Thread by @Professor_Bibby

#TheHandmaidsTale got me really thinking about whether or not its premise is science fiction. Consider world population growth. It is trending downwards. Just look at these population trend graphs. Only Germany experienced population growth with an influx of Syrian migrants.

Now I don't think there is enough data to suggest that social influences (economics, values, etc.) are to blame for population decline more than something more innocuous; that the earth is simply approaching its carrying capacity.

However, we would be remiss to ignore the fact that Caucasian populations are becoming increasingly infertile (Read: theguardian.com/science/2017/j…) —which is the very basis of the events in #TheHandmaidsTale. Coupled with neo-fascist feminism, that dystopian reality is not implausible.

It is a well documented fact that the best form of population control is to educate the women in that population. Educated women have fewer children (Read: ft.com/content/01c27a…) and often times none at all (Read: economist.com/international/…)—both central premises of the TV show.

However, #TheHandmaidsTale, even though it was created by feminists, (Ilene Chaiken of "The L Word" and "Orange Is The New Black" credits, is an executive producer), I can't shake the feeling that another central tenet of the show is that #feminism is unsustainable.

The show seems to be positing a philosophical conundrum: If:

1. Humanity is going extinct (Fact)

AND

2. Educated women are having fewer kids (also Fact)

...then feminism (equalizing men and women, providing freedom of thought for women), is inherently dangerous.

But is it?

There's one fundamental flaw at the center of the entire plot of #TheHandmaidsTale:

We no longer need sexual intercourse to reproduce. Heck, we don't even need either men or women in order to reproduce. That is not science fiction.

It undermines the entire show's plot.

Faced with near extinction, I don't think that even an ultra conservative leaning, neo-fascist, theocratic government would strip women of their rights in order to keep humanity alive.

Maybe if this was happening 500 years ago, I could see how something like that might play out.

But what is interesting, is that the premise of #TheHandmaidsTale simply takes what is *actually* happening in many modern, mostly Muslim states (Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, parts of Indonesia and West Africa) and into a developed, western democracy.

It is a SCARY thought.

There's absolutely NO reason why the events of #TheHandmaidsTale can't happen in America.

I invite you to recall the events of the Iranian revolution in 1979 and then again in Afghanistan shortly afterwards.

Both countries were liberal, quasi-democratic, neo-feminist states.

In fact, I think countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan are on the brink of having the same thing happen in the space of 10 - 15 years. Indonesia will probably become fascist Muslim state first, given the recent news out of the country.

That stuff is REAL. 😐

The part that bothers me most about #TheHandmaidsTale is that it is NEITHER science fiction, nor political fiction. It just hasn't happened to a western society yet.

...YET.

Germany's population is literally only being propped up by a massive immigration of mostly Muslims.

The same thing also obtains in the UK. There's a significant decrease in their native Caucasian population. Skilled labour is largely being provided by immigrants—most of which are from the same Muslim majority countries I mentioned earlier.

See where this is going? 🤔

The only thing fictitious about #TheHandmaidsTale is that the theocracy is powered by a runaway faction of oppressive Christianity. That sounds like something out of 4th century Rome.

Highly unlikely.

Christianity had its heyday between the 12th and 16th century.

Gaping reproductive science plot hole aside, I think #TheHandmaidsTale is simultaneously one of the most interesting, but disturbing thought experiments ever made for TV (provided that you can stomach the excessive number of state sanctioned rape scenes). Truly frightening stuff.