Why Gilead is personal

"I'm sorry, baby girl. Mom's got work."
— June Osborne¹

I first read The Handmaid's Tale in 1990. Fittingly, my mother introduced it to me. She had three sons and only one daughter, and she knew what she was doing when she gave the book to me. Most of my childhood was traditionally masculine: riding bikes in the dirt, camping and canoeing in the forest, playing with green plastic army guys in the abandoned baseball fields down the block. My mother gave up her career to raise us, sewing our clothes by hand to save money for our future college educations. Barbies, tea ceremonies, and ovens weren't to be found in my room - instead, it was piles and piles of books. She read the classics to us when we were too young to read them ourselves, and she didn't shy away from tough subjects. Death, destruction, and dystopias were on the reading list. Questions were encouraged. The lessons stuck. In fifth grade, I was expelled from Catholic school for holding a two-week protest because they wouldn't let me be an altar boy like my brothers. 

Starting with that fifth grade incident, I knew I was a feminist. The injustice of the situation – the religious disenfranchisement based on hegemonic, systemic, masculine privilege – was something I didn't understand and couldn't accept. When the school principal, Sister Marilyn, told my mother that I was not invited back for the sixth grade, she didn't argue. Three years later, she handed me a copy of The Handmaid's Tale, a novel by Margaret Atwood. Though the book had been published a few years earlier, she thought of it for me because the movie came out that year (1990) starring Natasha Richardson and Faye Dunaway.

By then, it was my first year of high school. I had my sights set on being a college professor. My admittedly sheltered, 1980s-Midwestern-White-privilege perspective was that the country as a whole was moving in the correct direction. Sally Ride had been to space, the Berlin Wall had fallen, there was a woman serving as a Supreme Court Justice, and Roe v. Wade seemed solidly in place. I was naive, but I was a budding pansexual feminist full of optimism about the future. The third wave of feminism was crashing on the shores of the world! 

My career as a social psychologist and gender studies professor has been inspiring, enlightening, and disheartening since then. Women, LGBTQIA2S+ people, and other marginalized communities have made wonderful progress in a wide variety of domains. Intersectionality has become an important new area of scholarly research.² At the same time, political backlash against this progress and against marginalized communities is deeply troubling. Perhaps this polarization is why The Handmaid's Tale is so popular and so divisive - and why our book on the psychology within Atwood's world is so important. The chapters in this book discuss global, big picture questions regarding the nature of prejudice, oppression, and civil rights as well as the personal side of trauma and heroism. They also discuss motherhood and other fascinating aspects of being a woman - of being a person - in a world in which power and zealotry take over. 

Six years ago, I legally changed my name. My last name has always been Goodfriend; I haven't changed it through two marriages. But the first name on my birth certificate is something very different from Wind. I chose my own name, and it is based on very personal and special experiences that remind me of the character traits I value and strive to enact each day. Names are important, and having your name taken from you has always been a symbol of the loss of agency and freedom. This point is made very clear in Atwood's vision. 

Being part of this book project has been gratifying for me for many reasons. It was academically remarkable, and it was a pleasure to work with so many talented colleagues. Perhaps most personally, this project reminded me how grateful I am to my mother for the simple act of teaching me to believe in myself and to give voice to my own name. 

Next, we share  Chapter 9 of the book, by Wind Goodfriend…

Power and Control: Psychological Abuse Dynamics in an Dystopian World

"How easily a hand becomes a fist." -Aunt Lydia¹ 

"The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day; a movement is only people moving." -feminist Gloria Steinem² 

Fictional dystopias can take many forms. Atwood's vision in The Handmaid's Tale was particularly disturbing for many women and feminists due to its themes of sexism, patriarchal power, and misogyny. These themes also stand out to psychologists who focus on a particularly heartbreaking aspect of the nonfiction world: domestic violence. Many of the dynamics seen in the laws and culture of Gilead parallel the dynamics commonly observed by researchers studying power and control in abusive intimate relationships.³ The Sons of Jacob structured their world such that Commanders could be abusive to Wives, but that microcosm of individual abusive relationships could also be generalized and pervade the entire culture. Fortunately, Atwood offers her audience a glimpse of hope in the characters who fight for change - and psychological concepts can guide an understanding of that rebellion as well. 

