Jan 31 2018 37 mins 2
Fans of The Handmaids Tale, Hulus television adaptation of Margaret Atwood 1985 dystopian novel, have taken to donning the red handmaids attire to protest current cultural and political threats to reproductive freedom, specifically abortion rights. If those rights go, they surmise, then so will all of the progress feminism has achieved to this point, and America will soon resemble Atwoods imagined Gilead, where women have no rights save for those granted by corrupt men in power. Those claiming that the television adaptation created by Bruce Miller is more documentary than fiction may be closer to the truth than they realize, but the similarities between Gilead and 2017 America do not stem from Christianity. Both worlds teeter on a functional view of human value, a system brought about in todays world in large part by secular feminism, the availability of abortion on demand, and the idolization of sexual freedom. Instead of Atwoods provocative prose depicting a caste system distinguished by colored clothing, however, todays handmaids tale is told in terms of wealth, performance, and status, as well as in the language of artificial reproductive technologies that cross moral boundaries. As so called progress continues, children are continually reduced to products whether disposable or purchasable and women (as well as men) steadily are being defined out of existence. Were not hurtling toward a dystopian Gilead were already there. Ultimately, neither story can be told without glimmerings of human dignity, particularly deep longings for identity and justice. True Christianity answers both worlds and tells a far better story. This Postmodern Realities Podcast episode is a JOURNAL author conversation with Megan Almon about her Volume 41 1 cover Seeing Red The Handmaids Tale, Human Dignity, and Hope
