Not just the Handmaid's Tale but Oryx & Crake, and so on. Margaret Atwood has often been called an alarmist, yet here we are, looking issues of human rights, whether women's or food/agriculture, etc. in the face. She may have been called a "prophetess" in the past but in reality, she has looked closely at the trends, in politics, in marketing, in anything she writes about and sends out the warning, yet sadly so many are too blind to see. I admire her in her greatly (edited to correct a spelling error)
I read The Handmaid's Tale in the early 90s as part of my A level. I was taking the exam as an external student, with no supervision, just me and a pile of books. I was also living in Saudi Arabia, with an abusive husband. It hit me like a slap in the face and made me see how bad things had become. I love the way she plays with language, and the unflinching realism she brings to hypothetical scenarios that could be just around the corner unless we pull back in time, alongside her exquisitely sensual and vivid descriptive passages. This book changed my life, quite possibly, it saved my life. I am forever filled with awe and gratitude for this and all of her work.
And it was published in 1985 -- so prescient! We are not going back -- don't be fooled by cherrypicking the right does with supposed "strictly textual readings" of the constitution and harkening back to laws from the 19th century -- only when it suits their ends most of the rest of the time they ignore the strict textual reading, as in the SC's ridiculous immunity ruling tailored to help Trump with his court cases.
@@markberryhill2715 My understanding is that the Nobel in Literature is awarded for a lifetime of achievement in letters. I confess my frame of reference is the West. Within that frame of reference, I can’t think of a more important author. Also, it might remind Americans of why it is important to vote.
As an Australian, it has been distressing to watch the dumbing down of America over the past 6 decades. Once a place where dreams came true, America is now the stuff of nightmares. Biden has done his best to reset the trajectory, and I hope that November will change the future of the United States for a good while, at least until the threat of trump is dead and buried. Margaret's books have always been provocative and prophetic. She is a warrior woman, brave and strong. Like Kamala. Vote 💙
@@kalayne6713 As a Canadian, I experienced this first hand. I accepted a scholarship to a journalism program at an American college. Came home to stay in December because grade 11 in Canada was more difficult and being there useless. That was 1987.
Around 1970 I was in college in Windsor, Ontario and my dad was picking me up at school. I waited by the large windows of a lounge where an author was reading aloud and chatting with a small group of students. When dad pulled up, I ran out and asked him to park the car. “This author’s really good!” He did, and that’s how we first heard Margaret Atwood. I was amazed by her then, I’m amazed by her now.
Thank you Margaret, I watched my mother, and she was pregnant 13 times, 8 surviving children. She waited until 1974 to file a divorce from an abusive spouse, I think it was because she could now get her own bank account? My father beat her up 1 time for taking birth control only gap in her pregnancies, was this 2 year period after my birth, then almost to the day, her last baby was born, my sister. We as a country were in a severe crises with Russia. I am sure being a nurse, my mother saw that it wasn't a good time for more children and she was worn out. Cuban missile crises dating. Women today don't seem to truly understand what her and other before her went through. Even obtaining the right to vote. She died at 83.
One of my Grandmothers gave birth to 7 live children and 7 stillborn children. She died at 51, and ĺooked like she was in her late 70's. I don't know if she miscarried any children. She died before I was born, I never met her, but I have always felt so bad for her. She actually marched for Women to have the right to vote. I fear if Trump goes back in and implements Project 2025, we will lose that right.
My mother had an abortion in the 70s. Barely 16 & she was coerced into an abusive marriage with an older man- by her own parents, like they were selling a sow at market. She immediately had to move far away to become an army wife- completely, socially & financially isolated when the abuse started. Its so uniquely awful and yet such a common story. That ability to access reproductive healthcare saved her, allowed her to escape. Some people react to this type of story with disgust- like "well what if she'd aborted you?!". When i was old enough, my mom and i talked about everything in depth, and she said- though the choice was painful, it was what allowed her to live on and eventually have me. I cant even hold anger for my grandparents, as the weight of generational trauma drove their choices too. My great grandmother had to leave my grandma with relatives as a girl, to protect her while trying to escape an abusive spouse. She never returned. Those relatives were all too happy to 'unload her' quickly. She was 14 when she married my grandpa, who was 18, had my mom by 15 then siblings. She was property, & knew no other life, so thought she was protecting her daughters by essentially arranging teen marriages. Im genX, and had so many more choices as an adult, but also lived through so much with my mother & grandmother that the newness (& fragility) of those choices & rights was always clear. For a while it seemed like younger women were getting more detached from that history, complacent politically, but that has all dramatically changed thanks to Trump... certainly the only thing anyone could ever "thank" him for. Young women & girls today carry the weight of so many generations of abuse & trauma, wether they understand it yet or not. I hope they will grow up strong and carry the responsibility to study that history- within their own families and our collective history as women- and pass it on to the next generation... teach the girls AND the boys this time.
I am in my 70's. I remember when adult women, my mother was one of them, needed a man to sign-off on having a credit cardit. I remember when women and girls could not play sports. I could go on, but "Let's not go back."
I love seeing girls wrestle & play baseball & football. Wish I had, had that chance. I would have been in the Olympics! I loved all those sports. It's like the taliban trying to take rights from women but it's here!
@@marleneverhage1048If you lived in the United States you’d see exactly why its prophetic. First they overturned a constitutional law here legalizing abortion, which had been on the books for almost 50 years (49 to be exact), and now women are dying. Now some lawmakers are proposing overturning no-fault divorces, which have also been around for about 50 years in some states, which will, once again, essentially make women prisoners to their husbands. And now, at least one pastor is talking about taking away women’s right to vote! Some like to say that, “oh, that’ll never happen”, but we said the same thing about the abortion ban, and it did happen. I was happy to hear Ms. Atwood use the word “blueprint” regarding The Handmaid’s Tale, because I’ve been saying, at least in the U.S., that liberals read and/or saw the book/movie as a warning whereas the ultra-conservatives read/saw it as a blueprint, and the conservative men all see themselves as Commanders. In the last 10-15 years we have seen a virtual explosion in the spread of Evangelicalism, and they do love power, and having control of the levers of the government, which to some extent they have achieved, because they are now in the majority in the Supreme Court, and they had a President for four years who toadied to them (strictly in order to get their vote, which worked spectacularly for him, but pretty badly for women). Now they’re running with that and trying to expand that anti-woman power to other laws. Also, sadly, there has been a huge growth of misogynistic rhetoric in men’s groups online, because the men are feeling disenfranchised because of the top-down effects of the economy where the wealthiest people are gaining control of most of the wealth in the country at the expense of the “regular” people, and the economy is getting more difficult for them, so they “naturally” want to blame women for all their problems. However, I think they’re (the men [and a number of women] as well as the “menz” online) are going to be rather surprised at the quantity of pushback they’re going to get from the women of the country. As Kamala Harris said, “We are NOT going back!”
I was in college when the book was released, and it TERRIFIED me at the time, I was paranoid about my male co-workers for three weeks afterwards, wondering which of them would go along with it and which would fight for us. In retrospect, I should have stayed terrified, and been louder. Now I have a daughter to fight for. Thank you, Ms. Atwood.
@@obscurum6 ? in the world like the handmaid's tale? Men are forced into very rigid rules of living, yes they some appear to have power. But if they step out of line, they too get punished. They lose the trust of any and all women. Humanity loses all the brilliant things people can do when we all have the ability to be the best we can be. Think of all that women have contributed to science, art, culture. I will let you look up the "hidden" women in all fields. Men lose connections with their own children too.
In 2015, a friend from Germany who had been living in the US for 30 years said it could happen here. I was furious & told her never would that happen in the US. Now, 2024, I fear what’s going on now. Taking away rights from women, scary. A VP candidate who believes women should have more babies & stay home. A Presidential candidate that reminds me of the book ‘1984’ doublespeak.
Ron DeSantis is sending election police , in Florida, door to door ,questioning ( intimidating) voters to see if they signed a petition asking for an amendment to his six week abortion ban. Handmaid’s Tale a possibility? Don’t kid yourself; in Florida it’s already here. I’m sure it’s one of those books banned in schools there.
“Speculative fiction”. I appreciate that description. I have so much respect for this woman and I’m grateful for her foresight and talent and courage in bringing these issues to light in a way the MSM news doesn’t. I read HT in the 80’s, watched it when it first aired, then watched it again recently. It blows my mind how much it reflects what has happened in the world and what’s happening in the U.S. now. I’m so glad I never had children. 💙🇺🇸💪
When I hear about people not wanting to have kids, I think of the fanatics who use women as livestock and have 6 or more kids with them. If they successfully indoctrinate the kids in their beliefs then that's a lot more fanatics to vote for things they want a generation later. There was a story about a religious group in a community that wanted public funding of their religious schools but that's not allowed. So they decided to take over the school board so they could defund and shut down the public schools (serving Blacks) then sell the buildings on the cheap to their religious organization for their own (non-Black) kids.
I bought my 1st copy of The Handmaid's Tale a year or so after it was published, lent it to a friend who moved without returning it, bought another copy and lent it to my daughter who decided to keep it (how could I refuse), bought my 3rd copy, which I re-read when the televised series started, and have refused to lend it out this time.