Forms of Abuse in Relationships and in Gilead 

In the real (i.e., nonfiction) United States, abuse between relationship partners is extremely common. Statistics vary, but the National Center for Victims of Crime estimates that up to 47% of people will experience some form of psychological or physical abuse from a relationship partner at least once in their life.⁴ Such statistics from the fictional United States in Atwood's world are, of course, unavailable, but it is reasonable to imagine that incidents of domestic violence - and violence against women in general - within Gilead would be much, much higher. Analyses comparing multiple cultures indicate that when a country disrespects property rights of women and gender equality, and instead embraces fundamentalist religion, homophobia, and misogyny, rates of domestic violence increase.⁵ 

The two most explicit forms of domestic violence - meaning, the forms that are most easily observed and measurable - are physical and sexual abuse. It is also perhaps easiest to see examples of physical and sexual abuse in Gilead (compared to other potential forms of relationship or cultural abuse). For example, a powerful and chilling moment in the Waterfords' marriage occurs when Fred beats Serena for defying him.⁶ Physical violence is brutal and Draconian, and the psychological effects are unquestioningly negative.⁷ The same is true for sexual violence within couples, even though "marital rape" became illegal in all 50 U.S. states only as recently as the year 1993.⁸ 

As horrifying as Gilead's physical and sexual violence against girls and women may be, there are even more insidious factors at play. Research on victims and survivors of relationship abuse reveals that psychological and emotional abuse leaves even worse, longer-lasting effects on people than does physical and/or sexual abuse.⁹ Years of living with someone who manipulates, insults, degrades, berates, and humiliates you leaves a very different kind of scar. One of the challenges with psychological and emotional abuse can be identifying that it happened in the first place. It is harder to measure than physical or sexual violence. A victim can say that their partner punched them five times last week - clearly abuse. If your partner questioned your judgment five times last week, were you abused? It's harder to tell for sure - and this subjectivity makes it easier for perpetrators to manipulate situations to their advantage. 

A very useful tool common in psychology, social work, and similar fields in the front lines of helping survivors of intimate partner violence is known as the power and control wheel:¹⁰ a visual aid, a drawing of a wheel that looks similar to a pie chart or graph with several evenly-sized pieces in the middle. The figure below displays a modified version of the original power and control wheel. 

Image

All around the edge, the wheel is labeled "physical and sexual violence." The outer label reminds people that the constant threat of physical and sexual abuse serves as a fundamental frame for victims in this kind of relationship. In Gilead, citizens know that any slip of thought or behavior might lead to this ultimate end - physical or sexual punishment, death or rape. In both violent relationships and in Gilead, persistent and ubiquitous dread hang in the air. 

But the more useful part of the power and control wheel is the inner portions, the labeled sections. The wheel identifies psychological forms of abuse. When survivors of relationship violence go over the wheel with a counselor, lawyer, social worker, or police officer, they are sometimes able to recognize or label their experiences for the first time only after seeing the wheel validate what they've been through. It acknowledges forms of violence that are more insidious, more subtle, more subjective. These forms of violence fundamentally form part of the cultural structure and schemas of Gilead itself, grinding away at the self-esteem and agency of every citizen who is not at the top of the power structure. Consider each of the forms of abuse identified in the power and control wheel, along with examples of those forms in Atwood's world. 

