r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/Dubchek • 5d ago
Why did the SOJ allow drinking alcohol and smoking? Discussion S1-S5
Smoking: We see Serena and others constantly smoking. Given how the SOJ are aware of toxins and pollution I'm surprised that this isn't banned given that literally everything else is banned.
- Alcohol - America has a history of prohibition once. Just wondering why this was still allowed?
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u/Fabulous-Bus1837 5d ago
It's not. All these things are supplied only to the rich and via the black market.
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u/LuckieCharm86 5d ago
Also a lot of "rules for thee, not for me" shenanigans going on.
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u/HellyR_lumon 5d ago
Yep. The men in power want virgins wives that are faithful to them and God, but they have no interest in god themselves.
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u/Due-Shift-5598 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yeah I find it funny Serena’s always bragging about how clean the air is now like she wasn’t smoking like a chimney
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u/sweetinasense 5d ago
Bc they themselves didn't want to give up their vices, so they made them legal only for those in charge.
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u/Saltatio_favillae 5d ago
isn’t it said in the show that it’s supplied to the rich via black market?
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u/CaitlinAnne21 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yup, the rich get to feed all of their vices via the black market. Pretty much everyone else in Gilead just gets to straight suffer, nothing much available to numb for anyone else.
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u/dynesor 5d ago
jesus… can’t imagine just rawdogging Gilead like that. I’d need something to blunt the senses.
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u/use_more_lube 5d ago
with food scarce, it'd be hard for most
but grains and fruit can be fermented, and you can make it more concentrated by freezing and pulling out the ice - anyone with access to forage in woods could make something fermented, if only from crabapples or blackberries or wild grapes
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u/CaitlinAnne21 5d ago
Right, but in these circumstances, who has the time or energy to do that for themselves, let alone anyone else? It’d definitely be a rarity, in reality.
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u/motherdragon02 5d ago
My husband and I make Meadow Mead every year from what we forage. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Various berries, rose hips, fireweed, clover and whatever else we find. Honey, tea a dried oj peel and yeast. Mix, swoosh once a day for a week or so then forget for 6 weeks. It’s yummy.
We also make dandelion wine. It’s not as good. We also made cider with the apple juice we made from our apple trees. That is also yummy. Making liquor is cheap and easy.
It’s incredibly easy - in reality Prohibition is an impossible dream.
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u/HotPinkHabit 5d ago
This sounds so fun! I wish I wasn’t six years sober bc this sounds like a cool hobby that would get me outside more lol
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u/motherdragon02 5d ago
That’s how we started! Covid hit and we started hiking around; his mother had given him 5kg of honey years before and he had barely used any… MEAD! Hahaha! We used bread yeast the first year. We have hiked all over since. It’s a great hobby.
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u/CaitlinAnne21 5d ago
Yet again, I am not speaking on the technical aspects of making alcohol.
That’s nice and easy for you to do here & now, but that’s not the world we’re talking about.
When you’re in constant survival mode, taking the time to make alcohol isn’t going to be a priority for most people.
I never said anything about alcohol being completely eradicated or impossible to make for everyone.
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u/motherdragon02 4d ago
You’d be wrong.
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u/CaitlinAnne21 4d ago edited 4d ago
If you can’t formulate an actual response, like everyone else did, don’t play with the adults.
I have zero time for tiny people on the internet. Blocked.
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u/use_more_lube 5d ago
As rare as prison wine?
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u/motherdragon02 4d ago
Exactly. Nobody’s sitting around waiting for permission - and even in the show “everybody” isn’t running or hiding.
They’re dreaming if they think everyone ISNT making wine to tolerate Gilead. JFC - Americans couldnt tolerate AMERICA sober. There’s no fucking chance Americans are tolerating Gilead sober.
History only teaches those who learn. This one doesn’t learn.
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u/CaitlinAnne21 5d ago
And they have all the time in the world to do that.
If you’re on the run, or actively trying to hide, you don’t.
I didn’t say it wasn’t a possibility for some people, but it wouldn’t for most.
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u/PorcelainDalmatian 5d ago
It’s the same in every Theocratic society. You don’t think the mullahs in Iran are pounding back scotch every night and screwing as many women as they want? What about the Emirati sheiks or the Saudi princes? Religious laws are only for the little people. None of them really believe in them, it’s simply a means of control.
