On Symbols And Joining Fights Already In Progress
I’ve been seeing backlash to the people posting things about Handmaids and “camping,” and I’ve seen backlash to the backlash. I wanted to unpack it all a little bit. I’m going to focus mostly on the Handmaid stuff, so I’ll start with the camping.
The camping stuff especially is people reacting in real time. They’re shocked, they’re flailing, and they want to do or say or pledge to do something. I get it. But it’s important to remember that new mobilization may not be necessary, as there are ALREADY many organizations that fund and enable abortion access! Please check before starting on your own!
https://donationsforabortions.com/ is a good place to start. Sites like these let you choose if you want to focus locally, or on areas that may have greater need. This one also has this absolutely fantastic graphic:
Lastly, everyone knows what “camping” means. It’s like using tree or smoke emojis to talk about marijuana. You’re not fooling anyone, and you’re possibly incriminating the people you’re trying to protect. If your code is on infographics all over instagram, it’s not code anymore.
OK, now onto the Handmaid stuff:
People like symbols. People find comfort in them, especially from pieces of fiction that have a “fighting evil for the greater good” element to them. Your Rebel Alliances, your Deathlys Hallow (oops, that aged poorly), even the safety pins were intended to be a symbol that said, “Hey, I’m pissed and I’m gonna fight, and I’ll fight with and for you.”
The Handmaids are also an easy short hand for the very specific kind of political terror we’re feeling lately. (“Lately” can refer to whatever stretch of time feels best for you. I know I was making Handmaids Tale jokes in the W years, but ymmv.)
The problem with the Handmaids is layered and can get people’s backs up if they’re expecting praise for using that imagery instead of criticism.
So firstly, it’s most important to remember this was Atwood’s intention for the novel: “When I wrote The Handmaid’s Tale,” Atwood says […], “nothing went into it that had not happened in real life somewhere at some time. The reason I made that rule is that I didn’t want anybody saying, ‘You certainly have an evil imagination, you made up all these bad things.’ I didn’t make them up.”
The part where this gets thorny is that most of those things happened to people who aren’t *white.* So unfortunately, we’ve arrived at the “teaching people to care about [problem] by making it happen to cishet white people” narrative trope. (Think X-Men and many other works of science or speculative fiction.) This article, written last year, gets to the heart of it:
When dystopian dramas centre white characters undergoing pain that is contemporarily being inflicted on non-white groups without acknowledging that reality, it is a problem. To call out a potential dystopian future for the atrocities it could inflict on white women without recognizing that those very same things are already happening to other women demonstrates either ignorance or bias.
Handmaid’s Tale the show tried to course-correct that problem by casting BIPOC actors in roles that were exclusively white in the book. In my opinion, this was one of the show’s greatest weaknesses. The fact that racism was a part of the greater whole in the source material was important. Racism and this kind of Christofascist theocracy are deeply, deeply intertwined. Despite good intentions, that message gets diluted when the Handmaids, the leaders, and their wives are ethnically diverse.
Writers of color have been pointing these problems out for years, so I understand their frustration when Handmaid symbolism is used. However, because not everyone follows the same authors I do, I also understand the backlash.
We all need a little grace in this time.
However.
I need the larger part of grace to come from the people just joining the fight, already in progress. I need you to not be offended or off put when you see anger at the Handmaid symbolism and listen to why it bothers people. Don’t take the anger personally because it’s not about you.
I’ll say that again: It’s not about you.
This is where it connects back to the camping stuff: You’re reacting and want to do something, and that’s awesome! But please take a beat and ask first: who is already doing this work and what are they doing? How long have they been doing it? How can I support them?
And consider: if you’re scared and angry, imagine how people who’ve been fighting for reproductive rights for years feel? The thing they’ve been scared of, warning about, trying to keep from happening, in some cases longer than you’ve been alive, has now happened. Almost certainly, if they react negatively to you, it’s not you, it’s because you are their last straw. Think about how you’d feel in their shoes. They need your energy and support, but it can’t come with conditions or caveats. Give them grace.
They are your generals. Listen to them, follow their instructions, do not presume to know better than them.
And please, please, please, make sure the symbols and references you reach for are helpful, not harmful.