Intimidation, Coercion, and Threats 

Two categories in the power and control wheel are using intimidation and using coercion and threats. These can be combined into essentially the same thing: One person uses fear to control the other. In an intimate relationship, this fear is based on blackmail, threat of physical or sexual violence, display of weapons, and any acts forcing a partner into doing things against their will. The same psychological dynamic serves as the foundation of threat and fear that controls people throughout Gilead. Janine explains this threat clearly when she warns Esther, "They will keep hurting you, again and again, until you do what they say. That is their job."¹¹ The entire cultural system is based on fear and threats: the ubiquitous presence of the Eyes, the looming Wall, the knowledge that your friends may turn on you if you reveal too much. The very design of the world keeps people "in their place." 

Threats of harm become particularly salient for the Handmaids, the class of citizens who are especially used and abused in Gilead, fears purposely driven by their handlers to dissuade any attempts to escape or rebel. The Aunts carry cattle prods, a constant threat of pain. Beyond just temporary pain, the Handmaids know the Aunts can always mutilate nonreproductive body parts: "For our purposes your feet and hands are not essential."¹² Further disobedience results in being sent to the Colonies or getting stoned to death.¹³ 

Economic Abuse 

Access to money means access to power and independence. The power and control wheel therefore acknowledges economic abuse, when one partner in an intimate relationship controls the other by preventing them from having access to a job, money, or the ability to make financial decisions. This kind of abuse is generalized in Gilead as women's economic freedom is completely removed after the Sons of Gilead complete their government coup. "Offred" longingly recalls when she had the ability to control her finances during simple acts such as using a laundromat: ". . . my own clothes, my own soap, my own money, money I had earned myself. I think about having such control."¹⁴ Under Gilead law, women are not allowed to have bank accounts. Instead, their nearest male relative controls their finances. Women are legally dependent on men and have no representation or rights. 

Women in Gilead are not simply restricted from owning property - they are property. Handmaids wear scannable eartags, like livestock. June is startled to realize that the delegation from Mexico has come to discuss the possibility of Handmaids being offered as trade goods, as exported products.¹⁵ Marthas are similarly registered and owned by their Commanders.¹⁶ Even Wives, women with the highest status in their culture, know that their economic power is yoked to their fathers or husbands. When Mrs. Putnam, a widow with a young child, realizes that a young mother in Gilead will not be allowed to remain single in a large home without a husband for long, she doubtfully marries the first Commander who proposes to her - even though it's the man who ordered the death of her first husband.¹⁷ And when Serena suffers from Fred's physical and emotional abuse, her own mother encourages her to return to him by reminding her, "You know there's no place in this world for you without Fred."¹⁸ 

Male Privilege 

While intimate partner violence can happen between partners of any gender, the original power and control wheel focused on relationships in which men abuse women. So, one of the forms of abuse noted is male privilege: using misogyny or patriarchal values to make decisions, define roles, or control the victim of abuse. Male privilege forms the backbone of Gilead's entire cultural milieu, along with heterosexism and enforcement of a strict gender binary. Anything close to an LGBTQIA2S+ moment or flash of identity is considered an abomination, as noted by Aunt Lydia's statement about "Ofglen": "That girl - that thing - was an offense to God. She was a disgusting beast."¹⁹ 

In intimate relationships, men who abuse women may use male privilege as an excuse to control their partners by couching their abuse as "traditional values." Gilead enforces "traditional values" by requiring Marthas to make bread from scratch and rugs from scrap cloth,²⁰ as well as by requiring women to remain illiterate and subjugated. Subtle condescension toward adult women also enforces male privilege - implicit hints that they are not as competent as men. For example, despite the fact that the sole purpose of Handmaids is sexual, they are only referred to as "girls," a term that diminishes their adult status and autonomy.²¹ "Girls" makes them childish, equivalent to pets, used for the convenience of their Commanders. 

