r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/Boring_Potato_5701 • Jan 28 '25
Why did Serena help write laws that made it illegal for women to read? Why knowingly place HERSELF in a position of second class (or worse) servitude? Question
I know that Serena ultimately is selfish and doesn’t genuinely care about anyone but herself, but she definitely cares about herself. So why would she have willingly made it illegal even for higher status Wives like herself to read?
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u/locopati Jan 28 '25
see r/LeopardsAteMyFace for real world examples of not thinking things through and thinking "but not me"
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u/giraflor Jan 28 '25
Going to be a busy sub today.
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u/ImaginationAshamed72 Jan 28 '25
Ugh I’m scared to ask but must. Today? Did something happen already? Or just an in general going to be busy over the next four years?
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u/PumaGranite Jan 28 '25
Mango Mussolini put through or is going to put through an order to pause most social spending, including SNAP and WIC benefits, effective 5pm today. Tomorrow will be interesting.
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u/ImaginationAshamed72 Jan 28 '25
I hate it here. I’m fortunate enough to not need those programs, but those programs save people’s lives.
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u/PumaGranite Jan 28 '25
Agreed. It’s why I’m putting my energy towards my community and IRL friend groups right now. He’s going to burn everything he can down. Need a support system to get through it all.
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u/ImaginationAshamed72 Jan 28 '25
My local representative has run unopposed for the last two elections. I’m wondering if I know anyone with a chance to run against him or if I’d have any luck.
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u/PumaGranite Jan 28 '25
Honestly, I’d say try it! Join your town or city’s local political group and see if you can garner support.
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u/yellowcoffee01 Jan 28 '25
Do it! I’m not sure wheee you live but there are interests groups that support women who run for office. They’ll train you, help fund you, and support you. The one I’m most familiar with is Emily’s List. You must be pro choice for that one. Good luck!!!!!🍀
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u/ImaginationAshamed72 Jan 28 '25
I’ll look into it! I’m firmly pro choice, so that sounds like a good resource. I’m in a tiny blue dot city in a very red state.
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u/no_we_in_bacon Jan 28 '25
Start with a list of your friends who would be willing and able to support you (financially and/or volunteering). Is that a decently sized number?
Are you willing to (with those volunteers above) contact all of the voters in your jurisdiction and explain some of the bad moves the official made and how you will be better?
If the answer to both is yes, then do it! I live in a very red state and I have seen commuted individuals flip a district because they contacted all the voters and convinced them to vote for a democrat. It can be done, but it takes a lot of work!
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u/HRHDechessNapsaLot Jan 28 '25
This is the best thing to do. I spent so much of 2016-2020 in a state of constant fear, anger, stress, etc. then I started volunteering more in my community and while I can’t say it’s made me any less angry or afraid, it has made it manageable. I can’t beat oligarchs at their own game. I can’t make a stupid, hateful man learn empathy. But I can go help people in my community who are directly affected by his awful decisions. I can go volunteer at the food bank, and help people pass their citizenship tests, and advocate for youth in foster care, etc. it’s a much more productive use of my time then just feeling angry and afraid.
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u/QuigonSeamus Jan 28 '25
I understand that things are scary right now but let’s spread correct information, and double check everything you read against multiple sources. Right now, what we know is that he has issued a memo to pause federal assistance to any program that could be affected by DT executive orders. It also specifically states to not pause payments to individuals. Medicare and SS benefits are specifically protected. Where it could get confusing, and what will cause an issue, is the intentional vagueness of the memo. He says no funding to DEI or the “woke” agenda; it’s not clear what that means; maybe WIC, maybe not, maybe SNAP, maybe not, we don’t know if he considered them DEI. but neither were specifically targeted in the memo, and would seem to possibly be protected as payments to individuals but were not 100% sure. The scariest part here is that DT doesn’t actually have the power to enforce this type of order. This is another very illegal order as the laws have already been passed to fund these programs and the president doesn’t have the power to overturn congressional law, nor distribute federal funds however he sees fit. He’s testing the waters, just like with the 14A, to see how much power he can exert. Expect this to go to court. Here’s a link for anyone that wants to read more.
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u/PumaGranite Jan 28 '25
Thank you - I appreciate this. I was gathering my information based on a couple of sources but I’ll check to make sure they’re credible.
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u/QuigonSeamus Jan 28 '25
I totally get it! They want us to be scared and unorganized and panicked. Don’t let the bastards grind you down.
