Handmaid, Handmaiden.

[CandlelightGlow]

Can someone explain why it's been deemed appropriate to call women who appear to be defending men or considering men in any capacity, handmaids?

Does it mean something else that I'm not aware of? My understanding is it comes from the Margaret Atwood novels, referring to women who are forced into ritualistic rape, pregnancy and childbirth.

How exactly does it link to a woman who in one's opinion, chooses to serve the patriarchy. Is it a term feminists should ever use? There is a strong connotation of victim blaming if you are choosing to refer to another woman as a willing handmaid. How is it justifiable?

I'm not asking for examples of when you would consider someone fitting the definition of "handmaiden". I've seen this term thrown around on a couple of threads recently and I'm concerned that it's become a term used largely by women, to insult other women, often in the context of feminist discussions, and I find it interesting that given this very particular context, it's deemed acceptable to use? Again, given the highly misogynistic connotation feeding into the "willing female victim" narrative that already plagues patriarchal rhetoric.

Forgive me if people have already said this - but I always think of the Annunciation in connection with the word.

Behold the handmaiden of the Lord , are Marys words to Gabriel when he tells her she will bear the messiah ? If I remember my Nativity plays correctly.

language changes, words can mean more than one thing.
Is this another attempt to remove words from women’s armoury?
until now we all knew what a handmaiden is. The meaning is being muddied.

I love this. It could be a deep dive into the Aunt’s back stories, right back to secondary school.

Yes!

One teenaged Aunt Lydia overhears two classmates gossiping about how her favourite swimming teacher was discovered stealing their clothes and going off to masturbate in them. She is appalled and complains to the Head and gets her classmates expelled….

Is this another attempt to remove words from women's armoury?

Yes.

And the muddling of the meaning of Handmaid/Handmaiden is pure po-mo.
"If you can't convince, confuse." as my old colleague used to say about business jargon.

This topic has appeared before on this board.

One word that came up on a previous thread which I'm considering using is 'quisling'.

I will resist the temptation to go full Malcolm Tucker.

It's from Genesis. Abraham takes his wife's handmaiden (slave), Hagar, in order to get the son that his wife, Sarah, cannot bear him. Later, Jacob takes his wives' handmaidens as concubines, fathering one daughter (Dinah) and several sons on them. Whether the women were willing to become concubines is moot - though it was probably better than being a slave. The term 'handmaiden' has come to mean a woman who is used by men and appears to be willing to help their cause even though she herself may be damaged.

The term 'handmaiden' has come to mean a woman who is used by men and appears to be willing to help their cause even though she herself may be damaged.

This is absolutely how I think about self- declared "cis" women and other females caught up in deep belief in trans ideology. I feel very similarly about trad wives and other women caught up in very fundamentalist religion. It's all misogyny, just different flavours. It is really understandable that women react like this, it's survival, like Stockholm syndrome. Even feminists play along with some of this, sometimes. It feels safer, in the short term. But it's not liberation.