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.

Very true, the original Aramaic and Greek of the first bibles (Talmuds) use the word for a woman belonging to/owned by a man to refer to Eve.

Thousands of years later, Christian translators big on the sanctity of marriage and monogamy, inserted “wife” in certain select places to make it appear that it was always God’s plan to have man + wife, in holy monogamous matrimony….but the original Eve in Genesis, wasn’t originally put in as a wife, but as ‘woman owned by’ Adam.

If the thread is bollocks to you, could you just leave and not post? I hope you're not going to interject between every single one of my post just to emphasise how bollocksy you find the whole thing. You've made your point.

Its bollocks because a load of posters are pontificating about the feminist usage of a words, being really judgmental about it, whilst being completely wrong.

Regarding Atum’s right hand/wife - it is based on the earlier creation myth with predates Adam and Eve, and it is where Atum creates the world by having a wank. The semen is the world, his right hand is the wife.

Which predates

This is a copy and paste from an old thread on this topic (I’m not the author):

CardsforKittens · 22/06/2018 10:14
I was brought up in a very religious environment, so handmaiden means something very specific to me: it recalls those stories in the Bible where a female servant/slave is used as a means of furthering the patriarchy by bearing the patriarch's children. The woman has no choice in the matter, and if she stands up for herself she gets expelled, with no means of support (apart from God).

But those old stories were written by men for men. Hagar can't refuse Abraham. Mary can't say no to the angel. Instead she sings this song about how great it is to be chosen to become a teenage mother. 'Thanks for the unexpected fetus, God - how wonderful. Now I can fulfil my purpose in life, as determined for me by men.'

So when I see it in the trans debate I read it not so much as a woman who undermines other women for her own advantage, but a woman who can't see any other way to respond to the patriarchy. Or a woman who expresses gratitude to men for using her, because she believes her self worth depends on her investment in the patriarchy.

I don't think handmaiden is a sexist slur. I think it means a woman who has unfortunately not found enough freedom from patriarchal influences to do her own feminist analysis.

(plus a couple of random screenshots)

I don't understand what other biblical stories have to do with anything though?

Women aren't going around referring to other women they disagree with as "right hands". They're calling them Handmaids.

The point is in no frame of reference is a Handmaid or handmaiden free and consenting in her ‘service’, so the insult only displays the ignorance of the person using it in both history and literature.

But the people who are called handmaids in the context you describe are also not free and consenting. We are all victims of the patriarchy, some of us try to be free by fighting against it, others prefer the illusion of freedom by bending to it...

The Egyptian Atum didn’t do that, he created the first four gods with no “wife” or “wanking”. What does this random garbled version of a myth have to do with it?

That's interesting, thank you. I do find it interesting as well though that the conclusion is "it's not sexist" even though it clearly says that in the Bible, the Handmaids were women with no choice, used by men.

At the very least it's massive hypocrisy. It's using a patriarchal slur, written with a patriarchal view of women, to call women out for enforcing patriarchy.

That’s not the explicit usage or implication when the insult is used.

What are you talking about? Did you just look at the wiki page and become an expert?

The original meaning is not from Margaret Atwood but ‘handmaid’ has obviously taken a different meaning.

Handmaidens aren’t always slaves. They are just young women (maids) who serve ‘close at hand’ - that could have been a slave but in more recent centuries it would have been paid young women or young women taking roles as positions of advancement.

The point being that women, usually trying to advance their status with men, will be ‘on hand’ to serve the patriarchy.

Oxford English Dictionary
Handmaid
1.
a. A female personal attendant or servant; a maid. Cf. handmaiden n. 1. archaic and historical in later use.

b. figurative. An abstract or immaterial thing considered as auxiliary to another in a subordinate capacity; an adjunct

but that makes no sense because if it were an Atwood reference it would be ‘handmaid’.

Which is most definitely isn’t.

if we were using a Handmaid’s Tale reference ‘Aunt’ would be more appropriate.

Personally I don’t use ‘handmaiden’ because pejoratives rarely improve dialogue but I don’t tone police other women who do use it (and that was something I had to learn because female socialisation is powerful)!

Sounds like something you would do tbh.

Quite Count and Midsomer.

I find it annoying that this keeps coming up, a breathless and judgemental OP comes up with this policing of feminist language since HT came out on Netflix.

Handmaidens aren’t always slaves.
True, they aren’t now or in more recent history, but in the Bible & Atwoods books they are.

That’s not the explicit usage or implication when the insult is used

I think it is. There usually seems to be an element of pity or resignation when it is used. People are annoyed that women are working against themselves (hence the insult), but they understand why (pity).

In a really obvious example, feminists seem to think that women prostituting themselves on OnlyFans are doing harm to women, but they understand that these women are a product of a highly sexualised environment created by the way men see women as sexual objects

I don't think we have to automatically label exploring and discussing the use of terms as tone or thought policing though, I think it's quite a cop out to think like that.

I think that if we can't call out misogynistic language in the feminist sphere, where can we?

What is ‘feminist’ about insulting other feminists with sexist slurs like Handmaid or Handmaiden? Might as well just call a girl a bitch.

It’s not misogynistic language.

The success of the tv show certainly makes it harder to find the older references online!

Also notice the expression ‘call out’?

I rest my case.

Breathless?

When did Handmaid's Tale come out on Netflix? I watched it on amazon prime years ago, it's not actually new, it's quite a few series in now.

Am I not allowed to be judgemental?

Please tell me what I am allowed to pass judgement on as a woman.

Am I not allowed to question what other women do? Does that make me Not-A-Feminist?