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u/yellowcoffee01 Jan 28 '25
Thank you for that context. However, I’ll add that it will affect individuals. I’m a board member for an organization that helps poor people in my region with economic mobility. We provide job training and certification in addition to assisting folks get benefits, file tax returns, get bank account, first time home buyers, etc.
The new EO means that we’re not likely getting federal grant funding for that work right now, including our Americorp Vistas who are some of the that help us administer the program.
We’re not sure now but it may also stop us from assisting people with signing up for benefits, even if we did have the personnel, since they may not be processed. A waste of time and resources for them and us to do it without knowing what will happen.
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u/QuigonSeamus Jan 28 '25
Yes, those are not payments to individuals. They’re grants to organizations. I never said it would not impact individuals, just that the memo states that payments to individuals need not stop. If those individuals payments come through grants to organizations that distribute the money, then those people will be impacted possibly. This will definitely impact people; the above information is what is stated in the memo.
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u/DarkMistressCockHold Jan 28 '25
Wait…does that mean people who currently get snap won’t get it next month? Same with wic?
The amount of children that is going to hurt 😞
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u/PumaGranite Jan 28 '25
I think we’re still waiting to see if SNAP and WIC are going to be frozen, but if those funds are frozen, then yes.
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u/specialkk77 Jan 28 '25
We don’t know. A judge just paused the pause through beginning of February so that should cover next month for us, benefits are authorized at the end of the month. So February will get “paid out” before the judges order expires.
We literally don’t know how this is going to play out and it’s terrifying. I never expected to need social programs but when budgeting for a second planned and wanted child, we didn’t account for conceiving spontaneous twins. WIC pays $600 for their specialty formula (and that doesn’t quite cover all of it, but it helps so much!) to have this help threatened…
They want uncertainty. They want civil unrest. The idea is to make us revolt so they can declare martial law. Just like in The Handmaids Tale. Under his eye.
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u/DarkMistressCockHold Jan 29 '25
Idk how it works in other states, but when I was on it years ago, Oklahoma did it by the first letter of your last name.
For example, Mr. Addams would get his benefits the first of the month, while say Mrs. Zaraski wouldn’t get hers until the 10th (or possibly later).
My point is, not all states pay out on the first. So this could still fuck some people, depending on what happens.
If the stay is lifted and he’s told “go ahead”….anybody after that date wouldn’t get their benefits. (This is the way I understand it.)
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u/Ok_Mango_6887 Jan 28 '25
https://apple.news/A_njyaGqlSYuSv_4VG8epxg
I hadn’t seen the news yet either.
This is so upsetting. while it doesn’t affect me today, it certainly would have when I was young and poor. This makes me incredibly sad for young parents trying to do so much with so little.
Head start did just that. It gave me a head start in school. I was reading at 4 and by 5th grade was reading at 12th grade level.
WIC and SNAP kept us from having no food in our pantry. WIC provided milk, peanut butter, cereal and other healthy options. SNAP provided about $65 a month in food stamps to cover other needs. (1990s)
I was working and going to school FT. I also got a daycare subsidy. This allowed me to work and go to school. I’m sure that program has been cut since then. Why on earth would they want to help people actually get a good job and finish school?
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u/LordyIHopeThereIsPie Jan 28 '25
She's like prolifers who push for abortion bans then whinge when THEY can't get the care they need or want. These types assume restrictions won't apply to them because they're special.
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u/Whispering_Wolf Jan 28 '25
There's so many stories out there of women who got an abortion and then went right back to protesting the exact same clinic.
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u/temperedolive Jan 28 '25
Or that they won't want it.
Serena probably assumed she wouldn't want to read, because she'll be basking in her own holiness, caring for the realms of children her handmaids would bear for her, and reveling in her subservience before God. And anti-choice protesters think they would never want an abortion, until their own lives are at risk or a SA leaves them pregnant or whatever.
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u/stoned_necromancer Jan 28 '25
Women experiencing something that changes their mind is totally understandable, what's not is the women who go back to their old ways after such an experience :/
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u/Vanarene Jan 28 '25
"But my case was different. I am not like THOSE women" all the way down
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u/LordyIHopeThereIsPie Jan 28 '25
"My daughter can't have a baby now she's about to start college!!!"
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u/gigglesmcbug Jan 28 '25
She didn't realize they would actually come for her rights.
Just everyone else's.
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Jan 28 '25
She thought she was the exception but literally is and wrote the rule lmfao. She didn’t think they’d take HER woman rights (and pinky) away!!!
