The nuanced psychology of The Handmaid’s Tale: Commentary on power, feminism, and the patriarchy from four feminist evolutionary psychologists.

Abstract

Dystopian novels such as The Handmaid's Tale (Atwood, 1985) illuminate real-world human sociopolitical dynamics that underscore the processes of sexual and reproductive control at both the systemic and individual levels. Here we utilize this novel as a unique and abundant case study to generate a broader theoretical discussion of feminism and evolutionary psychology. Integrating the function of fiction (Carroll, 2018), we highlight examples in the novel which illustrate the overt and covert attempts by both sexes to control female sexuality and reproductive potential. Examples from the novel are utilized to discuss myriad behaviors underlying the divergent reproductive interest of men and women, and female-female competition that occurs under patriarchal control. Implicit and explicit tactics women use to resist control over their sexuality are outlined, and we argue that the sensitivity to the structure of a society such as (the fictionalized) Republic of Gilead is only possible via evolved cognitive mechanisms that allow humans to detect attempts to exercise power and control over reproductive choices. We present evidence that evolved emotional and motivational systems incentivize feminists today to prevent such a society, and that feminism itself is only possible as a social, political, and intellectual movement based on those evolved cognitive mechanisms. Public Significance StatementAs evolutionary psychological scientists who identify as feminists in our everyday lives, we analyze a hotly debated feminist novel, The Handmaid's Tale, in the context of evolutionary theory using recent findings from the scientific literature to connect to themes in the novel. We point to patterns of the society's structure and members' behaviors in the dystopian novel and draw upon many areas of research to offer a perspective on the overlap between the goals of evolutionary science and feminism.

La ira de Dios: conocimiento, tecnología y control social en dos series de TV contemporáneas

“…El texto de Holly Willson Holladay y Chandler L. Classen (2019) vincula la serie con el género distópico y a la vez con el feminismo, al señalar que las distopías críticas feministas son a la vez analíticas y afectivas, porque no solo critican un cierto contexto político sino que además trascienden los límites temporales al vincularse con la ansiedad, el miedo y el enojo de los grupos marginalizados en cualquier sociedad. Gran parte de la bibliografía crítica sobre la serie y el libro original provienen de los estudios de género y se centran, en gran parte, en la reproducción (Busby y Delaney Vun, 2010;Calvi et al, 2020;Neuman, 2006;Sheldon, 2013). En 2019, la revista Aesthethika dedicó un número al análisis de la serie desde una perspectiva ética (Ormart y Paragis, 2019), para abordar cuestiones como el mandato social de la maternidad -realizado en la serie a través de las criadas como gestantes subrogadas-(Cambra Badii, Paragis y Mastandrea, 2019), la respuesta de la subjetividad femenina ante un orden patriarcal de coerción (Cuello, 2019), las consecuencias o peligros a los que puede conducir la práctica de la reproducción asistida de no contemplarse ciertos parámetros éticos (Ormart, 2019), entre otros temas.…”

Home is where the hurt is: Media depictions of wives and mothers Sara Hosey

“…As a whole, this book makes an important contribution through analysing popular culture from a critical feminist perspective. Such analysis can lead the way for action on issues facing feminists today, revealing intersections of biology and culture and reflections of human nature (Calvi et al., 2020). Media also reflect dominant narratives and can introduce young people to past events or strong literary tales.…”