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?

Econowife. Married in a church, then two kids, Christian. I'd love to say I'd rebel and die but it's not likely if I could keep my kids and keep my head down. I'm not a revolutionary. I am a feminist though so would have to hope they wouldn't see that as sufficiently sinful...

Oooh. Well I would think handmaid if I was still conceiving, Jezebel if not, which I would prefer to the colonies.

@ratinamaze we said this! I can actually see something like HMT happening.

I'd likely be a handmaid, 30yo 1 child not married. Although I'd probably rather be a Jezebel!

I'd be no use as a Handmaid; I had to use donor eggs to get knocked up! Not married so not a Wife (full blown, or econo-). Possibly a Martha but I suspect my heretical single-lady-baby-having would mean I'd be sent to the colonies quick smart.

We'd be econopeople, until I got caught working for the resistance. We'd probably both be shipped off to the colonies, even if DH had nothing to do with it he's not the revolutionary type because he didn't control me. Or perhaps he'd be shipped off & I'd be deployed as a handmaid.

How do they decide who the Martha’s are?

Do women have to have done something wrong to be a Martha, or are they just making Martha’s out of any unmarried woman who doesn’t have a father / brother to support them?

Interesting how many say they would be in the resistance. The numbers in the war were very very low. I also agree with a pp the recent experience shows how biddable people generally are I found it chilling too.

I was going to say either econowife (Christian wedding and dc afterwards) or at worst a Martha but I am only part white so I guess I'd be killed or shipped off?

On the TV show there are black Handmaids, black Martha's and a black Wife who is married to a doctor. He gets her pregnant naturally and this is such a wonderful event that he is rewarded with a promotion to Commander.

@MsTSwift

Interesting how many say they would be in the resistance. The numbers in the war were very very low. I also agree with a pp the recent experience shows how biddable people generally are I found it chilling too.

If I was an econowife, I probably wouldn’t be in the resistance tbh. It’s easy to say you would, but at the risk of your family being torn apart and perhaps killed... I wouldn’t be brave enough to take that risk.

As a Martha or a Handmaid, with everything taken from you though... that’s another thing. I don’t know if I’d be brave enough still, but there’d be less to stop me.

Well I'm 43 so rules out handmaid. I'm separated, atheist so either Martha or off to the Colonies.
Daughter would be a wife possibly, like that young girl married to Nick. Younger daughter a daughter.
That's frightening.

There’s a particular personality type that fights back. They are quite rare. And usually not “nice”.

Jezeabels I believe are young and pretty but infertile

Don't think so cause Moira was a Handmaid who becomes a Jezebel as punishment for misbehaving, so they're not all infertile. What happens if a Jezebel gets preggers tho? I guess baby gets taken away to be a Commander's child?

I'm 46, single and no kids so I guess I'd be relegated a Martha or dumped in the colonies. Marthas are cool though, they're overlooked but they have their secret communications and get a lot of subterfuge done under the Commanders' noses. The Handmaids on the other hand seem to be out of the loop mostly.

Yeah I guess baby taken away then forced back into handmaid duties.

I'm quite rebellious by nature and scared of very little. Really the only thing that scares me is the thought of losing my daughter. So if she was taken from me, I would have nothing left to lose and am confident I would be in a resistance.

The Jezebels are prevented from getting pregnant iirc.

Marthas are women who can cook and clean, have done nothing explicitly wrong, but are unmarried/widowed so don't have a role in looking after a working husband. When they are too old to work, they get shipped off to the colonies

Probably an econowife, I have 2 kids born in wedlock, and first marriage for us both. It was a non Christian ceremony, so that might put us on shakey ground, and university educated which would be disapproved of. I'm a SAHM now though, so might get the benefit of the doubt.

I got married in a register office, but it was to my first boyfriend and our children were born in wedlock so that might mean I got to be an econowife. If not then probably a Handmaid, I'm 31 and have had two children in very easy pregnancies and births.

I'm also a midwife so they might want me as an Aunt? Given pregnancies are rare they surely want skilled birth attendants to ensure the births result in live babies?!

If I can’t save folks and get them away. I’d rather be dead.

I think the urge to live is stronger than you realise. I also think those that say they would be in the resistance aren’t usually those that actually would be. Talk is cheap.

Well I'm screwed. One child out of wedlock, not married, university degree and job, useless at cooking and both me and partner are politically active. Oh and few childbearing years left, I'm nearly 40.

I read the Handmaid's Tale years ago and find it terrifying. It's so easy to imagine it actually happening. Most people are law abiding and would want to save themselves and their families over resisting, it's natural.

I suck at getting and staying pregnant so no handmaids for me.
Married but non religious wedding but now regularly attend a C of E church so sure the vicar would do us a blessing or whatever to make it legit so hopefully a ecowife.

MsTSwift

I agree.

I would be Wife. And DH a Commander. Our self-preservation instincts and military background not to mention diplomatic training would help us to talk our way in and keep us there!

Thanks Ms T for putting a dampener on a otherwise entertaining thread 🙄

Either an econowife or a handmaid depending on how badly they view sex before marriage.