While women are treated as little better than incompetent children in terms of their perceived cognitive abilities, they are simultaneously objectified and sexualized. The existence of brothels such as Jezebel's is another exemplar of the cultural generalization of male privilege, where women are drugged and kept on hand for male pleasure.²² The women there are required to be costumed and fetishized. They are anonymous, traded, temporary, and disposable, whereas the Commanders who frequent the establishment have enough power that they can break society's rules and laws, show off to each other, wink at each other, and bask in their privilege to do so. It's their private club of safety, of indulgence, of hedonism. When Fred takes June there, right before having sex with her, he caresses her ear tag. Presumably, he's getting sexual pleasure from the fact that she is marked with a barcode like a literal piece of meat at a market that he can select and own. Fred does this despite knowing that a very similar scenario led his previous Handmaid to kill herself, which shows how little remorse or empathy he must have. 

Isolation 

Feelings of loneliness and isolation can be incredibly hard to endure, and perpetrators therefore use isolation as another form of intimate partner abuse. Isolation of victims also helps abuse continue, as victims have fewer social resources when they have no friends and family they can trust to help them in times of need. Gilead society has built a sense of isolation into its laws and culture as well, creating loneliness and a lack of trust within the classes of subjugated women. 

Starting as early as their training in the Red Center, the cots the Handmaids sleep in are purposely spread out, far from each other, to deter the women from talking with each other. They are given "wings" to wear as part of their uniform, blinders around their eyes and faces "to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen."23 The wings therefore build an invisible social barrier around each Handmaid, keeping people away. Even within the homes to which they are assigned, Marthas are told not to fraternize with them. Each is assigned another Handmaid as a walking and shopping partner - but this person is intended to be more of a spy than a friend. The system is built to make them feel that even when they are standing next to someone with whom they have everything in common, they have no one. In public, the Handmaids are kept in separate spaces, roped off. "Offred" notes, "This rope segregates us, marks us off, keeps the others from contamination by us, makes for us a corral or pen."²⁴ 

Isolation is a palpable threat and punishment, and it is used frequently. When June tells Serena that she is not pregnant, dashing Serena's hopes, Serena's immediate angry response is to confine June and threaten continued isolation.²⁵ "You will stay here, and you will not leave this room. Do you understand me? Things can get much worse for you." And this isolation works. Soon, we see the first time June really loses control of her emotions and seems to lose hope for the future, begging Serena to end the confinement.²⁶ 

Other Handmaids who break the rules are punished with confinement as well.²⁷ June herself is isolated after escaping from the Waterfords the first time²⁸ and again, later, as a punishment when she bullies another Handmaid.²⁹ Eventually the isolation ends, in part due to a doctor's intervention when he notes, "The brain atrophies in isolation and breeds despair." Her ultimate isolation, however, occurs when she is locked in a small box as a form of torture.³⁰ The fact that this isolation is used by Gilead as an escalation of torture, only after physical pain has not been sufficient to get June to do what they want, is a telling sign of their understanding of the psychology of abuse. 

Emotional Abuse 

Emotional abuse, an important component of the power and control wheel, is a broad category but generally refers to two major tactics: humiliation and mind games. In individual relationships, humiliation might come from insulting a partner, embarrassing them in public, or generally treating them without respect. Again, the culture of Gilead purposely embedded humiliation as a control tactic from the very beginning. Lydia recalls that when the government coup was newly underway and the women were rounded up and sorted in places like public stadiums, they were treated like animals. Not only was this efficient, it was designed to intimidate and shame them - to get them quickly used to the new way of things and their new status. Lydia says, "None of us was allowed to go to the bathroom. Trickles of pee appeared . . . This treatment was supposed to humiliate us, break down our resistance."³¹ Once Gilead is firmly in place, the Commanders continue this humiliation of women. When Commander Putnam "interviews" Esther to potentially be his new Handmaid, he feeds her a chocolate truffle as if she's a toddler, testing to see if she will politely acquiesce.³² This infantilizes and humiliates her in a horribly ironic way, considering he is seconds away from raping her - a sadistically terrible mind game in hisemotional abuse. 