I'm Irish, and the 80's was a time here with the Church pretty much in full control of the state anyway. When I read this back then I still had the same idea Margaret voiced there "Well surely not here, I mean its 1983 for hells sake!" yet at that time Ireland was already a nation that was a hairs breath from The Handmaids Tale... no contraception, no abortion, no divorce... a list of Catholic doctrine was then and is now still is our constitution. Our constitution 'literally' says women work in the home and men have essentially more rights. Now here in 2024 40 years later the churches are empty, and they lost their power completely despite desperately trying to hold on to control of the education system. Don't ever say "Well surely not here!" thats an open invitation to theocracy.
One of the first articles I read this morning was about North Korea harshly punishing doctors and women, for prescribing and using contraception, and performing abortions. There is a reason that many authoritarian regimes, and the authoritarian impulses on the American right, are trying to deny women birth control and access to safe abortion. They want to force women to have more children, against their will, to bolster floundering birth rates. Why? Their excuse is economics and national security. That it happens to match their right wing fever dreams of subordinating half the population is purely coincidental. There are, of course, less punitive ways to increase birth rates. Increasing child tax credits, family/maternity/paternity leave, free/low cost child care, affordable education, wage increases so people can afford to have children, would all be encouragements to have families, but those policies are anathema to the right, because they have railed against them as "big government". Notice they don't have a problem with big government when it is intruding into the doctor's office or the bedroom, or sticking their nose into equity programs and LGBTQ+ acceptance .
@@susanlovesjava4961 Hate to break it to you, but you already do. Just like you fund roads you'll never drive on, airports you'll never visit, ports you'll never access, emergency services you'll never use, and schools you'll never attend. All of those things make this country as successful as it is. It's freaking weird that you'd rather allow the subjugation of half the population(including yourself possibly), force millions of additional families into poverty (and onto government programs like welfare, Medicaid and lifelong disability dependents**banning abortions will lead to increases in children born with crippling abnormalities, and more disabled/dead mothers who could have been spared ) rather than build stronger, more stable, self sufficient families (that will be less likely to need any long term government assistance). So you will pay either way, but a couple of years of pre-K, and 6 months of family leave is better than a lifetime of government dependency.
@@susanlovesjava4961 Yes, you already do. You help fund schools, and programs for schools. Why do you act as if its only your money? All those who can in our country are chipping in to help fund our public services... from schools, to road maintenance, to airports, to firehouses, etc... there's not much our taxes don't fund. It all helps to keep our country running smoothly as possible.
I read this book when it first came out about 1984. I couldn't put it down. I stood at the kitchen sink reading just one more page while my toddler clung to my leg. I was horrified. I could see that this could happen. And now, 30 years later, my toddler is a young woman who has had her rights taken away by Republicans.
"We are in a different show" I live in Texas and am witnessing first hand the right of basic women's healthcare being stripped away. This effects woman of all ages. Being 54 and in menopause, I began bleeding heavily. So heavy, I needed towels to stop me from dripping on the floor. (sorry about the graphic discription) My doctor told me to go to the ER, which I did. The frist question the E.R. asked me before anything... including my name was if I was pregnant. I then told them my situation and they took a pregnancy test and ultrasound to confirm I wasnt pregnant, only then did they begin treating me.(2 hours later) I needed a blood transfusion and afterwards I was put on a dosage of birth control pills to control the bleeding. It was then I realized that as a woman, I no longer had the right to healthcare. My health was being controlled by the Texas Government.
Thank you for sharing your story. There are a lot of stories coming out of Texas now - pregnant women, women miscarrying, some needing abortion, also pre and post menopausal women, Doctors are too scared to provide care.
UK: An awful experience. I sincerely hope the elections next week in the US go in the right direction. It really should never, ever be as close as it is
In Oklahoma, obstetricians, Gynocologists and other doctors have left the state, fearing legal prosecution, making gynocological healthcare unavailable to most females. No regular pelvic exams, pap smears or other gynocological healthcare screenings. Ovarian, cervical and uterine cancers are going undiagnosed as are other gynocological disorders. EVERY PREGNANCY IS HIGH RISK.
That shows the ignorance of those who opposed abortion so strongly. They must have forgotten or didn't know what all the letters in OB/GYN meant. It means necessary health care for all women.
@@dugongsdoitbetterit’s not ignorance. People who support those values just don’t care if it’s not happening to them or their cohort. Emotionally they’re stuck in a constant siege mentality of us versus them, and thus feel justified to celebrate the ills that befall their imagined enemies - the progressives… When we all have access to the most accurate information in a small box in our hands, ignorance becomes a choice. And we can test this idea empirically. Ie: When it comes to treatment for a compound fracture where a femur has pierced the skin, I guarantee they’ll go to a doctor and not get their Facebook qanon friend to fix it even though their friend is an “expert” on ivermectin covid treatments… The only way to make real generational change is to push for teachers to be allowed and trained to teach their kids very strong and critical online literacy skills.
I live in Australia. The other day I got an SMS from the Health Department reminding me that I am overdue for a pap smear and to ask my doctor about self-collection of my specimen. I'm grateful for the reminder and the option of self-collection because having a doctor perform a pap smear is so humiliating and embarrassing I have avoided it. Will happily do the Bowel Cancer test kit I receive free in the post every two years. Does the difference in healthcare systems slap anyone else in the face? Our system cares about people's health - it is not a money-making business.
I read The Handmaid's Tale as a young mother. I've also read many other Margaret Atwood books. They are always a good read. I'm personally grieving the changes that have been happening in the United States of America. Woman unite! We will have to fight to keep the progress we have made. Vote blue like your country depends on it, because it does! 🇺🇲💙
Misogyny isn't exclusive to women. Woman should definitely unite, but they should unite and work with the LGBTQIA+ community who are also extremely affected by misogyny. Trans men and non-binary (i.e. genderqueer, genderfluid, gender non-conforming, etc) AFAB individuals are affected by it and also have dire need for reproductive health care and autonomy. They'd also be forced to marry and forced to bear children, right alongside trans women, gay men, and lesbians. Most of, if not the entire, LGBTQIA+ community would more than likely be "conversion therapied" into following their "biological" directives. Hence why we should all unite and fight together instead of fighting each other. If you have to, think about it in terms of mathematic: our numbers far exceed the number of misogynistic, queer-phobic cis-het men.
All the talk about babies is all well and good. I loved my two babies! The subject of female rights is far more complicated than a debate about abortion. Surely you can see that for yourself. I personally favor family planning. I feel like education and birth control is the first place to start! I find that most folks who are screaming in the comment section about the unborn, really could care less about the children once they get here. That makes it more about control! Which is the point, after all. They want to control you, your body and the size of your family. It won't stop there.. your right to vote will be next to go.
Extraordinary prescience on Atwood's part. I read the Handmaid's Tale in 1987. My sister had shared it with me. We were both new mothers. When my local writer's association held a banned book reading in 1989 I read from the Handmaid's Tale. At the time I wrote a weekly newspaper column on the arts. Salman Rushdie was rumored to be staying on the Island while on the run from Iranian extremists who were after his scalp. Turned out only his then-wife was. The writers in our small community did what we could. Atwood remains my personal literary heroine of all time.
I’ve read the book twice, with an interval of some years because it had come out in film,. I prefer to read. My daughter watched the show and tried to get me to watch but I just couldn’t. At that point things were happening that were heartwrenchingly part of the book. Now of course, it’s even worse! Iran and Afghanistan were bad enough but when it started to happen in the US! supposedly a place that celebrates democracy and freedom and equality but where the majority gender is nonetheless being subjugated. AGAIN! What the heck?!?!?
Silence is acceptance…we must question our government when all of our rights are threatened! The Handmaids Tale depicts what can happen if we don’t fight the oppressors! 🙏🇨🇦
And it really was a hard life for the first settlers. A lot of them died Only the ones with the most greed and the least amount of compassion survived.
I read The Handmaids' Tale years ago. I didn't want to watch the show because I had already fully integrated its message, which is traumatizing. Margaret Atwood is a literary giant, and so I am grateful for this interview and the parallels she draws historically in her methodology in writing the book, and in current events. This is important stuff. I think about what is happening to women in certain parts of the world, not just the USA. But also in the US.
Thank you, Margaret Atwood, for writing this warning story. People may not have thought it was possible, but as some people drag us closer to the reality of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” your book shows us what could happen so we can stand up against those trying to implement it.
I remember reading the Handmaid’s Tale in college in the 1980’s. My fellow students were dismissive, “speculative fiction,” it could never happen here…and I remember thinking “Oh, yes it could….” And here we are.
Thank you Margaret Atwood for the important work you've done to bring attention to how the totalitarian / extremist regimes operate and being a clear warning. Please everyone share Margaret Atwood's work with everyone you know.
I first read "The Handmaids Tale" in 1985, I don't really think I really understood it very well at the time. as the years have passed I began to get the message loud & clear. I have reread it & watched the TV series. I was blown away by Margaret's foresite, what a remarkable woman. Thank you so much. Americans please vote blue💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
I read Handmaid's Tale when it first came out and it scared me to death specifically because I felt it could easily happen here in the US. I haven't been able to reread it since (which is unusual for me with books that affect me deeply) and I can't watch the TV adaptation. It just seems so real and possible to me. Not fiction at all. Brilliant book.
No, it could not not happen in America and anyone who thinks it can, has very slight grasp of reality. First of all there are too many religious sects (let's just limit it to Christianity for the moment) for a Gilead cult to emerge and take power...outside a VERY restricted commune or enclave. So you could have various Shaker-style cults, and Brook Farm Experiments, and Oneida and Amana-type communities, but such communities cannot swallow a whole nation because their internal dynamics prevent them from scaling. Even the moderate form of Mormonism couldn't thrive unless it had leagues and leagues of desert between its stamping grounds and the rest of the country.