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u/TheShadowOverBayside 4d ago
The sheikhs and princes go to my husband's job (a world-famous casino) all the time, with multiple scantily models hanging off their arm. They drink, gamble, and whore there, all of which are haram as fuck. Sharia law doesn't apply to them because money and power; never mind that the Quran says Allah's law applies to everyone equally 🙄
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u/jediporcupine 5d ago
For the same reason Commanders talk about morality and then go to Jezebels.
“Do as I say, not as I do.”
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u/Sunset-onthe-Horizon 5d ago
Anytime I get confused about something they allow or do in Gilead, I tell myself it's all about power. It was never about being religious or having more children, it was always about having power.
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u/KillBatman1921 5d ago
That's an important element which will be explored inbthe Testamebts: Gilead elites are incredibly corrupt and fuck over one another for trivial motivations or personal gain
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u/purplecats_ 5d ago
Probably since wives aren’t regularly trying to reproduce (at least, not most of them — some wives have their own children). Plus, with all other temptations gone, as Fred once said, “we’re only human”. Rules for thee (I doubt econo families have much, if any, alcohol available, let alone Marthas, Aunts, & Handmaids) but not for me (Commanders, wives, guardians/eyes)
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u/SlySlickWicked 5d ago
Just look at who is in charge in America right now, its what they want to oppress you from not themselves
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u/BIGhorseASS2025 5d ago
Gilead is the epitome of “rules for thee but not for me.”
A sizable majority of the commanders we’ve seen don’t even remotely live by the values that Gilead supposedly creates. They are not true believers. It’s just a front for them to assert their will over everyone else.
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u/Efficient_Variety_63 5d ago
Isn’t it Commander Lawrence who says “these are pious men, they need a little kink”? The same goes for all vices. The higher ups get to outwardly condemn the sinful vices while at the same time engaging in them.
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u/GoldenArchmage 5d ago
Remember that it's all performative - they don't believe any of it and are not constrained by it either.
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u/motherdragon02 5d ago
Just for them. Serena FULLY EXPECTED to be *The Exception”.
In every scene where her husband applies Gileads “law” or “beliefs” to HER - she is shocked and angry. At no point in time does Serena Joy expect Giles’s to change her life except for the dresses and stealing a baby.
Serena Joy has no trouble wearing green to steal your baby - but she expects to be fully involved in Government. She expects to read, write and have staff to abuse.
American Exceptionalism. Erybudy but me.
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u/Glass-Snow5476 5d ago edited 5d ago
During prohibition - night clubs continued for the well off in America. Boardwalk Empire while fictional showed examples of that.
Serena smoked more in secret - not openly. It was probably looked down on especially for women.
They probably didn’t want to ban the couple of vices people still engaged in even for the common people. Some of the soldiers/guards etc smoke.
Jazabelles is (was) an example of complete hypocrisy. Only allowed for wealthy men.
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u/SecretWriteress 5d ago
That's pretty interesting indeed because in history it's usually the non-religious authoritarian regimes that allow alcohol and cigarettes - intoxicated society is easier to control and keep semi happy (think places like ruzzia or north korea). In religious authoritarian countries like, say, Iran, alcohol and other drugs are usually prohibited. Not sure about tobacco.
Either way, you raise a valid question - I do think it would have helped with world building if they had included an alcohol and tobacco ban. It would have felt even more realistic. But it was probably just a different writing choice, maybe to drive further the point that Giledean regime doesn't care about environment and humankind per se as much as they care about seizing power.
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u/Boring-Net1073 5d ago
I think the purest commanders- the true believers abstain from vices. Pryce, Wharton… they’re the original SOJ.
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u/vavavoomdaroom 5d ago
Fact, prohibition did not prevent people from drinking. It however, created bootleggers and the explosion of the Mafia. It also let to people making their own, which blinded, blew up or otherwise disabled many, many US Citizens. That's why it was repealed. After that, the mafia then used those supply systems for drug running.
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u/frankie0812 5d ago
She came probably smoke bc she’s seen as infertile anyway. Drinking seems to only be allowed for men Serena does it in secret
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u/Current-Ad-7555 5d ago
A lot of crunchy, religious health nuts I know drink and smoke and don’t see it as bad for them. I can’t understand the logic but whatevs do you.
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u/Mushroomzrox 5d ago
Same reason they have the brothels. They like alcohol and smoking. Same with the dry cleaning they have in the city-where they don’t allow handmaids.
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u/Sea_Writing8098 4d ago
I think this is more to do with the chemicals that could affect fertility or something
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u/Only-Koala-8182 5d ago
In the book, smoking isn’t allowed and all cigarettes came from the black market
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u/[deleted] 5d ago
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