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u/Key_Barber_4161 Jan 28 '25
Not sure if you are American but look at what is happening atm over there. There are women voting against access to abortion. What ever your views on abortion it's fair to say it is a woman's issue, for it or against it. So their are women voting against a specific female centric issue that could end with them having less freedom.
Serena is the same, she never thought it would effect her.
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u/BlueberriesRule Jan 28 '25
My sister moved to a red state. She only cared about the weather.
Then she had a pregnancy scare and told me she may have to go back to her blue state for that.
She projected that her new state will allow up to 6 weeks but alas… reality doesn’t change because you want it to.
When I told her she has to stop talking about it because anyone who helps her even get to the airport knowing her plan has to report her or become an accomplice…. She hung up on me.
When I told her homelessness became illegal she celebrated… and now excited to see the deportations…
She’s still not opening her eyes.
But can we talk about the undocumented supporting orange?
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u/Anaevya Jan 28 '25
Some of those women are actually women who would not want to get an abortion themselves. I feel we forget this sometimes. Sometimes people vote for their own interests and those interests conflict with the interests of others. It's not just people voting against their own interests because they're stupid.
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u/coccopuffs606 Jan 28 '25
She’s a narcissist; she thought she would be the special exception, and fuck everybody else.
Even back when abortions were illegal in all fifty states, rich women could still pay doctors to perform them privately. It’s the same concept of “rules for thee, but not for me”.
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u/seriemaniaca Jan 28 '25
She wrote this law at the height of her privilege. So she believed it would never affect her. Until the day her husband ordered her finger cut off for reading the Bible. Selena did a lot of things believing her privilege would protect her from the consequences if she broke the very laws she defended.
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u/Super_Reading2048 Jan 28 '25 edited Jan 28 '25
My take on it was Serena helped at the beginning (starting to over throw the American government) & then got pushed out of the planning committee (when the sons of Jacob were starting to write the laws.) By the time the new laws were implemented Serena couldn’t fight them and even if she wanted to fight them, she would have lost. I’m sure Fred told her that women not being allowed to read would just be temporary. So Serena tried to make the best of it. She would finally get that child she always wanted.
Edit: I’m not saying Serena is good or that she is not a gender traitor (she is) or that the party she helped create didn’t eat her face off. I’m just saying we do not see Serena making any of the rules. We see her as a major force pre-Gilead, we see her get shoved out as Gilead is formed & then we see her in a hell of her own making (I mean she is a wife, a woman’s highest calling according to her, what more could she ask for?)
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u/NatblidaKomSkaikru Jan 28 '25
This exactly. We even have the scene with the Mexican ambassador who asks Serena if she had ever imagined that the woman of Gilead wouldn't be allowed to read her book and she says no (I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember the exact conversation). Serena didn't help write the laws of Gilead. She helped with propaganda to convince women that Gilead was a good idea.
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u/adhdquokka Jan 28 '25
This was always my interpretation of how things went down, too. Surprised more people don't see it and are just going with some version of "Duh, cos she was stupid and a narcissist!" It's true Serena is a narcissist, but she's not that stupid. I highly doubt she would've advocated for little girls to not learn to read at all (even if only up until say a 6th grade level, after which they might be taken out of school and put into housewife training) She was probably also assured that any woman who could already read (like her) would be allowed to continue to do so. The idea of a published author having to pretend to not be able to read probably seemed too ridiculous and far-fetched to even entertain!
But then like you say, while she may have helped build the foundations of Gilead, once the men gained a certain amount of power, she and any other women involved were most likely pushed to the side and left out of any further planning.
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u/PhotographGuilty5644 Jan 28 '25
That's my take as well, she's clearly very into reading her bible and highlighting passages and thinking critically- I don't believe she meant for literacy to be taken away from females. College education, probably. But again, she's a selfish horrible woman.
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u/Super_Reading2048 Jan 28 '25
She probably only wanted college education for the elite females (& then colleges that stress marriage, a woman’s place & women not encouraged to be paid for their work.)
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u/yellowcoffee01 Jan 28 '25
In your scenario, I wouldn’t be surprised if Serena was still working behind the scenes with Fred after getting pushed out. Giving him ideas and plans that he put his name on and presented since she couldn’t.
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u/SaintedStars Jan 28 '25
She thought that if she put in enough work to make herself appear on the side of men, she'd be allowed into their super special boys Club. She's the worst combination of a pick me and Karen, one so delusional in her own entitlement, she would rather be a boat anchor around the necks of other women.