What an amazing & enlightening interview. This woman is so deeply intelligent & wise- and both intelligence & wisdom are both so lacking in the current discourse.
I saw "The Handmaid's Tale" movie when it came out. It revolted me. I was surprised to see it return so many years later as a TV series. It is more relevant now than ever.
Except it is not science fiction...Atwood did not make up anything that hadn't or wasn't happening already. 😊Women have been treated worse than any other group all throughout history.
🦅Someone should make a movie about the “free speech heroes” in the panhandle of Texas. The teens who won to have Margaret’s book back on their library shelves.🦅
it was the Separatists who hired The Mayflower, which they could not totally fill. So, they sadly had to allow/invite the Puritans along, which was not even a good thing for the Separatists, because the Puritans were always miserable bullies. William Brewster was not a Puritan, he was a Separatist, who believed in women's rights and their right to own property. Just thought I`d mention this all too often overlooked truth.
The briefness of this interview doesn't detract from its powerful impact. Margaret Atwood has a super sharp sense of the nature of power that political theocracy can and does possess. We're frighteningly close to the cusp of change, despite all the knowledge and experience since Oliver Cromwell's era - through to present day. Indeed, how long have got?
This intelligent creative women has always frightened me deeply in a way that helps me focus on what is needed to keep women safe and strong thank you Margaret
It’s because they’re not her ideas - they’re the ideas of those who’ve come before and done it before. Everything in her book is taken directly from recent history. Those ideas are always going to come back because people are more interested in blaming ideas and -isms for things that corruption broke, and because of this, the underlyind corruption that causes _everything_ to fail is ignored while watching dutifully for the things that corruption has exploited in the past as if the corruption itself were the idea and were inherent to the idea. Corruption always gets a pass, because it looks like those who are inherently corrupt already (and to some degree, in some way or another, we all have our own corruption in us). People see failure and think “other” as if they contain no failure themselves, and so they wind up ignoring the cause of the problems they think they’re trying to prevent. It’s sort of akin to knowing a few people who’ve died of breast cancer in your family, and so watching for anyone who has breasts to come along and thinking they’re what’s causing cancer, and so punishing those with breasts rather than trying to prevent cancer itself.
I am constantly referring to the Handmaids Tale in regards to our current events in the world but especially in our country. Ms. Atwood is a very sharp & articulate visionary. I’m thankful for her literary work & her courage-What an incredibly talented lady!
Be careful what you wish for: when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold! She is completely unqualified to lead the free world. You don’t realize just how closely Canada and the US are intertwined with us. What happens here will be even worse for Canada.
Atwood is definitely one of the most profound and important writers of the 1900s to the present. Testaments and The MaddAddam trilogy are also must-reads IMO.
I read handmaid's tale in the 80's. My ex-husband said it couldn't happen here, but I believed it already was with the religious-political right. And now we have Mike Johnson & the right wing Supreme Court. Please vote blue up and down the ballot to stop the reversal of our rights💙♀️💙
@@patricialongo5870 the blue needs a majority. The red Senate blocked O'Bama's Supreme Court pick because 9 months too close to election, then allowed Trump to pick a couple of months before 2000 election. If more people voted blue McConnell would not have been able to do that, and the radical right would not control SCOTUS. Now we need the majority to get back rights like Roe provided.
Its brilliant to hear her speak about her book and the current climate. I love the quote she mentioned "the future is here but its unevenly distributed". I read her book in high school in texas.
So wild to remember reading "The Handmaid's Tale" as a summer reading book by a pool as a kid. It was the current bestseller. Never, ever thought it was so prescient and now, in 2024, we are actually on the verge of a Gilead because of the Republicans.
You were a smart kid . I read good literature by the pool as a kids as well .I'm 67 today and still love a great book at the pool . It's been years since I could read at the pool, kids and grands that required supervision . I'm that mom . Like the head life guard!
Yes, I read this long ago, in the late 80’s. I have been posting about Gilead since 2016… and here we are, with one last chance to save our selves, or escape while you can.
there are other factors that have nothing to do with Republicans, and more to do with control of the State by outside unelected people who choose our leaders (globalism and the depopulation agenda) - if you look at the recent "cancelling of women" and women's spaces, look who is in power now who have allowed the current madness.
There are still so many deluded voters out there who think, “Trump won’t do that.” Then, his wife writes a memoir in which she claims to have liberal views on abortion. It’s all part of the manipulation to keep the wool pulled down over the voters’ eyes. Anyone who claims to value personal freedom is crazy to vote for Trump. He, or JD Vance, will sign oppressive legislation against women and others into law. Guaranteed.
Thanks so much for posting this. Recently I began watching episode clips on TH-cam and thought “OMG, how did I miss this?”. Margaret Atwood is a literary treasure.
This wasn't a book that my school had us read back in 1984-92, but I truly enjoyed watching Handmade's Tale. And it’s really disturbing that we may or will live through portions of this....
My school district has now mandated that we pull this book from our classroom libraries. It breaks my heart!! Censorship causes blindness! Say it louder for those in the back, Mrs. Atwood!!
@@Sarah-qo9buSorry but this argument is pure nonsense. You didnt read this Book! Be honest❤ And „sexual Nature of the Book“ is a disgusting euphemism of rape. This Book is about rape and Misogynie! Not in a 1000 years you know anything about this Book.
If American women could stand together as a bloc (we saw a brief glimpse of that through the Women's Marches) they could bring their country to a standstill and force social/legislative change. As an aside, how do American conservatives reconcile their adoration of the first amendment with the burgeoning practice of banning books?
@@truman4956 the intentional dumbing down of the workforce, and rule of the elite is more in line with "Brave New World" but the revisionist history, constant warfare, denouncing others as traitors, the constant threat of surveillance, etc. from Trump is far more in line with "1984" and Project 2025 is far more in line with "The Handmaid's Tail" and "Mein Kampf"
1984 was pretty much describing the depressing environment of England during the war and the manipulation of the masses through oppression and extreme control of the public information, as things were in the Soviet Union at that moment. Brave New World really got it right with how shallow and hedonistic the society is, people are easily manipulated and apathetic as long as they think they're fine.
@@cyndimoring9389 that's why English is so hard all these words that are spelled differently yet sound exactly the same: red v read read v reed blue v blew one v won to v too v two Trump v Hitler
It's always about controlling women. And when it isn't, it's about hating intellectuals and the smartest. Why do smart kids get beaten up? They express a unfamiliar message.
@karlajaeger2082 Also, it is about punishing the "promiscuous" women, especially if they get pregnant. Then, they can force them to carry to full term.
@@Missy-Missy1111 totally. I often suggest that free birth control from puberty to 18 will severely limit teen pregnancy. But nooo...it's about controlling women who like sex without getting pregnant. Fuck the patriarchy.
The closest I ever got to her was in about 1981. She co- owned a restaurant in Toronto called Gracie's. My friend from high school Steve Melemis was in a trio; he played cello and there was piano and, uhh, flute I think. Young guys playing nice chamber type music for Sunday brunch. Ms Atwood was seated at the back when my crowd of friends came in. She was already great, but not the towering figure she'd become. One of her partners in the restaurant was Charles Pachter, the painter. I have to say I've always disliked his work but that's just an aside opinion. I wish I'd had the courage to go and speak to her. I wish I wasn't so lazy to not be writing her fan letters all these years. I don't really know her books. I know her from her speeches and appearances on tv and radio. I'm so fortunate to live in her time. Thank you Margaret Atwood.
Several years ago I was reading about organized religious interest in the American public fading rapidly and now seeing the resurgence of a branch of fundamentalist Catholic rhetoric being pushed again via the Heritage Society and even other fundamentalist Christian religions is personally very disturbing. Were these belief systems to succeed via a political/religious movement America would go retrograde in a very repressive regime.
Opus Dei, the Dominionists, all offshoots of radical Catholicism dating back centuries. Very much an all-boy he-man woman hater's club. With money and guns.
You think that is scary. Closely examine the Islamic faith. Christianity has the concept of love thy neighbor at it's roots. The teachings of Mohamed have no such thing.
@@tbaker729 I don’t think so I was in the 7th grade and we read it . I did go to school in the Bay Area where the most Nobel prize winners reside. Many writers and editors teach there so maybe we did get some kind of first draft. California is usually usually ahead of the rest of the country,so maybe ,…you came from a state that was still reading Tolstoy and digesting the 18th century. 🍻
I felt the cold winds of Fascism blowing as soon as Nixon’s inauguration. I kept watching with horror as the political process continued. I’m old now and terribly sad to see what it has become.
A pure example of age with wisdom. A huge thanks to Margaret Atwood for her wisdom...now we need to heed her words and warnings. The filth of maga and trump must be abolished.
You can see the truth of greens comment even more clearly because currently in some states there is no exception for rape (and of course no viability of fetus, great danger to the pregnant woman etc)... even if the person is a child of incest. Compulsory reproduction. Men who rape get to carry on their DNA. All consequences and life costs fall on the women disproportionally. Many women could vow not to be involved with men, but that does not protect her from rape. Many countries have a rape culture where the men are not punished or lightly punished. In handmaiden tale, those women that could bear children suffered compulsory reproduction/rape. The woman who could not bear children but had more powerful husbands had to go along with the scheme and even be in the room holding down the handmaiden while she was raped. Glory be!
