"In the Republic of Gilead's dystopian future, men and women perform the services assigned to them." This is the summary of "The Handmaid's Tale" in the NYT bestseller list. See my essay on the ramifications of this language's precision without accuracy. snyder.substack.com/p/men-and-wo... - ThreadSky

timothysnyder.bsky.social • 98 days ago

"In the Republic of Gilead's dystopian future, men and women perform the services assigned to them."
This is the summary of "The Handmaid's Tale" in the NYT bestseller list.
See my essay on the ramifications of this language's precision without accuracy.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/men-and-women-perform

Comments

isinqueens.bsky.social•98 days ago

Thank you, Timothy Snyder, for this excellent essay, and for criticizing reviewers who are more concerned with "both-sideism" (even when unreflective? "men and women") and the use of the buzzwords du jour (dystopian), than actually thinking through what they are saying.

supportsanity.bsky.social•98 days ago

Timothy, I'm getting better.
I used to HATE people who nailed it every single time.
(sarcasm)

Keep it up. and....
Thanks.

mantione.bsky.social•98 days ago

My daughter lives & works in NYC. She predicted Trump's win through women's fashion specifically the return to Jackie O's and 1950's style women's dresses. The mythology of the 1950's and 60's as a better era for women and the negation of Black and poor white working women & miserable housewives.

nativenebraskan.bsky.social•96 days ago

It was hell.

mantione.bsky.social•96 days ago

I grew up on 1950's-60's. Most of the neighborhood moms found part-time or full-time jobs when their youngest entered junior high or when an older child could provide after-school care for younger ones. Moms were happier. Their jobs helped move the family from working to middle class.

nativenebraskan.bsky.social•96 days ago

Yes. Lived this.

mantione.bsky.social•96 days ago

My grandmothers worked on the family farm or urban factories. Everyone worked on family farms. Women didn't sit in the farm house eating bon bone. They worked in the fields. & vegetable gardens, cared for animals & home. Women worked in factories & took care of 90% of child & household jobs

jmgchi.bsky.social•98 days ago

One of which happens to be legalized rape.

physologius.bsky.social•98 days ago

Magaret Atwood, “When they suspended the constitution, we didn’t wake up”.
https://www.channel4.com/news/author-margaret-atwood-england-is-not-yet-under-totalitarian-dictatorship

okguy.bsky.social•98 days ago

When I saw the series for the first time, I had to turn it off after two episodes. I didn’t return to the show until two weeks later and didn’t stop watching until season five. To this day no-show has left me more shaken than the Handmaid Tales. Because I believe it was more nonfiction than fiction.

onlytruthcansolve.bsky.social•98 days ago

25 YEARS OF APPEASEMENT

peaceprole.bsky.social•96 days ago

"men and women perform" . Thank you for the substack. Many times I have read a NYT piece about some chilling, horrifying political story that they chose to neuter and flatten in this way.

spackles.bsky.social•96 days ago

"Christian Reconstructionism is now at the edge of power in the United States, and the attitude of the relevant people towards the female body and indeed towards rape is an essential element of what is happening and what is likely to happen."

louise33andathird.bsky.social•98 days ago

I think a UK newspaper described the TV series along the lines of ‘the falling birth rate forces the state to control reproduction’.

debbiehemenway.bsky.social•98 days ago

Very New York Times-y take. At the time when we most need courageous and honest journalism, we see the Paper of Record personifying the essence of Gilead.

bobtre.bsky.social•98 days ago

Right on the money! Heading for the free zone!!!!!😳

piglet42.bsky.social•98 days ago

The NYT again? Shame.

ajdnyc82.bsky.social•98 days ago

This is exactly why I canceled my subscription to the NYT. Its striving to be uncontroversial, as you put it, has done so much to enable authoritarianism.

nativenebraskan.bsky.social•96 days ago

Agree.

billruppert.bsky.social•98 days ago

What a chilling “description.”

bugerunna.bsky.social•98 days ago

Japan’s conservative leader upgraded the misogynistic ideas. Reality beats literature.

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