Oh lord! I'm watching the Handmaid's Tale TV series.

[vlyons]

I read the book years ago. But good grief, this female dystopian view of what can happen when a Christo-Fascist cult takes over society is frightening! So many parallels to what we see today. An underlying theme is: we didn't pay attention. The RW nutjobs were there all along, saying women should give up careers and stay home to raise babies. Demonizing LGBT as gender traitors. Clitorectomies for lesbians to remove the "little problem." Organizing to overthrow the gov by a coup. It was there all along, and we just didn't pay attention. If you haven't done so already, read the book or watch the TV series.

[hlthe2b]

1. I have avoided watching it since its first season--too close to the truth of what might lie ahead...

Now that it all but parallels our potential future and even predicts it, I'm not sure I can stand it ever. (I have read the book and I will be following Margaret Atwood's continuing comments/thoughts).

As a life-long pacifist, I'm struggling against seeing this as a fight based on self-defense. I hope and sincerely counsel that we can keep protests peaceful, but it is the other side who has murdered abortion doctors, placed bombs and threatened those merely trying to avail themselves of their constitutional rights. The future looks far darker than a week ago and it has been darkening for a decade.

[Karma13612]

2. Hubby and I got thru the first season

And I think season 2 part way. We just couldn’t stomach any more.

Yea, there is a small part of me that is actually quite happy we live about a half hour from the Canadian border in Northern New York. I know the winters are cold and we normally rent in North Carolina for the winter, but if things got really bad, I would cancel NC and head for Ontario.

And the border is now open……..lets hope it stays that way. I’m past my fertile years (68), but I wouldn’t last long on the farm where they send the older women.

Under his eye…

[canuckledragger]

4. Yes the winters are cold but...

They are a bit milder if you get away from the great lakes areas.

The problem is those huge bodies of water cause humidity all year round, and as the temperature dips or rises, it causes frigid winters with the wind chill, and wet, humid summers.

Get away from the lake effect, and the winters/summers are a wee bit more tolerable.

[Karma13612]

3. Just a thought regarding the title:

You might want to fix the spelling to “Tale”.

But, spelling it as tail does inject a bit of levity where we could certainly use it!!

🙋?♀️👍

[Roisin Ni Fiachra]

5. Read the book twice, and have watched the entire series to date.

I've always known that Republicans are Nazis waiting to happen.

A person has to have something fundamentally very, very wrong with them, ethically and morally, if they voluntarily join the Republican party, which does nothing but evil to humankind and all life on the planet.

[Freddie]

6. My husband watched it, I could not

Too close to the truth, which gets me enraged enough without adding fiction to it.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. I just can't force myself to watch it. It will depress me too damn much.

[hamsterjill]

8. I've seen every episode.

Spoiler alert:

I have been SO glad to see the writers taking the story to a point where the women start to fight back.

Because this is going to happen here if we don’t start to fight back and fight back hard.

[FakeNoose]

9. I used to think of it as "alternative future" fiction

... because the book's original premise was that a pandemic hit and made 99.9% of the women infertile. Only a few "lucky" women were immune and able to conceive and have babies, and those women became baby-slaves for the rich and powerful men. All the other politics in the story revolved around the Handmaids' being the only ones who could produce live babies. That seemed like science fiction to me, until Covid-19 arrived and now it all seems entirely possible.

[PlanetBev]

10. I saw an interview with the author, Margaret Atwood

She’s a Canadian who looked southward and saw what was happening here. The book was written in 1985, when Reagan was in office and the Right was ascendent. Makes sense.

[liberalmuse]

11. I can't watch it. It's too close to the current reality.

So of course I scanned classic movies and ended up watching, "Love with the Proper Stranger". Oy. I probably should watch it or better yet, read the book.

[peggysue2]

12. I love Margaret Atwood

I read the Handmaid's Tale when it first came out, enjoyed it but thought it was . . . over-the-top.

Wrong!

I was gazing into a frigging crystal ball but didn't realize it. Atwood caught the undercurrent and rode it right into the moment we're living, breathing, seeing and hearing.

We have a chance, a last chance, of stopping the formation of Gilead, the breaking of all norms and decency and liberty in the name of self-righteous, militant Godliness.

We have a chance. May every nasty woman and those that love them use it well.

Last chance.

[FoxNewsSucks]

13. There was a movie in 1990

A little over 2 hours long, it might be good for those who can't stomach the entire series. It's basically a clip notes version of season one, it was very well done

Netflix has it, don't know where else it might be available

[LeftinOH]

14. Everything described in the book has actually taken place - somewhere.

Margaret Atwood has made it clear that everything that happens in the book has actually taken place -at some point in time- usually in Western Christian society.