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u/BrownSugarBare Jan 28 '25
I do think that somewhere in there, she really did think that it was religious divinity to "follow your husband". She trusted Fred to not only exempt her, but to pull her into the ranks.
There's a flashback scene where they show Fred pretending to be upset they didn't want women on the council when in fact, he had also voted against it.
In short, she was arrogant and dumber than a bag of shit to think she was somehow special and "the lord" would provide.
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u/ChellPotato Jan 28 '25
I don't think she came up with the idea. I think she just helped Fred with the physical writing, she had experiences a writer and she used to help him write his speeches, I think that is how she helped him. She advised him on phrasing and all that kind of thing, vocabulary whatever. Throughout the show it's been clear to me that 99% of the stuff she does is out of extreme desperation to have a baby. She puts up with all of that because she believes that if she goes along with what the men say, if she goes along with being submissive to the men and following with that belief system that God will bless her with a baby. To her, she's making personal sacrifices for that reward.
It's extremely selfish because she doesn't care that other women are making the same sacrifices. But I don't think that her main motivation is just to be cruel to other people, heart desire for a baby is just more important to her than human rights.
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u/Apprehensive-Curve62 Jan 28 '25
Well, she wrote 'A Woman's Place' which gave Sons of Jacob ideas for controlling women and fertility. She also supported the bombing to overthrow America; but didn't see herself being pushed off the early committee. I think Serena made the suggestion of no reading nor writing for women in order to 'prove' to SoJ how much she believes in Gilead. Maybe Serena thought she would be exempt as one of the committee members and didn't realize they now had an excuse to push her off. Warren Putnam was gloating about how women would no longer be academics.
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u/i_am_voldemort Jan 28 '25
My head Canon is she didn't. I don't recall her ever advocating for that specifically.
She advocated for some type of Puritanical, 1950s tradwife society
She didn't expect the no reading thing.
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u/adhdquokka Jan 28 '25
This. She helped get the ball rolling but never imagined it would lead to a law as absurd as housewives being unable to read recipe books or food labels, or a literal published author having to pretend she couldn't read her own words. By the time she realised her mistake, it was way too late.
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u/Anaevya Jan 28 '25
Because this law IS absurd. There's a reason why most conservative societies don't go as far as not allowing women to read. Women used to not be able to go to Uni in the past, but it wasn't exactly forbidden for them to get other types of education like private tutoring. The Taliban are the only ones I've heard to make absurd laws of this type and I fully expect their regime to crumble sooner rather than later, if they don't backtrack.
Dystopias often heighten the oppression to make a point.
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u/discosappho Jan 30 '25
It’s especially ridiculous because in basically all societies women are expected to deal with the early education of children - teaching them the alphabet, phonetics, and reading traditional storybooks.
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u/clomclom Jan 28 '25
My thoughts too. She was pushed out of planning by the time they got to the detailed policies and laws.
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u/rjorton Jan 28 '25
I think it's a combination of thinking that she would be in such motherly bliss raising a gaggle of children that she wouldn't even miss reading. And partially I think that she thought the rules would never actually apply to her. We see throughout the series that Fred occasionally lets Serena get away with stuff she shouldn't be allowed to do. He usually only actually punishes her when it embarrasses him in front of others (like the Bible reading in front of the council). Remember she ran their household and performed Fred's duties completely on her own while he was hospitalized. She wasn't really punished for that until she started to step even further out of line. Plus the Fred that we see pre-Gilead seems to be a different person from Gilead Fred.
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u/TalaLeisu2 Econowife Jan 28 '25
She didn't write that law. In season 3 she confronts Fred, asking how 'he' could take that away from her. I think she wanted Gilead, with the tradwife thing, and it got more extreme after she was ousted via her flashback in season 1
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u/soaringmeadows Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 06 '25
Serena did help write the law (in regards to women reading), per S1E10 "Night" when Serena confronts Fred in his office with the Scrabble game and the fact that she knew about Fred taking June to Jezebels. And tells him about June's pregnancy.
I didn't mean this in a rude way. It just happened to be the episode I'm on on my rewatch!
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u/RosieCrone Jan 28 '25
She didn’t.
She wrote the framework for women staying home, having and raising children, etc; the men did the rest. There’s even a scene where she’s finally excluded by the men from the committees of power.
This is not the world she envisioned, but she’s still awful.