I read the handmaids tale in high school during my final year it stuck with me 10.5 years later. I’m now watching it play out in real time and I’m scared.
Margret's (and I use the familiar with reason) monumental insight and intelect exhibited in her work never cease to amaze me. She stands as one of Canada's greatest gifts to the world! So proud to be Canadian. So proud to call her ours. 👍🙂
Amazing how she can see this coming so clearly, and many others can understand her warning, and yet sooooo many are supporting this dangerous progress.
Margaret is an admirable human being. She's a globe thinker with keen insights. And what did she use as references? HISTORY! What and intelligent and poised woman. Thanks for taking the risk for the sake of truth.
@@CaptMortifyd It's not over yet. One more season. Yes, it's hard to watch at times, but I really liked this last season. For one main character (not the lead) in particular, her circumstances mirror June's. That whole season can be summed up with two words: karma and irony.
@@JD-hh9io Watching the horrors of the Holocaust was brutally hard, but we need to see the results of madmen and their agendas. If you think watching the HT was hard as a man, consider how women feel about it. Give it another try, especially now that Project 2025 is a real threat.
I remember watching this interview in 2018 and have watched the Handmaid's Tale many times. I have been 're-watching it again this last two weeks and never tire of the implications that it reflects in our World today. Here we are in November 2024, waking up to the shock waves around the World with the news of Trump having been re-elected as the 47th President of America. How long before Project 2025 goes into play ?, The millions of mass deportations that he's promising will begin on day one, the notion that he will only be a Dictator on day one, the prosecutions of those who disagree with him, the removal of more rights ? How much bigger is the pyramid of Theocratic Autocracy going to grow ? The Democratic World is watching and waiting to see where this madness takes the "United" States of America. A Handmaid's Tale part 2 ??
“It’s terrifying but I have to write it” is exactly how I felt watching the show. It was also so strange watching it after reading about project 2025 and seeing all the parallels. Even scarier now that trump has been re-elected
EXCELLENT INTERVIEW. Thank You. I have a friend who fell deep into the maga cult from the beginning and still unfortunately is. She LOVED the HMT series but I could tell from what she was saying, she related to the ruling party/ controllers not with those who were oppressed. 🤯
Most people who identify with the ruling class think nothing will ever happen to them, just to the other guy, but they SHOULD study history because Everyone WILL eventually suffer.
I’m so blessed to have read her books. Thank you Margaret! I’m voting blue all the from Australia as well as my grown sons are voting for a world and country with blue all the way!
I'm in South Carolina (in the US) - commonly known as the "Buckle of the Bible Belt. My state passed a "heartbeat" abortion ban almost immediately after the unconstitutional overturn of Roe v. Wade. Now six SC lawmakers (all white males) are seeking to further persecute the women of my state by pushing a bill that will enact the death penalty for any woman getting an abortion for any reason & will treat miscarriages as murder investigations. "The Handmaid's Tale" is playing out in real life in the most horrific of ways here in my state.
I am a 75 year old man ,father, grandfather,great grandfather I am grateful to be on earth with the work of Margaret Atwood
May she live forever.
Myself, as well.
She speaks so eloquently, with a vivid imagination. She recognizes this monster at the door of democracy. I feel better knowing that.
I wish you'd had fewer children, for all our sakes.
@@maribethjones2105 🙋♀️well said … Thank You
Amazing woman. She's a historian, not a fictional writer. "It can't happen here" is nonsense.
It is happening on every continent but Antartica.
I assume you mean to credit her meticulous research. I agree. But she writes fiction rather than history. I have a bookcase full of it😀
@@noeraldinkabamcan I move there?
No. Women 's right are at risk all over the world,
I think what she writes is literature.
Not just the Handmaid's Tale but Oryx & Crake, and so on. Margaret Atwood has often been called an alarmist, yet here we are, looking issues of human rights, whether women's or food/agriculture, etc. in the face. She may have been called a "prophetess" in the past but in reality, she has looked closely at the trends, in politics, in marketing, in anything she writes about and sends out the warning, yet sadly so many are too blind to see. I admire her in her greatly (edited to correct a spelling error)
So true!
People who point to abuse inherent in the system are usually called alarmists
Read The Heart Goes Last…..scary
I could not agree more. Let's add Madadam to that list.
Absolutely
I read The Handmaid's Tale in the early 90s as part of my A level. I was taking the exam as an external student, with no supervision, just me and a pile of books. I was also living in Saudi Arabia, with an abusive husband. It hit me like a slap in the face and made me see how bad things had become. I love the way she plays with language, and the unflinching realism she brings to hypothetical scenarios that could be just around the corner unless we pull back in time, alongside her exquisitely sensual and vivid descriptive passages. This book changed my life, quite possibly, it saved my life. I am forever filled with awe and gratitude for this and all of her work.
Sounds like you escaped the abusive husband, I hope your life is going well ❤
Wow, it's incredible how a person can point to one thing that totally changed the trajectory of their life.
Love & blessings 🙏
Thanks for sharing your story.
I'm glad you are still here Kaye!
the power of a story is not a little thing. if it could happen to you, could it happen to an entire nation?
Her analysis is truthful, timely, courageous, and sharp.
And it was published in 1985 -- so prescient! We are not going back -- don't be fooled by cherrypicking the right does with supposed "strictly textual readings" of the constitution and harkening back to laws from the 19th century -- only when it suits their ends most of the rest of the time they ignore the strict textual reading, as in the SC's ridiculous immunity ruling tailored to help Trump with his court cases.
Nobel prize Committee, take note. Atwood’s birthday is mid November.The Nobel would be a thoughtful (if overdue) gift.
We don't get Nobel prizes as birthday gifts silly 😜😉
@@markberryhill2715 My understanding is that the Nobel in Literature is awarded for a lifetime of achievement in letters. I confess my frame of reference is the West. Within that frame of reference, I can’t think of a more important author. Also, it might remind Americans of why it is important to vote.
Yes yes yes
@@markberryhill2715 There’s a first time for everything. Why not now?
I can't believe that she doesn't have one yet
It's such a relief, always, to hear voices such as Margaret's. I'm SO tired of this dumbed down culture, esp. in music, film, tv, social media.
As an Australian, it has been distressing to watch the dumbing down of America over the past 6 decades. Once a place where dreams came true, America is now the stuff of nightmares. Biden has done his best to reset the trajectory, and I hope that November will change the future of the United States for a good while, at least until the threat of trump is dead and buried. Margaret's books have always been provocative and prophetic. She is a warrior woman, brave and strong. Like Kamala. Vote 💙
It is exhausting dealing with stupidity.
@@kasondaleighI'm so tired....so very very tired. 😢
@@kalayne6713 will definitely take the time to read and understand the irony. Sounds as though this lady is a true historian 💖👍
@@kalayne6713 As a Canadian, I experienced this first hand. I accepted a scholarship to a journalism program at an American college. Came home to stay in December because grade 11 in Canada was more difficult and being there useless. That was 1987.
Around 1970 I was in college in Windsor, Ontario and my dad was picking me up at school. I waited by the large windows of a lounge where an author was reading aloud and chatting with a small group of students. When dad pulled up, I ran out and asked him to park the car. “This author’s really good!” He did, and that’s how we first heard Margaret Atwood.
I was amazed by her then, I’m amazed by her now.
That’s so awesome ❤️😊
Thank you Margaret, I watched my mother, and she was pregnant 13 times, 8 surviving children. She waited until 1974 to file a divorce from an abusive spouse, I think it was because she could now get her own bank account? My father beat her up 1 time for taking birth control only gap in her pregnancies, was this 2 year period after my birth, then almost to the day, her last baby was born, my sister. We as a country were in a severe crises with Russia. I am sure being a nurse, my mother saw that it wasn't a good time for more children and she was worn out. Cuban missile crises dating. Women today don't seem to truly understand what her and other before her went through. Even obtaining the right to vote. She died at 83.
She sounds like she led an exhausting life. I'm glad you are here to speak for her.
One of my Grandmothers gave birth to 7 live children and 7 stillborn children. She died at 51, and ĺooked like she was in her late 70's. I don't know if she miscarried any children. She died before I was born, I never met her, but I have always felt so bad for her. She actually marched for Women to have the right to vote. I fear if Trump goes back in and implements Project 2025, we will lose that right.
This is happening. Abusive men are forcing their partners to get pregnant.
@SissyAustin Pregnancy ages women's cells 11 years. It's worse than smoking and obesity. No thanks. Childfree.
My mother had an abortion in the 70s. Barely 16 & she was coerced into an abusive marriage with an older man- by her own parents, like they were selling a sow at market. She immediately had to move far away to become an army wife- completely, socially & financially isolated when the abuse started.
Its so uniquely awful and yet such a common story. That ability to access reproductive healthcare saved her, allowed her to escape. Some people react to this type of story with disgust- like "well what if she'd aborted you?!". When i was old enough, my mom and i talked about everything in depth, and she said- though the choice was painful, it was what allowed her to live on and eventually have me.
I cant even hold anger for my grandparents, as the weight of generational trauma drove their choices too. My great grandmother had to leave my grandma with relatives as a girl, to protect her while trying to escape an abusive spouse. She never returned. Those relatives were all too happy to 'unload her' quickly. She was 14 when she married my grandpa, who was 18, had my mom by 15 then siblings. She was property, & knew no other life, so thought she was protecting her daughters by essentially arranging teen marriages.