Perhaps the most heartbreaking and poignant aspect of this cultural-level emotional abuse is the internalization that the victims of it experience, such that they then project it onto each other. For example, Wives humiliate Handmaids. When June enters the room with several Wives at the beginning of her assignment with the Waterfords, they treat her as if she's a child and offer her a cookie. As soon as she turns her back, they start to talk about her.³³ It's unclear whether they think she can't hear them or they just don't care. Later, Serena "trains" Eden on being a good Wife by resorting to petty behaviors like throwing knitting needles on the floor and forcing June to pick them up for her, establishing a power hierarchy.³⁴ The Aunts consistently humiliate the Handmaids, calling them names such as "parade of sluts."³⁵ 

Minimizing, Denying, Blaming 

One of the most psychologically manipulative forms of relationship abuse is labeled minimizing, denying, and blaming on the power and control wheel. Minimizing and denying are simply redefining what occurred in ways that either reframe behaviors to deny their impact or severity (i.e., "It didn't really hurt you") or to deny that they occurred at all (i.e., "That's not what happened"). This kind of gaslighting is very effective when victims have no recourse or rights. Victims quickly learn that they can even be punished for complaining about being abused in this kind of environment. In Gilead, for example, girls know not to report any form of harassment or assault from men. Hannah (renamed Agnes by her adoptive family) realizes this: "Some girls had reported such things… The first girl had had the backs of her legs whipped for lying, the second had been told that nice girls did not notice the mi- nor antics of men, they simply looked the other way."³⁶ Adult women in Gilead learn, too, to minimize the abuse they receive. Despite the severe beating Serena receives from Fred when she goes against his decisions, she later reports to the Canadian government that while he did physically strike her, it was not "abuse" because it was "appropriate" according to Gilead law.³⁷ 

The power brokers within Gilead also minimize and deny the psychological impact that their entire system of government will have on the marginalized parts of the population that suffer from the new system they create. In a flashback scene, the young Waterfords are shown rationalizing their plans to systemize legal sexism against women. Serena says, "Praise be. Things have to change. There's pain now… so much of it. We're saving them. We're doing God's work."³⁸ The Waterfords, the Sons of Jacob, and the founding Commanders minimize the impact that the laws will have on an entire gender (not to mention other relevant populations, such as LGBTQIA2S+ individuals) by almost offhandedly stating that their future will really help women get back to what they "should" be doing, ultimately making them happier. The power and control wheel also illustrates that relationship abuse often involves turning the situation around onto the victim. Essentially, perpetrators can twist situations to make it seem as though the victim somehow "deserved" what happened. Psychological research on victim blaming for sexual assault and domestic violence shows that this is also common at a societal or cultural level,³⁹ and that this kind of victim blaming is more likely in individuals and countries that embrace male dominance and patriarchal social systems.⁴⁰ Gilead clearly blames victims of sexual assault and rape. Handmaids are trained to sit in circles, pointing at the survivor and chanting, "Her fault," when one of them reports such crimes.⁴¹ 

They are also taught that they are Handmaids because their behaviors before the government coup were "sinful" and therefore deserved some kind of punishment such as having their children taken away and given to more upstanding, "decent" parents. After June escapes the Waterfords and her actions lead to the death of a man who helped her, Lydia convinces June that the death is her fault. June internalizes this guilt, thinking, "I am inadequate and stupid, without worth. I might as well be dead. Please, God, let Hannah forget me. Let me forget me."⁴² Abusive perpetrators intentionally hope this self-blame will make their victims subservient and easier to control. In the days and weeks following these events, June's will to fight against Gilead is seemingly replaced with a nothingness, an absence of volition. The only thing that seems to bring her personal drive back is a motivation to change the zeitgeist for her future child - a situation which brings us to the final form of psychological abuse identified in the power and control wheel. 

