# SDMB Bookclub: Handmaids Tale **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-bookclub-handmaids-tale/152103 "2003-02-01T14:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Slainte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Slainte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slainte)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-bookclub-handmaids-tale/152103/61 "2003-02-09T00:34:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnT \* > \*\ ***liirogue** : “The reasons given were ridiculous, but yet it happend. Who would have ever thought that the Supreme Court would interpret the same document in two ways, resulting in mass changes in daily life? Blacks were considered inferior because of their skin. Is it that much of a jump to think that the same sort of thing could occur based on whether or not you have a penis?” > > But what of the advances that led to the creation of that Supreme Court and that document? The document didn’t exist forever - ask yourself: was the world a better place for women’s rights before 1776? That was when we first began declaring that “All men are created equal” - think about that for a second: it took us 7,000 years of history to give _ourselves_ equality under the law. Is it not then surprising that it might take a century or three to refine that to “all people are created equal?” > \*\* I guess I’m with **liirogue** here. It took until the 13th Amendment for freed black (male) slaves to get the voting privilege. It took until _1920_ for any woman, of any color, in this country to get the privilege to vote (19th Amendment). I think that speaks volumes about what value this society placed on women - someone who was considered property at one time got to vote before any woman in this country. No, in some ways I don’t think this story is too far flung. ---
**Author:** ![Slainte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Slainte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slainte)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-bookclub-handmaids-tale/152103/62 "2003-02-09T00:48:44Z")
Correction: The 13th Amendment freed the slaves, the 14th Amendment gave freed black males (former slaves) the right to vote. Women, all of them, still had to wait until the 19th Amendment in 1920. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-bookclub-handmaids-tale/152103/63 "2003-02-09T01:36:17Z")
Another correction, in some states it was legal to vote pre 19th amendment, just not for Federal office. But yes, just recently we passed a major milestone. Women have now (and its recent - within the past 10 years) had the vote for longer than it took to get it! Until the mid 1970s there were all sorts of laws regarding women owning property, having credit in her own name, etc. (varying a lot by state) in the United States. Considering that this book was written in the mid 1980s - a mere decade or two since these laws had been overturned - not farfetched at all. As to the “forced reproduction” aspects - I’ve been in rooms of infertile women trying to adopt healthy white babies. It isn’t unusual for women in these situations to support the 1950s mentality of removing parent rights from unwed mothers of healthy white children. ---
**Author:** ![Slainte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Slainte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slainte)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-bookclub-handmaids-tale/152103/64 "2003-02-09T02:53:07Z")
Thanks **Dangerosa** , I wasn’t aware of that. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-bookclub-handmaids-tale/152103/65 "2003-02-09T03:21:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Icerigger \* > \*\*Has anyone seen the movie version? What did you think? > \*\* Hated it. 1. It gave the Handmaid a name: Kate 2. “Kate” ends up living in a trailer in the mountains, waiting for the birth of her baby. 3. Nick ends up a freedom fighter. 4. The Handmaids’ veils were little red bridal veils perched far back on the heads, instead of the vision-obscuring nun’s “wings” that Offred describes. 5. “Kate” kills her Commander with (IIRC) a butcher knife. The whole film looked cheaply made. Bad sets, bad costumes, mildly bad acting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-bookclub-handmaids-tale/152103.md?page=3)