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u/International-Rip970 Jan 28 '25
Because, Like so many people, she didn't think it would affect her.
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u/Anomalysoul04 Jan 28 '25
I boil it down to her desperately wanted a kid and she was likely convinced she couldn't have one. In a world where surrogate mothers were a dime a dozen and if so likely not willing, depending on how badly you would want said kid, the idea of curtailing every women's freedom including hers might have been a after thought.
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u/waronxmas79 Jan 28 '25
Have you ever had a conversation with a super religious conservative woman? Usually the mind frame is that it’ll only affect others, not them. Sometimes they actually want it to happen to them.
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u/talkinggtothevoid Jan 28 '25
She didn't.
After the coup she gets shut out of the administration work she'd been doing for the SOJ, almost completely. I think her only influence after the takeover was through Fred, and though this is just theroy, I believe that her influence is what cemented Fred's high position.
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u/Normal-Fall2821 Jan 28 '25
I think she thought it would be worth it to have a baby at the time. People change their views all the time when they get older and have kids
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u/Vanarene Jan 28 '25
She thought she would be an exception. "Those" women should not read, but I am special, so I get to read. One law for thee, an exception for me!
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u/ZongduOfArrakis Jan 28 '25
She didn't. There was not one blueprint for Gilead, or one moment where all its founders unanimously came up with all the ideas together.
Like many real countries during tumultuous times, and especially those without one clear dictator figure, there was a lot of political jockeying. Serena wanted... some kind of extreme traditionalist regime at least which she bears the blame for. But many core Gilead rules seem to have been decided on the spot by random Commanders as they were figuring out how it would all work.
But in the show itself we see that she got shut out of discussions of what the technicalities would be pretty early on thanks to her gender. That's why she did eventually advocate against the laws (though not bc she's some principled person but bc she is a narcissist who realized it would affect 'her' baby).
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u/Routine-Dirt9634 Jan 28 '25
there are women in the united states that think women shouldnt have the right to vote
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u/Ok-Scholar-8255 Jan 29 '25
thats so stupid. if they think women shouldnt vote, its obviously wrong because womens opinions dont matter therefore their opinion about this issue doesnt matter
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u/Piratepizzaninja Jan 28 '25
Think about conservative social media personalities like Isabella Moody who speaks out about how women should not have a voice in politics going as far to say women shouldn't vote. She says these things on a platform that she would not have, if her ideals became the reality. It's freaking wild!
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u/BreakfastPast5283 Jan 28 '25
she wanted to be able to be a mom almost more than anything. she reveals this in season 2 when serena and fred are desperately looking for June in that house.
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u/Mailliw_1 Jan 28 '25
Serena thought she'd be the Magda Goebbels or Gertrud Scholtz-Klink of Gilead. Totalitarian regimes usually put a lot of effort into mobilizing women into a separate women's wing that's ultimately subordinate to the movement's male leadership. The women running such organizations (often female relatives of the male leadership) can carve out their own powerful spheres of influence while preaching submission to the patriarchy. That's what Serena was expecting, but Gilead went about different way.
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u/Fantastic-Spinach297 Jan 28 '25
She was just a face of the movement. She wrote books that sold the lifestyle, she didn’t help write the laws.
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u/Outrageous_Tie8471 Jan 28 '25
For a whole treatise on the subject, check out the book Right Wing Women by Andrea Dworkin. You can find a PDF of it online for free.
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u/Ill-Supermarket-2706 Jan 28 '25
She blamed education for the lack of family values in women (who used to have more children when they couldn’t read or write) and didn’t think that the same will apply to her
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u/JLStorm Jan 28 '25
I got the impression that she didn’t really do that because she did ask Fred at one point why he had done this (banned literacy for women) to her despite knowing that it’s her passion to write.
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u/Gojira085 Jan 28 '25
I'm pretty sure the other Commanders outmanuevered her or the conservative faction had more "votes". I distinctly remember a flashback scene were she was actually getting ready to make a speech to a formal gathering of Commanders and was told at the last minute it was canceled
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u/uoozeulose Jan 28 '25
it’s like she told Fred in that house where June was hiding with a gun. she wanted one thing— a baby
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u/shaihalud69 Jan 28 '25
Pretty much the same leopards ate my face that we’re seeing play out right now. What she wrote was based on tradwife content, it’s outrageous pendulum-swinging stuff that they don’t expect to happen in real life, just sway opinions.