Using Children 

Atwood's dystopian world is perhaps uniquely terrifying because of its use of the final category of psychological abuse: using children. There are many specific ways this kind of abuse can happen for individual couples. The wheel points out examples such as using children to harass the other parent, make the other parent feel guilty about children, or relay messages. Perhaps the most emotionally damaging specific tactic in this category for many parents, however, is the last form noted in the wheel: threatening to take children away. Unfortunately, this is the entire structure of Gilead's social and political existence. 

As strong as June is, her emotional vulnerability is clearly her love for Hannah. When she becomes pregnant with Nick's child, Serena capitalizes on this by blackmailing her. Serena shows June Hannah through a locked car window and tells her, "As long as my baby is safe, so is yours."⁴³ It is a clear threat, a warning, and a reminder to June that Serena is capable of using Hannah against her. Fred also manipulates June through Hannah. When he discovers that June has requested to see Hannah, he acquires a picture of her and gives it to June to curry favor with her, immediately followed by groping her.⁴⁴ Later, after Fred and Serena jointly rape June, Fred "rewards" June by arranging for her to see Hannah for a few minutes.⁴⁵ This demented quid pro quo arrangement uses June's love for her daughter against her. Eventually, the government uses this kind of tactic in a more official manner when it blackmails June into revealing the location of several escaped Handmaids by threatening to hurt Hannah if she doesn't talk.⁴⁶ They know this is the ultimate negotiation tactic, the only bargaining chip that June really cares about. And they are right: She almost immediately gives in. 

Escaping From Abuse: Rebellion Against Abuse 

Experiencing any or all the forms of abuse outlined in the power and control wheel results in negative outcomes. When they happen in intimate relationships, thousands of studies have established patterns of results showing effects such as increased depression, substance abuse, worse physical health, thoughts of suicide, and so on.⁴⁷ Most relevant to the application of Gilead is how experiencing such abuse affects one's identity or sense of self. A recent model from social psychology suggests that people move through phases or stages of identity when they experience intimate partner abuse. The E3 model proposes that the first phase, entrapment, happens when someone is still experiencing the violence or abuse. At this phase, their power and control are weakest because their agency has been taken away by the perpetrator. However, some individuals will then be able to shift to a second phase called escape, in which they successfully overcome obstacles trapping them in abusive situations and achieve freedom. Once out, they can heal from the trauma and, ideally, recover their lost identity and agency. If this final phase is achieved, individuals have reached elevation. 

Research shows that while not all victims of relationship abuse are able to reach phases two and three (escape and elevation) successfully, those who are able to get away from their abusers usually do this slowly and carefully over time.⁴⁸ Importantly, many of the individual people who are able to do this first take the initial step of small, rebellious actions while still in their abusive situation. These small rebellions have been called self-reclaiming actions,⁴⁹ and doing so both helps restore a victim's agency (i.e., by building back their self-esteem and reminding them of their authentic self) and helps build a path toward their eventual escape. There are several examples of such actions in Atwood's vision: Even when it seems like people have lost all hope, sparks of insurrection are always ready to ignite. 

The rebellion might be as simple as whispering their real names in the Red Center at night⁵⁰ or scratching secret inspirational messages into cabinets, closets, or bathrooms for each other to find. It might be using butter to soften their skin when they are not allowed such indulgences. The misuse is symbolic to Handmaids because it means that "we can believe that we will someday get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire."⁵¹ It means they can maintain hope. It might be simply leaving their assigned room at night when they are forbidden to do so, stealing something as simple as a flower, only because they have been told not to. "I am doing something, on my own."⁵² In a world where every action is forced or forbidden, taking a flower can represent fighting an entire evil empire. 

Some self-reclaiming actions are bigger. Serena and June embrace the opportunity to write and edit government policy together while Fred recovers from a bomb attack.⁵³ It's their brief chance to control a small piece of their world, to make use of their intelligence and education, and to rely on their shared marginalization to fight the system that victimizes them both. This experience of cooperation between them shapes each of them individually and changes their mutual relationship, building a foundation of sisterhood that - while certainly turbulent - becomes a keystone for both of their fights against the Gilead dystopian world. 

