“They Should Have Never Given Us Uniforms If They Didn’t Want Us to Be an Army”:The Handmaid’s Taleas Transmedia Feminism

“Domestic Feminism”: The Politics of Reproduction and Motherhood in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale

“….] my name is June” (see, for instance, Boyle 2020, 853; Crawley 2018, 338; Howell 2019). However, where the novel lists Offred’s will “to last” as a human being without qualification, Hulu (re)orients Offred/June and her motivations “to survive” in relation to her family and role as a mother.…”

“…After Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood were overturned, Handmaids marched ominously outside of Coney Barrett's house and protested by the security fences blockading the Supreme Court (see Hajjaji 2022;Tharoor 2022). These abortion rights advocates followed the lead of transnational feminist activists, with similar Handmaid-style political demonstrations having occurred in states including Texas, Ohio, and Alabama, and in countries including Argentina, Poland, and Ireland (see Boyle 2020).…”

“…In this context, the series was appreciated for its elaboration of the anti-Gilead resistance and the Handmaid was quickly taken up as a feminist "rallying cry." Its allegories and iconography have since spread across activists' bodies, protest signs, digital feminist activism, and politically-inflected memes, and the series and its symbolism have facilitated the organization and recruitment of feminist and reproductive rights activism in the U.S. and beyond (see Bayne 2018;Boyle 2020;Howell 2019).…”

“…Originally, Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale in response to the conservative backlash following the 1973 court decision to instate abortion as a constitutional right for women in the U.S. With the television series premiering in 2017, The Handmaid’s Tale became an increasingly relevant reflection amidst mounting anti-abortion laws, the Trump presidency and a transnational rise of the conservative far right. In this context, the series was appreciated for its elaboration of the anti-Gilead resistance and the Handmaid was quickly taken up as a feminist “rallying cry.” Its allegories and iconography have since spread across activists’ bodies, protest signs, digital feminist activism, and politically-inflected memes, and the series and its symbolism have facilitated the organization and recruitment of feminist and reproductive rights activism in the U.S. and beyond (see Bayne 2018; Boyle 2020; Howell 2019).…”

From Verona, with love: “anti-gender” mobilizations and transfeminist (re)actions

“…Dressed as handmaids, as in the TV show The Handmaid's Tale, NUDM activists silently entered the city council, thereby complying with the rules for accession, but their silence marked their presence even more strongly. The handmaid's costume had been used before to defend the right to abortion (Cossutta 2019), but after Verona it has become the hallmark of all mobilizations against similar motions throughout the country and beyond (Boyle 2020). The figure of the handmaid not only signals a possible dystopia, but also highlights the dystopian elements already present in society, functioning as a warning and as an admonition at once.…”