Im genX, and had so many more choices as an adult, but also lived through so much with my mother & grandmother that the newness (& fragility) of those choices & rights was always clear. For a while it seemed like younger women were getting more detached from that history, complacent politically, but that has all dramatically changed thanks to Trump... certainly the only thing anyone could ever "thank" him for.
Young women & girls today carry the weight of so many generations of abuse & trauma, wether they understand it yet or not. I hope they will grow up strong and carry the responsibility to study that history- within their own families and our collective history as women- and pass it on to the next generation... teach the girls AND the boys this time.
I am in my 70's. I remember when adult women, my mother was one of them, needed a man to sign-off on having a credit cardit. I remember when women and girls could not play sports. I could go on, but "Let's not go back."
I remember too, Debra. We WONT go back.
I love seeing girls wrestle & play baseball & football. Wish I had, had that chance. I would have been in the Olympics! I loved all those sports. It's like the taliban trying to take rights from women but it's here!
I remember as a young adult not being able to get a credit card or purchase a car without make co-signer
Thank you for sharing your experience. Women and girls can only benefit from knowing this.
I tried to get a credit card in my name and the bank told me to have my husband apply for me.
As a Canadian, Margaret Atwood is our national effing treasure. Her stories, though fictional, really hit it differently in this day and age.
Fictional?
@@Cat-bg2geprophetic??
@@marleneverhage1048If you lived in the United States you’d see exactly why its prophetic. First they overturned a constitutional law here legalizing abortion, which had been on the books for almost 50 years (49 to be exact), and now women are dying. Now some lawmakers are proposing overturning no-fault divorces, which have also been around for about 50 years in some states, which will, once again, essentially make women prisoners to their husbands. And now, at least one pastor is talking about taking away women’s right to vote! Some like to say that, “oh, that’ll never happen”, but we said the same thing about the abortion ban, and it did happen. I was happy to hear Ms. Atwood use the word “blueprint” regarding The Handmaid’s Tale, because I’ve been saying, at least in the U.S., that liberals read and/or saw the book/movie as a warning whereas the ultra-conservatives read/saw it as a blueprint, and the conservative men all see themselves as Commanders. In the last 10-15 years we have seen a virtual explosion in the spread of Evangelicalism, and they do love power, and having control of the levers of the government, which to some extent they have achieved, because they are now in the majority in the Supreme Court, and they had a President for four years who toadied to them (strictly in order to get their vote, which worked spectacularly for him, but pretty badly for women). Now they’re running with that and trying to expand that anti-woman power to other laws. Also, sadly, there has been a huge growth of misogynistic rhetoric in men’s groups online, because the men are feeling disenfranchised because of the top-down effects of the economy where the wealthiest people are gaining control of most of the wealth in the country at the expense of the “regular” people, and the economy is getting more difficult for them, so they “naturally” want to blame women for all their problems. However, I think they’re (the men [and a number of women] as well as the “menz” online) are going to be rather surprised at the quantity of pushback they’re going to get from the women of the country. As Kamala Harris said, “We are NOT going back!”
She's a hack. Always has been and always will be. She is the feminist equivalent of Danielle Steele.
I just read her book for the first time... the 2nd one.. and I was amazed. I need to read the 1st one.
I was in college when the book was released, and it TERRIFIED me at the time, I was paranoid about my male co-workers for three weeks afterwards, wondering which of them would go along with it and which would fight for us.
In retrospect, I should have stayed terrified, and been louder. Now I have a daughter to fight for. Thank you, Ms. Atwood.
Yes. Exactly.
If only more women looked around and thought about that.
@@obscurum6 If only more men looked around and thought about how much they will lose too.
@@wombat.6652
What do you think men will lose?
@@obscurum6 ? in the world like the handmaid's tale? Men are forced into very rigid rules of living, yes they some appear to have power. But if they step out of line, they too get punished.
They lose the trust of any and all women. Humanity loses all the brilliant things people can do when we all have the ability to be the best we can be.
Think of all that women have contributed to science, art, culture. I will let you look up the "hidden" women in all fields.
Men lose connections with their own children too.
The Republic of Gilead is sadly much closer to us than we think
Project Gilead 2025, Commanders Vance and Trump
Gilead is upon us NOW! Margaret portrays this with such clarity in The Handmaid’s Tale.
@@TinaBUTCHER-ph1ph Frighteningly true.
It will be if you can’t get Trump out. Very worrying
Fight!!
In 2015, a friend from Germany who had been living in the US for 30 years said it could happen here. I was furious & told her never would that happen in the US. Now, 2024, I fear what’s going on now. Taking away rights from women, scary. A VP candidate who believes women should have more babies & stay home. A Presidential candidate that reminds me of the book ‘1984’ doublespeak.
And Germany is once again electing fascists
@@johnransom1146 Fascists? You must be mixing up communist tyrants that are destroying your country with 'fascists'.
@@johnransom1146 much of Europe is.
Ron DeSantis is sending election police , in Florida, door to door ,questioning ( intimidating) voters to see if they signed a petition asking for an amendment to his six week abortion ban. Handmaid’s Tale a possibility? Don’t kid yourself; in Florida it’s already here. I’m sure it’s one of those books banned in schools there.
Don't forget Project 2025.
Excellent interview.
Frightening reality.
“Speculative fiction”. I appreciate that description. I have so much respect for this woman and I’m grateful for her foresight and talent and courage in bringing these issues to light in a way the MSM news doesn’t. I read HT in the 80’s, watched it when it first aired, then watched it again recently. It blows my mind how much it reflects what has happened in the world and what’s happening in the U.S. now. I’m so glad I never had children.
💙🇺🇸💪
When I hear about people not wanting to have kids, I think of the fanatics who use women as livestock and have 6 or more kids with them. If they successfully indoctrinate the kids in their beliefs then that's a lot more fanatics to vote for things they want a generation later.
There was a story about a religious group in a community that wanted public funding of their religious schools but that's not allowed. So they decided to take over the school board so they could defund and shut down the public schools (serving Blacks) then sell the buildings on the cheap to their religious organization for their own (non-Black) kids.
I'm so glad I don't live in America. It's so sad to watch the destruction of a once great country.
CCL here: Same!
@@sandal_thong the children in these groups usually reject the teachings when they can get away
I bought my 1st copy of The Handmaid's Tale a year or so after it was published, lent it to a friend who moved without returning it, bought another copy and lent it to my daughter who decided to keep it (how could I refuse), bought my 3rd copy, which I re-read when the televised series started, and have refused to lend it out this time.
I'm Irish, and the 80's was a time here with the Church pretty much in full control of the state anyway. When I read this back then I still had the same idea Margaret voiced there "Well surely not here, I mean its 1983 for hells sake!" yet at that time Ireland was already a nation that was a hairs breath from The Handmaids Tale... no contraception, no abortion, no divorce... a list of Catholic doctrine was then and is now still is our constitution. Our constitution 'literally' says women work in the home and men have essentially more rights. Now here in 2024 40 years later the churches are empty, and they lost their power completely despite desperately trying to hold on to control of the education system. Don't ever say "Well surely not here!" thats an open invitation to theocracy.
Well said, @mickelodiansurname9578!
Have you ever seen The Magdalene Sisters? It's a fantastic drama and wow there were certainly some beyond tough times in Ireland.
@@Matrixvsreality I seen it up close and personal since I was born in a mother and baby home in Ireland!
@@mickelodiansurname9578 , interesting!! Thank you for posting this.
@@mickelodiansurname9578 Wow. Please be good to yourself.
She had the rare ability to see things coming a bit before most. I appreciate her sharing her gift with the world.
HAS - she's still alive
@@GregTingey Yes has, sorry.
She is one of Canada’s favourite treasures. Thanks Margaret.
This aired 2018, now rewatch & listen. 2024
Wow
She is still on point 👉
One of the first articles I read this morning was about North Korea harshly punishing doctors and women, for prescribing and using contraception, and performing abortions.
There is a reason that many authoritarian regimes, and the authoritarian impulses on the American right, are trying to deny women birth control and access to safe abortion. They want to force women to have more children, against their will, to bolster floundering birth rates. Why? Their excuse is economics and national security. That it happens to match their right wing fever dreams of subordinating half the population is purely coincidental.
There are, of course, less punitive ways to increase birth rates. Increasing child tax credits, family/maternity/paternity leave, free/low cost child care, affordable education, wage increases so people can afford to have children, would all be encouragements to have families, but those policies are anathema to the right, because they have railed against them as "big government". Notice they don't have a problem with big government when it is intruding into the doctor's office or the bedroom, or sticking their nose into equity programs and LGBTQ+ acceptance .
Why should people without kids fund someone else's kids?
@@susanlovesjava4961 Hate to break it to you, but you already do. Just like you fund roads you'll never drive on, airports you'll never visit, ports you'll never access, emergency services you'll never use, and schools you'll never attend. All of those things make this country as successful as it is.
It's freaking weird that you'd rather allow the subjugation of half the population(including yourself possibly), force millions of additional families into poverty (and onto government programs like welfare, Medicaid and lifelong disability dependents**banning abortions will lead to increases in children born with crippling abnormalities, and more disabled/dead mothers who could have been spared ) rather than build stronger, more stable, self sufficient families (that will be less likely to need any long term government assistance).