Intimate partner violence presents a heartbreaking psychological conundrum: The person who should love and support you the most is the one who causes you the most harm. While Atwood's vision shows us a world in which abusive relationship dynamics are taken to a macrocosmic level, she also shows us a glimpse of hope. People who are able to avoid victim blaming, label abusive tactics for what they are, and rebel against these behaviors on both individual and cultural levels may be able to have some small role in shaping a better future - in both Gilead and in our real world. 

Finally, we have Wind's 'Final word'… 

June: The Personal is Political 

"Change the world, even just a little bit." -June Osborne¹ 

June isn't particularly likeable. She had an affair with a married man, she's sometimes immature and selfish, and she often gives in to temptation or weakness. At the same time, watching the television version of The Handmaid's Tale isn't particularly pleasant. For many viewers, repeated scenes of trauma, assault, rape, and violence simply aren't something they can endure - at least, not for entertainment. In fact, many of the contributors to this book struggled with writing these chapters, commenting on how these topics and this subject matter proved to be more emotionally draining than most of the other books in the Popular Culture Psychology series. 

Why did we write it?

In the decades since The Handmaid's Tale was originally published in 1985, the story has never ceased to capture attention, serving as a pit-in-the-stomach fear for many. The original novel has never gone out of print, and the television series has been extremely popular and award-winning. And perhaps there has never been a more important time for a psychological analysis of Atwood's world, given the modern political climate. Atwood's prescient vision has increasingly become a reality. Legislation shows us time and again that feminism is not welcome, that there is no real separation of church and state, and that women are second-class citizens - especially women of color, LGBTQIA2S+ women, or women of other marginalized populations. Consider some specific examples. In Missouri, a rule was passed in 2023 requiring women to cover their arms inside the state's House of Representatives chamber.² The message: Women should dress modestly and conservatively, and men should decide how that is defined. Only about half of the states in the U.S. have banned sexual orientation "conversion therapy" for minors, despite its barbaric values, lack of empirical support, and incredibly harmful effects, essentially equating to torture in some cases.³ All over the country and elsewhere in the world, laws are being passed that ban trans people from participating in sports, going to work, or even going to the bathroom in spaces where they ought to feel safe.⁴ And of course, women's reproductive rights are more precarious than they have been in 50 years. 

The messages in The Handmaid's Tale - in the original book, the movie, the popular series, and Atwood's sequel The Testaments - are fundamental, essential, and urgent. But in particular, the contributors to this book see the value of understanding June and the world around her from a psychological perspective. We start by analyzing social and political structures that could lead to the kind of society Atwood envisions in Gilead. Some of the hallmarks of fascism include the silencing of freedom of speech, increases in systemic sexism, delusional thinking among the police, and authoritarian personalities in power. Once this kind of government is in place, it will further marginalize communities. Our authors discuss oppression of identity, gender, race, and sexuality. Just as the personal is political, political landscapes become personal when they affect individual lives. Our contributors discuss how the characters in The Handmaid's Tale suffer and triumph over abuse, trauma, depression, power dynamics, and oppression. The historical roots of psychology start in philosophy, and we also discuss important issues such as how Atwood's world can provide insights about morality, religion, ethics, and humanity itself. Finally, we discuss the importance of moving from helplessness to hopefulness - something that June models for us, despite her very human weakness. So while I don't like June and I don't enjoy many parts of The Handmaid's Tale, I admire June's bravery and I love what The Handmaid's Tale can show us about the psychology of our own world. We must acknowledge how art imitates life and how Atwood's warnings have - at least in part, by some - been blithely ignored or discounted. We cannot be naive, apathetic, or silent. June might not be the hero we wanted, but she might be the hero we need, at least right now.