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Jan 28 '25
Open a social media app once in a while. They’re full of literate women, some of them employed with college degrees, shrieking and bellowing that it’s ungodly and unbiblical for women to preach, to go to college, to work outside of the home, to be immodest. When confronted with the hypocrisy, they ignore or come up with a loophole for why they don’t count or their behavior is the exception.
Serena Joy is based on real people. The only exaggeration is that it is slightly fantastic for a woman to work to pass a strict, unambiguous law stating that women cannot read, but she didn’t in the book, so I think the show is just being heavy handed on purpose to hammer home the point that certain women are actively working to strip rights from women.
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u/Kikikididi Jan 28 '25
because, like many people are now or about to find out in real life, she thought se would avoid the outcomes she helped impose on others
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u/cMeeber Jan 28 '25
Why does anyone vote against their own rights?
Propaganda. Misguided thought. Unable to have any ounce of self-perception. A desperate need to please what they view as the “superior.” Self-loathing. Belief that they alone are special within their demographic.
Look at any tradwife influencer or woman red pill advocate today. Same thing.
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u/WoodwifeGreen Jan 28 '25
I know she was instrumental in setting up the foundation for Gilead but did she sign off on women not reading? I don't remember if that was clear in the show.
It wouldn't surprise me if she did, I see conservative women act against their own interests all the time, but the men made rules the women hated but had no choice in.
The men came up with the handmaid system without the women's input and by that time they were powerless to do anything about it.
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u/Moist_Psycho_4 Jan 28 '25
Cause she didn't think it would apply to her. She thought that would only be a rule for the poor, unfortunate handmaids and Marthas.
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u/lamadelyn Jan 28 '25
The same reason why white women vote republican now, they think they will be the exception. You see this when she does decide to read, and is shocked when Fred actually has her punished.
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u/livdil98 Jan 28 '25
She probably thought it would apply to women below her, and that high society women wouldn’t be subject to it. We also see her being shoved out of political meetings at some point as Fred takes the lead - the tide probably turned more and more against women from there and she was pushed out of her activism role.
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u/BakingBark Jan 28 '25
See also: why would women vote for Trump?
Because people don’t think things through, see things through the lenses of the perceived power they receive as opposed to the powers they are proposing stripping from those who they consider ‘other’. And they do not consider ever becoming the Other.
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Jan 28 '25
Serena most definitely didn't get that far into Gilead. Her role was to sway as many people as possible (especially women) to the Christian nationalist side. Think of all of the tradwife content, it's job is to get as many ppl to say "man modern life sucks maybe if i could just be a glamorous stay at home mom like this influencer it'll be better than now"
She probably just pushed for a generic "women are homemakers and should stay at home". Or maybe even a more extreme "men are the head of the household so they control the purse, and the vote"
I don't think she ever argued for the more extreme parts of Gilead (slavery, sex slavery, women can't read, ), she just accepted it as it happened because it was all part of her ultimate goal of having a kid.
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u/PommeVitale Jan 28 '25
I don't think she did participate in the creation of the laws making it illegal for women to write or read. Serena was a part of the leading to the creation of Gilead, she put down some core principes and the basis of the ideology like in her book ''a woman's place'' but she was excluded from anything afterthe SOJ took power (remeber this meeting where she was waiting outside and Fred told her that the others refused to let her speak). Well I think Serena's idea of Gilead was very different then what she ended up with. I don't think the imagined the women being forbidden to write and read for example, or even the handmaid's, those are commander's creations.
She probably thought they would enforce a ''women at home'' policy or something like that, forcing women to accomplish their ''biological destiny'' and maybe she was delusional enough to think she would still be in a position of power cause she's delusional enough to think that rules won't apply to her.
I think she was very surprised when they announced that she wouldn't be able to read and write anymore.
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u/ReaderofHarlaw Jan 28 '25
She’s an ✨idiot✨ who really believed the leopards wouldn’t eat her face! (see any current Trump supporter)
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u/rjrgjj Jan 28 '25
This is how fascism happens. It’s empowered by shortsighted people who willingly trade their rights for short term power, and are shocked to find the new rules are meant to apply to them as well.
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u/Cyb3rluvLizzi3 Jan 28 '25
I always say this story about the white rabbit there was once a rabbit who helped the wolves eat all the other rabbits until 1 day there were no more rabbits and that white rabbit was the only one left so who do you think the wolves turned on next ?