So you will pay either way, but a couple of years of pre-K, and 6 months of family leave is better than a lifetime of government dependency.
@@susanlovesjava4961wow
@@susanlovesjava4961 You already do.
@@susanlovesjava4961 Yes, you already do. You help fund schools, and programs for schools. Why do you act as if its only your money? All those who can in our country are chipping in to help fund our public services... from schools, to road maintenance, to airports, to firehouses, etc... there's not much our taxes don't fund. It all helps to keep our country running smoothly as possible.
I read this book when it first came out about 1984. I couldn't put it down. I stood at the kitchen sink reading just one more page while my toddler clung to my leg. I was horrified. I could see that this could happen. And now, 30 years later, my toddler is a young woman who has had her rights taken away by Republicans.
Have your daughter taught how to both physically and emotionally defend herself. We must ALL LEARN how to defend ourselves and each other!
"We are in a different show"
I live in Texas and am witnessing first hand the right of basic women's healthcare being stripped away. This effects woman of all ages. Being 54 and in menopause, I began bleeding heavily. So heavy, I needed towels to stop me from dripping on the floor. (sorry about the graphic discription) My doctor told me to go to the ER, which I did. The frist question the E.R. asked me before anything... including my name was if I was pregnant. I then told them my situation and they took a pregnancy test and ultrasound to confirm I wasnt pregnant, only then did they begin treating me.(2 hours later) I needed a blood transfusion and afterwards I was put on a dosage of birth control pills to control the bleeding. It was then I realized that as a woman, I no longer had the right to healthcare. My health was being controlled by the Texas Government.
They test any woman bleeding to see what they are dealing with ... normal protocol . ????
Thank you for sharing your story. There are a lot of stories coming out of Texas now - pregnant women, women miscarrying, some needing abortion, also pre and post menopausal women, Doctors are too scared to provide care.
Hi from france. I'm so so sorry. 😢 You all deserve better. Lots of hugs.
UK: An awful experience. I sincerely hope the elections next week in the US go in the right direction. It really should never, ever be as close as it is
SO, SO sorry you had to go through that.
Love from a former RN & CNM in Australia x
💙WE’RE NOT GOING BACK💙
We already have.
♥
We still need to VOTE 💙❗️
@@MissRed92837 Agreed. I will be voting for Jill Stein, the only candidate willing to do something about Jen O'cide in Pal E. Stine.
@@rworded1but not the Jen o cide in Israel by Pales tine?!
Thank you. Margaret, you are one of my heroes.
Margaret Atwood is simply brilliant. Her body of work--fiction, essay, poetry spanning sixty years--is stunning.
In Oklahoma, obstetricians, Gynocologists and other doctors have left the state, fearing legal prosecution, making gynocological healthcare unavailable to most females. No regular pelvic exams, pap smears or other gynocological healthcare screenings. Ovarian, cervical and uterine cancers are going undiagnosed as are other gynocological disorders. EVERY PREGNANCY IS HIGH RISK.
That shows the ignorance of those who opposed abortion so strongly. They must have forgotten or didn't know what all the letters in OB/GYN meant. It means necessary health care for all women.
This is horrific. I am in the UK and we take our health care for granted. Women of the US shout loud. And educate your ignorant menfolk!
@@dugongsdoitbetterit’s not ignorance. People who support those values just don’t care if it’s not happening to them or their cohort. Emotionally they’re stuck in a constant siege mentality of us versus them, and thus feel justified to celebrate the ills that befall their imagined enemies - the progressives…
When we all have access to the most accurate information in a small box in our hands, ignorance becomes a choice. And we can test this idea empirically. Ie: When it comes to treatment for a compound fracture where a femur has pierced the skin, I guarantee they’ll go to a doctor and not get their Facebook qanon friend to fix it even though their friend is an “expert” on ivermectin covid treatments…
The only way to make real generational change is to push for teachers to be allowed and trained to teach their kids very strong and critical online literacy skills.
I live in Australia. The other day I got an SMS from the Health Department reminding me that I am overdue for a pap smear and to ask my doctor about self-collection of my specimen. I'm grateful for the reminder and the option of self-collection because having a doctor perform a pap smear is so humiliating and embarrassing I have avoided it. Will happily do the Bowel Cancer test kit I receive free in the post every two years. Does the difference in healthcare systems slap anyone else in the face? Our system cares about people's health - it is not a money-making business.
@@bowerbirdstyle7661 Well said 😊 Thank you Gough!
I read The Handmaid's Tale as a young mother. I've also read many other Margaret Atwood books. They are always a good read. I'm personally grieving the changes that have been happening in the United States of America. Woman unite! We will have to fight to keep the progress we have made. Vote blue like your country depends on it, because it does! 🇺🇲💙
To quote Billie Eilish: "Vote as if your LIFE depended on it!"
Misogyny isn't exclusive to women. Woman should definitely unite, but they should unite and work with the LGBTQIA+ community who are also extremely affected by misogyny. Trans men and non-binary (i.e. genderqueer, genderfluid, gender non-conforming, etc) AFAB individuals are affected by it and also have dire need for reproductive health care and autonomy. They'd also be forced to marry and forced to bear children, right alongside trans women, gay men, and lesbians. Most of, if not the entire, LGBTQIA+ community would more than likely be "conversion therapied" into following their "biological" directives. Hence why we should all unite and fight together instead of fighting each other. If you have to, think about it in terms of mathematic: our numbers far exceed the number of misogynistic, queer-phobic cis-het men.
@@Wournos How ironic when the babies’ lives depend on it! You couldn’t make this stuff up!
All the talk about babies is all well and good. I loved my two babies! The subject of female rights is far more complicated than a debate about abortion. Surely you can see that for yourself. I personally favor family planning. I feel like education and birth control is the first place to start!
I find that most folks who are screaming in the comment section about the unborn, really could care less about the children once they get here. That makes it more about control! Which is the point, after all. They want to control you, your body and the size of your family. It won't stop there.. your right to vote will be next to go.
Extraordinary prescience on Atwood's part. I read the Handmaid's Tale in 1987. My sister had shared it with me. We were both new mothers. When my local writer's association held a banned book reading in 1989 I read from the Handmaid's Tale. At the time I wrote a weekly newspaper column on the arts. Salman Rushdie was rumored to be staying on the Island while on the run from Iranian extremists who were after his scalp. Turned out only his then-wife was. The writers in our small community did what we could. Atwood remains my personal literary heroine of all time.
I’ve read the book twice, with an interval of some years because it had come out in film,. I prefer to read. My daughter watched the show and tried to get me to watch but I just couldn’t. At that point things were happening that were heartwrenchingly part of the book. Now of course, it’s even worse! Iran and Afghanistan were bad enough but when it started to happen in the US! supposedly a place that celebrates democracy and freedom and equality but where the majority gender is nonetheless being subjugated. AGAIN! What the heck?!?!?
A good choice, but insular.
Atwood 's Madd Addam trilogy is a harsher reality awakening. For quite some time now.
@@jandrews6254what’s absolutely astounding are the women who are voting to strip themselves of rights.
I'm a 78 year-old permanent scholar who is so grateful to be a contemporary of Margaret Attwood. Love to all my fellow travellers. 💜🇿🇦
Silence is acceptance…we must question our government when all of our rights are threatened! The Handmaids Tale depicts what can happen if we don’t fight the oppressors! 🙏🇨🇦
Yup. Too bad we have only the right wing in ideology. Without a to left we have no alternatives. Simply none. Americans are left proof.
Brilliant woman. A world treasure.
AND, as soon as the Puritans got settled, they charged the next wave of immigrants for food and land. Greed from the beginning.
😢 good point
Greed was supposed to one of the deadly sins but it never stopped church leaders
And it really was a hard life for the first settlers.
A lot of them died
Only the ones with the most greed and the least amount of compassion survived.
@@vickywitton1008 It still hasn't. Notice which churches are the most charitable during the next hurricane.
Puritans weren't immigrants in 1630, they were settlers, colonists.
I read The Handmaids' Tale years ago. I didn't want to watch the show because I had already fully integrated its message, which is traumatizing. Margaret Atwood is a literary giant, and so I am grateful for this interview and the parallels she draws historically in her methodology in writing the book, and in current events. This is important stuff. I think about what is happening to women in certain parts of the world, not just the USA. But also in the US.
The first episode of the series is jarring, and well worth the watch.
Same!
Everyone should watch the series. We are so close to it becoming a reality. Frightening!
I can't watch it either.
Thank you, Margaret Atwood, for writing this warning story. People may not have thought it was possible, but as some people drag us closer to the reality of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” your book shows us what could happen so we can stand up against those trying to implement it.
This is why history and herstory is so important.
Except they erased all herstories and keep all histories
@@baesky-hd7zt yes you got the point
I remember reading the Handmaid’s Tale in college in the 1980’s. My fellow students were dismissive, “speculative fiction,” it could never happen here…and I remember thinking “Oh, yes it could….” And here we are.
Thank you Margaret Atwood for the important work you've done to bring attention to how the totalitarian / extremist regimes operate and being a clear warning. Please everyone share Margaret Atwood's work with everyone you know.
I first read "The Handmaids Tale" in 1985, I don't really think I really understood it very well at the time. as the years have passed I began to get the message loud & clear. I have reread it & watched the TV series. I was blown away by Margaret's foresite, what a remarkable woman. Thank you so much. Americans please vote blue💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984 had a child and named it Project 2025.
Sadly, I agree with you.
