApp/Venmo: Blockparted

Capitalism is terrible.

My phone has been disconnected.

Paypal: Sally.Block @ gmail dot.com

CashApp/Venmo: Blockparted

Capitalism is terrible.

My phone has been disconnected.

Paypal: Sally.Block @ gmail dot.com

CashApp/Venmo: Blockparted

while “writers write for themselves first and foremost” and “fanfic reading is a form of self care and no reader should feel pressured to kudos or comment on the fic they read” are both true, kudos and positive comments are still so appreciated. and as a fellow writer, I can tell for a fact that while I do write for myself and my own enjoyment, seeing lovely comments from my readers always motivates me to write more and write faster.

unfortunately some people choose to avoid ongoing fics because they either want to wait for the whole thing to get posted first or they’re afraid writers will abandon the works and leave those works unfinished. but the thing is that if you want long, multi-chapter fics, letting writers know you love and appreciate their hard works by giving them kudos and commenting nice things on their ongoing fics will almost definitely always motivate writers to write. and also, writing can be hard. I know writers who pull all-nighters doing researches on their fics. I know writers who put so much time, effort and dedication into their fics. the fics they allow people to read for free. please let them know you love and appreciate their works if you can, especially with the raise of bots (it can be super discouraging for a writer to see that the only comments their fics get are from bots and scam).

The West Wing - Josh/Donna (divorce era)