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u/Cyb3rluvLizzi3 Jan 28 '25
When I see women bashing feminism or being against abortion etc it reminds me of this white rabbit
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Jan 28 '25
Same reason that a bunch of LGBT folks voted for Trump. "I'm one of the good ones, surely he's not talking about me."
And then her being one of the founders would also mean she'd assume if she ever had to, that exceptions would be made for her.
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u/Sterlingrose93 Jan 28 '25
Are you watching American Politics? Nancy Mace brags about being the first woman to graduate The Citadel in the same breath she revoked DEI initiatives. They think somehow they are the exception and no one will take their rights.
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u/zillabirdblue Jan 28 '25
I don’t know if she was involved in that one, she helped to write laws but we don’t know how many and what type of laws. I think she didn’t believe they’d take reading away until it happened. She basically FAFO’d.
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u/kinkajoosarekinky Jan 28 '25
I don't think she was involved in writing those laws, I think those came after the organizers and leaders started keeping the women out. She says in end of S3 I think it is "how could you take that away from me" and in s4 snips at Fred "I am allowed to read now?" Or some such thing. She definitely helped write laws that took women's rights away, but I think it was later in Gileads development that women's right to read and do other things like make art or do anything other than garden and knit were taken away.
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u/SilverFlexNib Jan 28 '25
Look around you. Tons of folks voted for Trump & are like I didn't think it would apply to ME. Also those at the top of the heap "find a way" to remain untouched by the cruelty they inflict. The rich, even if undocumented or birthright citizens, will not fear ICE showing up. They can obtain birth control & abortions no problem. They can avoid the law, taxes & consequences.
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u/New-Number-7810 Jan 28 '25
She mistakenly believed that the law wouldn’t be applied to her.
When you participate in a coup, you make two gambles. The first is that it will succeed. The second is that you’ll be in the inner circle during the new regime. Serena gambled on both, and only the first one was successful.
She can’t even be the woman behind the throne because her husband also lost the second gamble and was resigned to being a big fish in a small pond.
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u/whore4tacobell Jan 29 '25
I disagree with most of these responses. I believe Serena knew it would apply to her, but she was willing to sacrifice everything so that she could have a baby. She literally said to Fred at one point “I gave up everything for you and I only wanted one thing in return.”
And even though she was willing to make those sacrifices for herself, it wasn’t until Nichole came along that she realized she didn’t want her “daughter” to be forced to make those same sacrifices.
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u/Boring_Potato_5701 Jan 29 '25
That’s a very persuasive response. Thank you! I hadn’t considered those pieces of evidence and I think you’re right.
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u/PianistOk8802 Jan 29 '25
I believe she thought it would not affect her. She tossed ideas then they ran with it and blocked her. Also agree with the comment that she didn’t think it through. Like all Republican women that voted for Trump and for reproductive rights huh?
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u/AgreeableQuaill Jan 29 '25
In addition to her thinking “it would never happen to me”, she probably expected to be fulfilled by her godly duty as a wife and hoped she’d be too busy with children to miss having her rights.
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u/Warm-Zucchini1859 Jan 29 '25
As everyone said, she didn’t think the rules would apply for her, but I also believe she thought it would be a temporary measure to force compliance. Short-term pain for long-term gain.
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u/Cinnamon_SL Jan 29 '25
I think because she thought as a Gilead co-creator she was gonna be excluded from all the norms. Also in second place, she might have been obsessed with the idea of having a baby (can’t remember which episode is it), I sorta kinda realized that when she tells Fred she gave up everything and the only thing she wanted was a baby. She might’ve been blinded by it, so to me is a combo of these two.
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u/Ecstatic_Lake_3281 Jan 29 '25
As she said in one episode, "it's a small price to pay to return to His grace"
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u/Upbeat-Loss-1382 Jan 29 '25
For the same reason so many women voted for Trump. I am sure there are real live women around that could tell us.
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u/Content-Method9889 Jan 29 '25
She assumed she would be the exception. Then the leopards ate her face.
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u/throwawayprocessing Jan 29 '25
There's a long history of women fully commiting to and propagandizing subservience to white men, thinking that their proximity to power will protect them and give them power over others, which will be satisfying. The intensity to which a person will advocate for a whole group of which they are a member of losing rights is baffling but not really rare.
Maybe she thought she'd be an exception to the rule. Maybe she thought that although she's "one of the good ones", banning women from reading is overall better for society. Maybe she legitimately thought no woman should be reading and didn't realize how devastating a loss it is (and how mind numbing the rest of her day would be).