Well spoken.
That’s clever!
@@teslagoth9401 Chilling.
Yes! I will quote u on that! Very clever, indeed. Sadly.
I read Handmaid's Tale when it first came out and it scared me to death specifically because I felt it could easily happen here in the US. I haven't been able to reread it since (which is unusual for me with books that affect me deeply) and I can't watch the TV adaptation. It just seems so real and possible to me. Not fiction at all. Brilliant book.
When you're born into this world, you're given a ticket to the freak show. If you're born in America you get a front row seat. -- George Carlin
Just read it in the news😭
Atwood warned us.
Trump told us what to expect
Project 2025 has stated what WILL happen.
Has the message percolated through?
YET?
same!
No, it could not not happen in America and anyone who thinks it can, has very slight grasp of reality. First of all there are too many religious sects (let's just limit it to Christianity for the moment) for a Gilead cult to emerge and take power...outside a VERY restricted commune or enclave. So you could have various Shaker-style cults, and Brook Farm Experiments, and Oneida and Amana-type communities, but such communities cannot swallow a whole nation because their internal dynamics prevent them from scaling. Even the moderate form of Mormonism couldn't thrive unless it had leagues and leagues of desert between its stamping grounds and the rest of the country.
What an amazing & enlightening interview. This woman is so deeply intelligent & wise- and both intelligence & wisdom are both so lacking in the current discourse.
I saw "The Handmaid's Tale" movie when it came out. It revolted me. I was surprised to see it return so many years later as a TV series. It is more relevant now than ever.
I read this book when it first came out. I don't know how many times I threw the book across the room, I was so angry. Here we come, it is happening.
A warning, not an instruction manual. The book won the inaugural Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction. Great book and interview, thanks.
Except it is not science fiction...Atwood did not make up anything that hadn't or wasn't happening already. 😊Women have been treated worse than any other group all throughout history.
🦅Someone should make a movie about the “free speech heroes” in the panhandle of Texas. The teens who won to have Margaret’s book back on their library shelves.🦅
Very good idea
Awesome.
👏👏👍✌️
To see what she was seeing in the early 80's, thus prompting A Handmaids Tale speaks large to Ms. Atwood's genius.
it was the Separatists who hired The Mayflower, which they could not totally fill. So, they sadly had to allow/invite the Puritans along, which was not even a good thing for the Separatists, because the Puritans were always miserable bullies. William Brewster was not a Puritan, he was a Separatist, who believed in women's rights and their right to own property. Just thought I`d mention this all too often overlooked truth.
Thank you for sharing this fact. Not a lot of us Americans know this. I didn't.
I am beginning to research a lot more in history and will certainly be looking into this as well.
@@heathervandewalle8954 I`m so glad to hear it.
The briefness of this interview doesn't detract from its powerful impact. Margaret Atwood has a super sharp sense of the nature of power that political theocracy can and does possess. We're frighteningly close to the cusp of change, despite all the knowledge and experience since Oliver Cromwell's era - through to present day. Indeed, how long have got?
A brilliant, brave, person. Love her!
This intelligent creative women has always frightened me deeply in a way that helps me focus on what is needed to keep women safe and strong thank you Margaret
It is scary how accurate her ideas are and how they are attempting to come to fruition.
It’s because they’re not her ideas - they’re the ideas of those who’ve come before and done it before. Everything in her book is taken directly from recent history.
Those ideas are always going to come back because people are more interested in blaming ideas and -isms for things that corruption broke, and because of this, the underlyind corruption that causes _everything_ to fail is ignored while watching dutifully for the things that corruption has exploited in the past as if the corruption itself were the idea and were inherent to the idea. Corruption always gets a pass, because it looks like those who are inherently corrupt already (and to some degree, in some way or another, we all have our own corruption in us). People see failure and think “other” as if they contain no failure themselves, and so they wind up ignoring the cause of the problems they think they’re trying to prevent.
It’s sort of akin to knowing a few people who’ve died of breast cancer in your family, and so watching for anyone who has breasts to come along and thinking they’re what’s causing cancer, and so punishing those with breasts rather than trying to prevent cancer itself.
She wrote the literal lived reality of Indigenous and Black women, so-
I am constantly referring to the Handmaids Tale in regards to our current events in the world but especially in our country. Ms. Atwood is a very sharp & articulate visionary. I’m thankful for her literary work & her courage-What an incredibly talented lady!
Yeah she gave them a lot of ideas!
We love you Margaret Atwood💐💛
As a Canadian I’m so proud of Margaret Atwood. Americans please vote for Harris/Walz 💙💙💙💙💙💙
We also have our share of lunatics up here
@@cccc7098aka”Alberta”
You're insane. Do you know they are pedophiles? Kill children? Human trafficking.
Voting Harris Walz in Texas.
Be careful what you wish for: when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold! She is completely unqualified to lead the free world. You don’t realize just how closely Canada and the US are intertwined with us. What happens here will be even worse for Canada.
Atwood is definitely one of the most profound and important writers of the 1900s to the present. Testaments and The MaddAddam trilogy are also must-reads IMO.
I read handmaid's tale in the 80's. My ex-husband said it couldn't happen here, but I believed it already was with the religious-political right. And now we have Mike Johnson & the right wing Supreme Court. Please vote blue up and down the ballot to stop the reversal of our rights💙♀️💙
agreed. maga mike just a bully. was a POS in middle school. still one today.
The blue guys didn't protect any rights. Otherwise you'd have a point.
@@patricialongo5870
And the red ones could have just, you know, left em the fuck alone.
@@patricialongo5870 the blue needs a majority. The red Senate blocked O'Bama's Supreme Court pick because 9 months too close to election, then allowed Trump to pick a couple of months before 2000 election. If more people voted blue McConnell would not have been able to do that, and the radical right would not control SCOTUS. Now we need the majority to get back rights like Roe provided.
@@saveUSall24 whenever they had a majority it didn't happen. More votes for blue.
Its brilliant to hear her speak about her book and the current climate. I love the quote she mentioned "the future is here but its unevenly distributed". I read her book in high school in texas.
So wild to remember reading "The Handmaid's Tale" as a summer reading book by a pool as a kid. It was the current bestseller. Never, ever thought it was so prescient and now, in 2024, we are actually on the verge of a Gilead because of the Republicans.
Yeah likewise.
You were a smart kid . I read good literature by the pool as a kids as well .I'm 67 today and still love a great book at the pool . It's been years since I could read at the pool, kids and grands that required supervision . I'm that mom . Like the head life guard!
Yes, I read this long ago, in the late 80’s. I have been posting about Gilead since 2016… and here we are, with one last chance to save our selves, or escape while you can.
there are other factors that have nothing to do with Republicans, and more to do with control of the State by outside unelected people who choose our leaders (globalism and the depopulation agenda) - if you look at the recent "cancelling of women" and women's spaces, look who is in power now who have allowed the current madness.
There are still so many deluded voters out there who think, “Trump won’t do that.” Then, his wife writes a memoir in which she claims to have liberal views on abortion. It’s all part of the manipulation to keep the wool pulled down over the voters’ eyes. Anyone who claims to value personal freedom is crazy to vote for Trump. He, or JD Vance, will sign oppressive legislation against women and others into law. Guaranteed.
Margaret Atwood, you're an amazing woman, brilliant writer! Your books give me strength 💙
Thanks so much for posting this.
Recently I began watching episode clips on TH-cam and thought “OMG, how did I miss this?”.
Margaret Atwood is a literary treasure.
"Speculative Fiction". Learn something everyday.
it’s a standard Literary term. For a genre. One of my favourite ones. Genres that is.
This wasn't a book that my school had us read back in 1984-92, but I truly enjoyed watching Handmade's Tale. And it’s really disturbing that we may or will live through portions of this....
Atwood's work is wholly believable to Black America.💯💔🇺🇲
Yes!!! We were telling them for years, but they didn't listen. They didn't think it could happen to them. Now they'll have to learn the hard way...
My school district has now mandated that we pull this book from our classroom libraries. It breaks my heart!! Censorship causes blindness! Say it louder for those in the back, Mrs. Atwood!!
Perhaps due to the sexual nature of the novel and the tv show. It may not fit with school policy. it can still be discussed though.
This is INSANE, fight or flight this Place. There are Bad people at work😢
@@Sarah-qo9buSorry but this argument is pure nonsense. You didnt read this Book! Be honest❤ And „sexual Nature of the Book“ is a disgusting euphemism of rape. This Book is about rape and Misogynie! Not in a 1000 years you know anything about this Book.
@@Sarah-qo9bui feel sorry for you bc you Talk about a Book you Never read
So wrong!
5:22 in the USA, a handful of men in states' governments are making anti-abortion laws, no matter what anyone else wants.
Conservative Republican men.
@@vickyabramowitz2885Opus Dei men
I’ve read her books and watch the series and I think she has painted an accurate picture of what can happen here. I’m very impressed with her writing!
If American women could stand together as a bloc (we saw a brief glimpse of that through the Women's Marches) they could bring their country to a standstill and force social/legislative change.
As an aside, how do American conservatives reconcile their adoration of the first amendment with the burgeoning practice of banning books?
