Would you be a Handmaid, Martha or Jezebel?

[FortunesFave]

Re-watched some of the Handmaid's Tale and started thinking what I'd be if I lived in that world.

I'd be a Martha I think. I'm too old for them to choose me as a Handmaid and I think my lifestyle would ensure I got to be a Martha.

What were the criteria for Jezebels though?

Twenty years ago an econowife.

Now a silently raging Martha although in reality I'd probably have gone to the wall as a rebel long since.

I would be a Handmaid and my children would be taken from me. My marriage to DH dissolved and he would likely be killed.

It's not something I like to think about.

Mainly because my heart would be broken and I'd probably kill myself as soon as ingot the chance.

Maybe a handmaid: unmarried, probably still fertile, but pushing it a bit at 38. Possibly dying in childbirth after a failed VBAC.

@motherwol gosh are you not allowed assistance in labour? I have only seen the TV series and it didnt mention that.

Perhaps the fact I do pregnancy/labour well would be my saving grace from ending up as a Jezebel or in the the colonies

It's all quite scary to think about isnt it.

No econowife for me; currently living in sin. Dubious fertility (multiple miscarriages, and an abortion under my belt before DD). Liberal academic so that's against me too. Probs off to the colonies for me. Genuinely a terrifying prospect, especially being the mother of a girl. Reading The Testaments was horrific, I cried most of the way through.

@Wolfgirrl I think in The Testaments Ofkyle dies in labour as they save the baby, not the handmaid? And the births are never with midwives/doctors present...

I think most of us would just have been shot in the first insurrection.

I'm disabled so would be extinguished quickly I would think, oldest daughter would be on the wall as a gender traitor, dh adulterer as he's my 2nd husband, I assume my 17 year old daughter would be made to be a handmaid? Or married off? 17 year old ds would be extinguished as well as he's autistic I would think... So from a family of 5, one might survive in some way....

I'm disabled as well, we'd be shovelling toxic waste in the colonies.

I'd be a handmaid as DP and I arent married but I'm lucky enough to have a DD. Although I dont think I'm strong enough to endure that life so it would only be a matter of time before I'd snap and be sent to the colonies or forced to become a jezebel

Dead. I'm a lesbian.

28 year old single mother. Definitely a handmaid for me!

The whole point about handmaids is they are rare as most women infertile due to environmental disaster. So only a tiny minority would be handmaids (did book for a level 20 plus years ago 😁)

A discreet Jezebel in a Handmaid’s outfit, who sneaked out to look for more satisfying sex elsewhere.

@MsTSwift I thought you had to have proven fertility eg a prior conception and birth.

Although from what motherwol said, it sounds like a lot of handmaids wouldn't survive the birth so there wouldn't be that many of them.

@Silvergreen I think lesbians can become handmaids?

A horrific environmental event rendered almost all women infertile most women have had children so think that would be irrelevant as proof of post apocalyptic fertility. If most women were fertile they wouldn’t need to do the whole rigmarole! The handmaids were prized as they were the rare tiny minority who were still fertile

Anyone can be a handmaid lesbians too the regime prioritised babies over their insane biblical values

Oooh interesting. How did they determine if somebody was still fertile? Was there a test or something like that?

In the book Ofred has to visit a doctor once a year for some checks, doesn’t she? Because I think the doctor offers to ‘help’ her conceive and she isn’t sure whether it’s a trap or not (disclaimer: I read the book for my a-levels and haven’t reread it since).

Yeah there are lesbian Handmaids in the show but they are people who have given birth. Outside of marriage obviously, so that's why they are made Handmaids.

The vast majority just stopped conceiving I assumed - hence the regime were able to panic the population into accepting their mental segregation

I can't be a Handmaid, I've been sterilised. Colonies or Jezebel for me, and given the choice I'd pick the latter.

Those who are saying they wouldn’t make it as a Martha because their domestic skills aren’t up to much or their DH usually does the cooking... I don’t think that really matters in Gilead, you just get on with it Some of the Marthas were doctors, psychiatrists, engineers, all kids of jobs previous to Gilead. It’s not like the Sons of Jacob say “Ooh you’re a good cook and handy with a hoover” and that’s the criteria.

I’d be a handmaid. I’m mid-30s with one DD but separated from her Dad.

My username is taken from a Handsmaid's Tale quote. I'm desperate for the 4th series. The COVID situation has given a depressing insight into the human psyche though - some of us obeying the rules to the letter, some questioning authority but doing what they want anyway, some breaking and flouting rules, some informing on others... Makes scenarios like The Handmaid's Tale all the more uncomfortable.

I'm really not sure where I would fit in the system. I'm married - first marriage for us both, but it was a humanist, not religious service, so probably doesn't count. I am also childfree by choice - an aspect that hasn't, as far as can remember, been discussed in the books or series. Obviously the choice bit would go out the window and if I were still fertile, I'd probably be made a Handmaid. I'm menopausal now though so not sure if that would put me in the Martha category or would I be punished (wall or colonies) for having taken measures to prevent pregnancy in the past? Does that make me an Unwoman?

Honestly though, I'd probably be executed for rebellion long before those kind of choices could be made for me.