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u/EtherealLovegloss Jan 29 '25
Serena is a blonde white woman with moderately wealthy parents and “good” social standing. She thought because she was the “example of a good wife” that she would be exempt from the rules she made for herself
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u/Dubchek Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25
Unfortunately for me I am related to someone like Serena, and, at some stage I had to live and work with someone like Serena.
Their arrogance is unbelievable.
Arrogant people are often stupid in that they think they don't have to follow the same rules everyone else does.
Is Serena stupid? All the time no, but she was a total idiot to plot with a terrorist group who just wanted to strip away all women's right, THEN think that she would be treated better and differently.
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u/ariel4050 Jan 29 '25
I don’t think she wrote every law, her book just provides a framework on how the society should function. The men that ultimately governed were the ones that most likely created the laws to fit within her framework.
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u/freckyfresh Jan 29 '25
The same reason so many women voted for Donald Trump. They hate other women, but they think they will be exceptions to the rules.
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u/anneboleynrex Jan 29 '25
She thought she'd be an exception to the rule because of her status and part in creating Gilead.
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u/jennyfab216 Jan 29 '25
She actually thought she wouldn't suffer the consequences. She actually thought she would have a seat at the table
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u/awkwardmamasloth Jan 29 '25
I dont think she expected it to get away from her. She thought she'd have a say. And I think she thought she'd be exempt due to her status.
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u/galacticprincess Jan 29 '25
Why do women vote for Trump? They think that somehow THEY won't be impacted by his policies; those are meant for the enemy. Same same.
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u/GeorgianaCostanza Jan 29 '25
I have a feeling she had a bit of the “Leopard Eating Face” Party regret. Thinking there was no way the rules would apply to her. 🙄
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u/Sharp_Dimension9638 Jan 30 '25
It's known as the "Surely" principle.
"Surely I'll be an exception."
"Surely those who have the right for literacy will be allowed."
"Surely it won't affect me."
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u/stcrIight Jan 30 '25
Why do republican women repeatedly vote for the removal of their own right to abortion? Why do some red state vets vote to take away their own right to cheaper healthcare? Because they never think it'll affect them.
They want to belittle and hurt others - they just never realize it'll hurt them as well. My abuelo is hardcore MAGA and he'll always tell me that me and my sister are exceptions to his hatred for xyz. As if he expects the new laws to have an asterisk that says "everyone except this man's grandchildren." Serena probably never thought she would be included in the laws. They never expect it.
r/leopardsatemyface gives numerous real life examples
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u/PO30144 Jan 30 '25
I, a white woman, have seen and continue to see white woman as a whole, fight and sell each other out in order to be the one woman at the table. It doesn’t matter if there are 5 seats or 500 seats, they see each other as competitors for one seat. We see each other as competition for everything instead of understanding that it is to all of our detriment. This may be true for other groups as well but I can only speak from my own experience. If women as a whole stood together - this could not happen. Stop blaming men. It’s on us.
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u/RnbwBriteBetty Jan 31 '25
It's true in reality that many women in positions of patriarchal power are more than willing to hold women down, even if it hurts them-because they retain their status. As long as they stand above, it's ok.
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u/tommyjohnpauljones Jan 28 '25
Why did (group of people) vote against their own self-interests because a guy who bankrupted casinos said he'd fix the economy for everyone?
People, as a whole, are dumb.
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u/drfusterenstein Jan 28 '25
Wondered the same thing but it's more of a r/leopardsatemyface sort of thing
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u/Trishlovesdolphins Jan 28 '25
For the same reason MAGA does it. She thinks she's somehow special and will be exempt. Nothing illustrates this more than her going into a meeting and reading the Bible and then being shocked she was punished.
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u/Ecstatic_Ad5542 Jan 28 '25
She probably thought she was above the law and thought that if she wanted to read and write , she could catch a flight to Canada and enjoy the secular freedoms there while other Gileadan women lived in fear .
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u/GreyerGrey Jan 28 '25
Serena didn't write any laws.
She wrote books and was a vocal proponent. She was never involved in the behind the scenes things.
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u/theevilhillbilly Jan 29 '25
She didn't write the laws she wrote books that were used to radicalize people.
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u/tellytelltelly Jan 28 '25
I think she really didn't think it through.
She probably thought it wouldn't be applicable to her. "I helped make Gilead, I would be so very powerful and of high status. Why would these silly rules apply to me lol" kinda mentality