• The Handmaid's Tale Psychology: Seeing Off Red, edited by Travis Langley and Wind Goodfriend, will be published later this year.

Footnotes

Introduction

1 Episode 3-1, "Night" (June 5, 2019).

2 Else-Quest & Hyde (2016); Garcia et al. (2021); Moffitt et al. (2023).

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Chapter 9. Power and Control

1 Atwood (2019), p. 317.

2 UN Women (2021).

3 Goodfriend & Simcock (2022).

4 National Center for Victims of Crime (2018).

5 Tausch (2019).

6 Episode 2-8, "Women's Work" (June 6, 2018).

7 For example, Devries et al. (2013); Dillon et al. (2013).

8 Bergen & Barnhill (2006).

9 Kirkwood (1993).

10 Pence & Paymar (1993).

11 Episode 4-9, "Progress" (June 9, 2021).

12 Atwood (1985), p. 91.

13 Episode 1-5, "Faithful" (May 10, 2017).

14 Atwood (1985), p. 24.

15 Episode 1-6, "A Woman's Place" (May 17, 2017).

16 Episode 4-4, "Milk" (May 5, 2021).

17 Episode 5-9, "Allegiance" (Nov. 2, 2022).

18 Episode 3-3, "Useful" (June 5, 2019).

19 Episode 1-3, "Late" (April 26, 2017).

20 Atwood (1985).

21 For example, episodes 1-5, "Faithful" (May 10, 2017); 2-1, "June" (April 25, 2018);

2-4, "Other Women" (May 9, 2018).

22 Episode 1-8, "Jezebels" (May 31, 2017).

23 Atwood (1985), p. 8.

24 Atwood (1985), p. 214.

25 Episode 1-3, "Late" (April 26, 2017).

26 Episode 1-4, "Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum" (May 3, 2017).

27 Episode 2-1, "June" (April 25, 2018).

28 Episode 2-4, "Other Women" (May 9, 2018).

29 Episode 3-9, "Heroic" (July 17, 2019).

30 Episode 4-3, "The Crossing" (April 27, 2021).

31 Atwood (2019), p. 117.

32 Episode 5-2, "Ballet" (Sept. 14, 2022).

33 Episode 1-2, "Birth Day" (April 26, 2017).

34 Episode 2-6, "First Blood" (May 23, 2018).

35 Episode 1-10, "Night" (June 14, 2017).

36 Atwood (2019), p. 97.

37 Episode 4-2, "Nightshade" (April 27, 2021).

38 Episode 1-6, "A Woman's Place" (May 17, 2017).

39 For example, Muehlenhard et al. (1985); Luong & Goodfriend (2023).

40 Canto et al. (2017), Gul & Schuster (2020).

41 Episode 1-1, "Offred" (April 26, 2017).

42 Episode 2-4, "Other Women" (May 9, 2018).

43 Episode 1-10, "Night" (June 14, 2017).

44 Episode 2-6, "First Blood" (May 23, 2018).

45 Episode 2-10, "The Last Ceremony" (June 20, 2018).

46 Episode 4-3, "The Crossing" (April 27, 2021).

47 For example, Beydoun et al. (2012); Dillon et al. (2013); Macy et al. (2009); Nathanson

et al. (2012).

48 NDVH (2021).

Handmaids_MS12.indd 269 7/8/24 12:10 PM

49 Rosen & Stith (1997).

50 Atwood (1985).

51 Atwood (1985), p. 97.

52 Atwood (1985), p. 97.

53 Episode 2-7, "After" (May 30, 2018).

Handmaids_MS12.indd 270 7/8/24 12:10 PM

Final Word. June

1 Episode 1-10, "Night" (June 14, 2017).

2 Mizelle (2023).

3 American Psychological Association (2013); Higbee et al. (2022); Independent

Forensic Expert Group (2020); Przeworski et al. (2021).

4 Choi (2023).

5 Cropped. Shared under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0