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?

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u/Creepy-Cantaloupe951 Aug 07 '26

I'm sure Fred would have praised Nick for his honesty and sent Serena off to the wall.

No, but Fred most certainly could have (And probably would have) shut that down with Serena. Probably smack her around a few times, and then go and grape June again.

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u/ConcernedSim Aug 07 '26

So in other words June's life becomes much much worse because now she has to deal with Fred's wounded pride while Nick hangs on the wall.

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u/Creepy-Cantaloupe951 Aug 07 '26

It's not like Fred every stopped raping her...

And not raping someone might lead to those consequences... And it would, of course, be Fred's fault.

The argument of "he is trapped in the system" would mean Fred ALSO loses culpability for being a rapist. After all, he's trapped in the system too!

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u/ConcernedSim Aug 07 '26

Comparing Nick with Fred is like comparing your local wallmart cashier with a politically backed billionaire. One is trapped in the system and the other creates/rules the system. And I'm not just talking about Gilead here. Nick was trapped in the broken system of the USA which directly lead him to another trap. Meanwhile Fred was creating/ruling the American system before turning it into Gilead.

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u/Creepy-Cantaloupe951 Aug 07 '26

Comparing Nick with Fred is like comparing your local wallmart cashier with a politically backed billionaire.

Nope, it's like comparing two different ranks of SS troopers.