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.

It’s nothing to do with Atwood. The OP is wrong.

That's BS. Internalised misogyny is a well known term, and obviously goes hand in hand with upholding the patriarchy.

And in any case, why wouldn't you be able to say "upholding the patriarchy" or "reinforcing the patriarchy" instead of "internalised misogyny" or (ugh) "handmaidening"?

This seems like a really disingenuous claim. "We must have our insults or no one will no what we're talking about" Yeah right.

If you call a woman a Handmaid, you're implying a woman has a choice to be and to act as a handmaid.

Sorry, is this your logic:

1. some handmaidens in the original sense of the term were/are slaves, therefore victims
2. “handmaidens” in this sense have free choice, therefore are not victims.
3. therefore the feminist use of “handmaidens” is retroactively victim blaming enslaved women from the past?

if you don’t agree with this summary of your logic, which part is wrong?

I think you are wrong about 3 following from 1 and 2.

(Does the phrase “rapists are the footsoldiers of the patriarchy” assign blame to conscripted foot soldiers of previous centuries? I think it’s a mad argument.)

I went down a rabbit hole in my thesaurus app:

Collaborator>Colluder>Renegade>Recreant>Tergiversator

I rather like the meanings of tergiversator and particularly recreant for this purpose. Apt.

A subservient man would probably be called emasculated or effeminate which actually are misogynistic terms.

Yes , you may think it has nothing to do with 'The Handmaid's Tale' and maybe it originally doesn't, but it's very possible that to most people that is how it appears.

OP should say what it was they said to be given the handmaiden title. That way we could help out defining.

Your versions are very boring whilst also dismissive of decades of feminist history.

I prefer something less po faced, personally.

That’s because they weren’t an adult before it was made into a TV series.

It's mysterious. It's like bursting into a local bar and declaring your total opposition and that you must not be called anything you don't like

TERF might be used as an insult to women, but there it's not a term that has victim blaming connotations. There's no word in there that means something else, there's no literary background to it which would give a misogynistic context to the term.
Hmm. Disagree. TERF aligns "radical feminist" with a distorted shorthand of what feminists think, that on the surface makes them sound unreasonable to most people. "Trans exclusionary" doesn't actually mean what it says on the tin. It means "doesn't believe trans women are women" not "excludes trans people and believes they shouldn't exist".
And of course being labelled a "feminist" has a long history of being used as an insult, connotations of being angry, unreasonable, man hating etc. Lots of women actively avoid the label despite believing women should be treated equally to men.

You know this. So don't pretend handmaid is worse somehow because it isn't.

Or, they are more aware of Atwoods book than of a feminist term?

But yea, it is far more likely that the majority of people associate this term with Atwood than with it's previous feminist usage.

In which case it is fair point to say thay its a bit pf a confusing term...

Yes this is the context I've been seeing it - it's quite a big show so I'm confused as to why people are unilaterally claiming that no one is using it in this context!

I’ve just checked, it was serialised on TV in 2017. Six years ago, so I imagine it would be only pretty young people who wouldn’t have heard the usage before.

Deputy Assistant to the Dick-Holders?

Also bluntly why should we not call out women who are blatantly chucking women under the bus in their rush to support men however they present - looking at you sturgeon!

You could call such women Sturgeons?

I am 32, i have never seen the show, i read the book a long time ago. I associate the word with Atwood.

So it is nothing to do with being an adult before that show..I just think Atwoods book (as well as the show) has had far more of a cultural impact and wide reach than the feminist version...

There is no singular word in the acronym TERF that compares to the use of Handmaid which has a defined meaning as referring to women specifically as servants and, in the context it's being used on the internet, sex slaves.

It might have negative connotations, but there are no victim blaming connotations.

Also why does one have to quantify which is worse? They are both in my opinion, used as misogynistic insults, and therefore I would use neither.

Love it
Although a bit insulting to the original fish sturgeons

Have you been part of feminist subculture for a while?

Nikklasturgeons

Can you stop gatekeeping feminism please? Young women can be feminists. Old women can be feminists. Girls can be feminists.

You may choose to not acknowledge that the popularity of the show has brought terms like Handmaid and Aunt Lydia more into popular culture, but it's not sensible nor true.

I’ll say what I like.

like the verb form of ‘Sturgeoning’ but I suspect that describes inventing a new sex class called ‘Rapists’ rather than more general handmaidening?

It might have negative connotations, but there are no victim blaming connotations.

You keep ignoring the point about the dictionary definition of handmaiden: a person or thing that serves a useful but subordinate purpose - logic is the handmaid of philosophy

Lots of words change in usage and have a root in some kind of problematic human behaviour. Why is this one more of an issue?

I suppose (without knowing what you said) if you don't want to be called a handmaid, don't say handmaid-y things.