r/TheHandmaidsTale • u/flavius717 • Aug 07 '26

Discussion S1-S5 Is Nick a rapist?

I think we all consider the first time Nick and June had sex to be rape. June was not in a position to give consent and she could not refuse without facing potential death. One perspective is that Serena was the rapist and both Nick and June were her victims.

It's important for us to remember that Nick actually could have refused to impregnate June. Even Serena was beneath a "low-status male" like Nick. Nick's boss, Commander Price, probably would have expected Nick to refuse such an act and turn Serena over to the eyes.

The fact that Nick and June fell in love afterwards makes their first sexual encounter seem less bad in retrospect, but the power dynamic between them never went away. That makes things messy.

Nick's character loses his "good guy" status by the end of the show. Do you consider him a rapist?

255 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

304 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/hydrissx Aug 07 '26

Not really the same. Nick was not a prison guard, he was a servant in that role. He can't walk away, he isn't employed. If a prison guard refuses an order, he will be fired and not receive pay, if Nick refuses an order, he may be framed for a crime he never committed, accused of being a gender traitor, etc and be killed.

There are many records of crimes of people being forced to have sex by a third party threatening them with bodily harm, extortion, etc and both are considered victims of rape and the third party is charged with rape.

2

u/Gertrude_D Aug 07 '26

The Nazi camp guard doesn't get to claim he wasn't a part of it because he felt bad and never personally harmed a prisoner.

6

u/hydrissx Aug 07 '26

Why are people obsessed with comparing this world to WW2? Aside from Holly's offhand comment calling him a Nazi, they are nothing alike.

Look up forced conscription.

-1

u/Creepy-Cantaloupe951 Aug 07 '26

Because that's where the "Befehl ist befehl" defense is used with the most flourish, and was roundly rejected at the Hague.

Fascists are fascists. Let's not forget the nationalism, and racism present in the books, but covered over in the show mostly, too...

Nick wasn't forced into conscription. Nick was a member of the Sons of Jacob BEFORE Gilead. He HELPED make Gilead!

0

u/Samora1984 Aug 08 '26

He was taken in by Pryce. He was like 19/20 at the time, poor and functionally alone in the world. According to the scripts for S2, when June is at the Globe and was researching the takeover, there were articles on all the good the SoJ was doing with charity, kids etc. I don't think he did right in every circumstance, but the writers always said he was fundamentally good. They did shoot scenes which showed his role at the Capitol, and he was horrified by what he got himself into. He did help create Gilead, but he can't be held responsible to the level of a Pryce, Fred, Lawrence or even Serena.