Good question
They are so good at mental gymnastic.
sane people read "1984" and "The Handmaid's Tail" and saw a warning
Republicans read them and saw blueprints
I always thought The Brave New World was closer to the mark than 1984
@@truman4956
the intentional dumbing down of the workforce, and rule of the elite is more in line with "Brave New World"
but the revisionist history, constant warfare, denouncing others as traitors, the constant threat of surveillance, etc. from Trump is far more in line with "1984"
and Project 2025 is far more in line with
"The Handmaid's Tail" and "Mein Kampf"
Tale
1984 was pretty much describing the depressing environment of England during the war and the manipulation of the masses through oppression and extreme control of the public information, as things were in the Soviet Union at that moment. Brave New World really got it right with how shallow and hedonistic the society is, people are easily manipulated and apathetic as long as they think they're fine.
@@cyndimoring9389
that's why English is so hard
all these words that are spelled differently yet sound exactly the same:
red v read
read v reed
blue v blew
one v won
to v too v two
Trump v Hitler
She’s so clever and wise
I love her writing style
The Handmaid's + Fahrenheit 451+ Idiocracy = Project 2025
And V..... England Prevails!
@@johnirwin3276Remember, remember, the fifth of November
It's always about controlling women. And when it isn't, it's about hating intellectuals and the smartest. Why do smart kids get beaten up? They express a unfamiliar message.
@karlajaeger2082 Also, it is about punishing the "promiscuous" women, especially if they get pregnant. Then, they can force them to carry to full term.
@@Missy-Missy1111 totally. I often suggest that free birth control from puberty to 18 will severely limit teen pregnancy. But nooo...it's about controlling women who like sex without getting pregnant. Fuck the patriarchy.
"an unsettled feeling" very much describes it.
🌹Thank You Margaret & Interviewer🌹
The closest I ever got to her was in about 1981. She co- owned a restaurant in Toronto called Gracie's. My friend from high school Steve Melemis was in a trio; he played cello and there was piano and, uhh, flute I think. Young guys playing nice chamber type music for Sunday brunch. Ms Atwood was seated at the back when my crowd of friends came in. She was already great, but not the towering figure she'd become. One of her partners in the restaurant was Charles Pachter, the painter. I have to say I've always disliked his work but that's just an aside opinion. I wish I'd had the courage to go and speak to her. I wish I wasn't so lazy to not be writing her fan letters all these years. I don't really know her books. I know her from her speeches and appearances on tv and radio. I'm so fortunate to live in her time. Thank you Margaret Atwood.
What a MIND ! Only in Canada.
Canada's very best!
I put her on the same level as our other greats; David Suzuki, Tommy Douglas, etc.
@@jansilverthorn777
Don't forget Morgantaler
Several years ago I was reading about organized religious interest in the American public fading rapidly and now seeing the resurgence of a branch of fundamentalist Catholic rhetoric being pushed again via the Heritage Society and even other fundamentalist Christian religions is personally very disturbing. Were these belief systems to succeed via a political/religious movement America would go retrograde in a very repressive regime.
Opus Dei, the Dominionists, all offshoots of radical Catholicism dating back centuries. Very much an all-boy he-man woman hater's club. With money and guns.
Defund the churches that are participating actively in politics and tax them
The Catholic church does not believe in the separation of church and state. Never has. Popes have written encyclicals on this (check out Pope Leo).
You think that is scary. Closely examine the Islamic faith. Christianity has the concept of love thy neighbor at it's roots. The teachings of Mohamed have no such thing.
@ianleslie6971 neither does Judaism why didn't you mention the other pole in the Abrahamic triad?
Thank G I got to read The Handmaids tale in seventh grade 1980 thank you California school system 🎉🎉I never ever forgot it😢vote blue
Wasn't the book first published in 1985, or did you read the first draft before it's printing?
❤❤❤
@@tbaker729 I don’t think so I was in the 7th grade and we read it . I did go to school in the Bay Area where the most Nobel prize winners reside. Many writers and editors teach there so maybe we did get some kind of first draft. California is usually usually ahead of the rest of the country,so maybe ,…you came from a state that was still reading Tolstoy and digesting the 18th century. 🍻
@@tbaker729You are correct -- 1985.
@@Yoseb-d6gIt's wonderful you got to read it at school, but it wasn't in your 7th grade. @tbaker729 is correct, it was published in 1985. 🙂
I felt the cold winds of Fascism blowing as soon as Nixon’s inauguration. I kept watching with horror as the political process continued. I’m old now and terribly sad to see what it has become.
we're not giving up and we damned sure arant going back.
Very interesting. What do you remember about it that struck you? Thank you for your post.
Thank you Margaret Atwood for being a vocal supporter for the Palestinians and against the genocide
A pure example of age with wisdom. A huge thanks to Margaret Atwood for her wisdom...now we need to heed her words and warnings. The filth of maga and trump must be abolished.
They want to end women’s emancipation from “a livestock version of compulsory reproduction” - quote from Christopher Hitchens
Good quote, thanks.
have you ever thought what connection between husband and husbandry exists?
@@labelmail yikes!
@@greenbrain8725 och well, it goes on like in bride and bridled ---- sometimes the nearness of words are quite telling what mindset is behind them
You can see the truth of greens comment even more clearly because currently in some states there is no exception for rape (and of course no viability of fetus, great danger to the pregnant woman etc)... even if the person is a child of incest. Compulsory reproduction. Men who rape get to carry on their DNA. All consequences and life costs fall on the women disproportionally. Many women could vow not to be involved with men, but that does not protect her from rape. Many countries have a rape culture where the men are not punished or lightly punished. In handmaiden tale, those women that could bear children suffered compulsory reproduction/rape. The woman who could not bear children but had more powerful husbands had to go along with the scheme and even be in the room holding down the handmaiden while she was raped. Glory be!
I read the handmaids tale in high school during my final year it stuck with me 10.5 years later. I’m now watching it play out in real time and I’m scared.
Margret's (and I use the familiar with reason) monumental insight and intelect exhibited in her work never cease to amaze me. She stands as one of Canada's greatest gifts to the world! So proud to be Canadian. So proud to call her ours. 👍🙂
Me too , a Montrealer , a Canadian , read Handmaids Tale in school
Thank you for your work & warning. It helps us open our eyes to fight those who advocate for a similar future.
Amazing how she can see this coming so clearly, and many others can understand her warning, and yet sooooo many are supporting this dangerous progress.
A prophesy sadly. A great woman a great writer ❤
Margaret is an admirable human being. She's a globe thinker with keen insights. And what did she use as references? HISTORY!
What and intelligent and poised woman. Thanks for taking the risk for the sake of truth.
Your thinking clears the fog in my brain and puts world events in context for me. Thank you.
That TV show scared the shit out of me.
I never finished it because it scared me too - worth finishing?
@@CaptMortifyd I couldn't get through season 2. And I'm an old guy. Not much bothers me. But that shit, I can see happening.
@CaptyMortifyd yes absolument !!!
@@CaptMortifyd It's not over yet. One more season. Yes, it's hard to watch at times, but I really liked this last season. For one main character (not the lead) in particular, her circumstances mirror June's. That whole season can be summed up with two words: karma and irony.
@@JD-hh9io Watching the horrors of the Holocaust was brutally hard, but we need to see the results of madmen and their agendas. If you think watching the HT was hard as a man, consider how women feel about it. Give it another try, especially now that Project 2025 is a real threat.
Thank you Margaret Atwood. Thinking about the women of Danvers/Salem Massachusetts
Her short story collection Stone Mattress blew my mind.
Thanks for the rec 🙂
I remember watching this interview in 2018 and have watched the Handmaid's Tale many times. I have been 're-watching it again this last two weeks and never tire of the implications that it reflects in our World today. Here we are in November 2024, waking up to the shock waves around the World with the news of Trump having been re-elected as the 47th President of America. How long before Project 2025 goes into play ?, The millions of mass deportations that he's promising will begin on day one, the notion that he will only be a Dictator on day one, the prosecutions of those who disagree with him, the removal of more rights ?
How much bigger is the pyramid of Theocratic Autocracy going to grow ?
The Democratic World is watching and waiting to see where this madness takes the "United" States of America. A Handmaid's Tale part 2 ??
Thank you for asking the right questions.
“It’s terrifying but I have to write it” is exactly how I felt watching the show. It was also so strange watching it after reading about project 2025 and seeing all the parallels. Even scarier now that trump has been re-elected
EXCELLENT INTERVIEW. Thank You. I have a friend who fell deep into the maga cult from the beginning and still unfortunately is. She LOVED the HMT series but I could tell from what she was saying, she related to the ruling party/ controllers not with those who were oppressed. 🤯
Maybe time to reassess your friendship?
Most people who identify with the ruling class think nothing will ever happen to them, just to the other guy, but they SHOULD study history because Everyone WILL eventually suffer.
I’m so blessed to have read her books. Thank you Margaret! I’m voting blue all the from Australia as well as my grown sons are voting for a world and country with blue all the way!
Thanks so much for the video❤. I feel so lucky to have found this interview. Brilliant.
What a brilliant woman! Truly amazing and should receive awards for her writing!
I'm in South Carolina (in the US) - commonly known as the "Buckle of the Bible Belt. My state passed a "heartbeat" abortion ban almost immediately after the unconstitutional overturn of Roe v. Wade. Now six SC lawmakers (all white males) are seeking to further persecute the women of my state by pushing a bill that will enact the death penalty for any woman getting an abortion for any reason & will treat miscarriages as murder investigations. "The Handmaid's Tale" is playing out in real life in the most horrific of ways here in my state.
Your work is amazing. Thank you. We are all better off because of your writing.