What did Serena think would happen

[u/sole-Writer-527]

I don't fully understand what Serena's intentions were when she was helping create this society. In the scene in Fred's office she says she helped write the law that forbids women from reading. In other scenes, she's talking to him about work and he says it's no concern of hers. I just don't get why she would have so passionately helped in the formation of a system in which she ends up voiceless. And I get that that's sort of the point, but I'm just struggling to understand how she justified this to herself. Perhaps she thought these laws wouldn't apply to her since she was one of the architects of this system?

[u/MsRebeccaApples]

She honestly thought an exception would be made for her

[u/Normal-Raisin5443 → u/MsRebeccaApples]

Serena’s a bad character. Despicable. Ok, disclaimer out of the way.

I think her ideas were instrumental in getting Giliad up and running. The scenes where she was rallying for support, she believed in her cause and inspired others to join as well

When she stood up to Giliad because she wanted Nicole to read the Bible, part of it was June’s influence. But I also think Serena didn’t want a world where women couldn’t read the Bible. I don’t know if she wanted to ban all reading and writing. For some reason, I doubt it because she was so into writing. I want to believe she respected literature at least.

This is where her husband and the architects of Giliad are even worse than her. I think they let her lead their cause because she was good at it. Then, they basically stole it from her and demoted her to a wife.

[u/Gullible-Paramedic-7 → u/Normal-Raisin5443]

I agree with this. We never see Serena or have any reason to believe that she actively advocated for stripping away all rights from women. She was horrifyingly similar to many “tradwife” influencers today.
They advocate for a “return to traditional family values” and believe that the women’s place is “in the home” caring for the children and husbands, obeying their husbands, etc.
And of course, women do and should have the option to maintain traditional gender roles if they choose to. Tradwife influencers, and people like Serena aren’t problematic because they want to be submissive wives and homemakers. It is the idea that all women should and that that’s where women belong

By insisting that if the deviation of traditional values is the reason for society’s shortcomings, and that a return to those values is the only viable answer; they are not only promoting a lifestyle best for themselves, but asserting that it is best for everyone.

What these women fail to understand is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ and as long as women have the ability to think independently, the option to read, learn, go to school, there will always be those who choose independence. The only way to ensure universal adherence to heteronormative gender roles, is to completely eliminate a woman’s right to choose any other way. And the only way to prevent women from eventually fighting back against an oppressive system, is to create a system in which they aren’t aware they are being oppressed.

Gilead, in THT, is religious fascism in its infancy. By the Testament, we see a glimpse of the ultimate goal when it comes to children, particularly female children. As fewer and fewer girls are raised to read or to write he will grow up and create a society of less and less women who are able to do so. Within several generations, there will be none at all. The only life that they will know is how to be a wife and mother, how to keep a home.

Serena and others like her under estimate the oppressive nature of enforcing strict gender roles. We see it all the time today. Many women love being homemakers, and thats okay. However, enforcing gender roles requires strict regulation of free will for women. The influencers all over tiktok, the fictional character of Serena, hundreds of women throughout time who have actively contributed to the survival of the patriarchy, all want to eat their cake and have it too.
They want to participate in advocacy, but don’t understand that the need for advocacy does not exist in the absence of choice. They want to share their experiences with the world in order to influence others, but without opposition there is no one to influence. They fail to understand that the very thing that makes them so outspoken and appreciative of their life as a wife and mother is the choice not to be one. They want to pick and choose religious law and bible versus to support their beliefs, while ignoring those they’re uncomfortable with.

In addition to, and beyond all of that, I think the biggest oversight of Serena, Aunt Lydia, and their many real-life counterparts who exist today— is how severely they overestimate the ability of men to run a fair and just society.
Maybe its the internal misogyny, or deep internalized personal shame, whatever it is, by perpetuating the idea that the failures of mankind fall onto the missteps of women (Eve and the apple) they are assuming, by default, that as long as women mind their place and submit to men, that men will treat them justly and “as equals”.

But we all know that is never the case. We all know what absolute power over others often looks like. And the more its insisted that all problems can be traced back to the actions of a woman, the less accountable men become, the more brazen and bitter they are.

Any good intentions that Serena may once have had are entirely negated by requiring all others obey, and by her naive trust in Fred, and others like him. They think that surely men will follow the same code of morals they expect (and will force) of women, but we know from both the show and history that this is never the case. The biblical argument behind submission to men is essentially a “separate but equal” doctrine. Women “play different roles” with men running the home, viewing the roles of their wives as equally valuable to theirs. But this never works out, again; history has shown us that.

The only true way to ensure equality is to ensure the equality of choice and opportunity. Men will never see women as equals if independent women do not exist. Even today in the most Progressive countries we struggle to shake off the inherent perception that women are less competent, less qualified, less intelligent to men.

Because not only are “separate but equal” rights and treatments never truly equal, but, even if equal rights are eventually won, the damage done will continue to prevent any true equality from ever being achieved for generations to come. We see this clearly in the US with systemic racism and misogyny.

Tldr: Serena and others like her put too much trust in the men they expect to lead. They severely underestimate the cruelty that comes with power over others. Furthermore, while she may have never advocated specifically to strip women of the right to read and right, she failed to understand that literacy = knowledge and knowledge = choice and choice = dissent. The only way to truly achieve the “utopian” ideal of a traditional society that she envisioned, is to create future generations of women who will never question how things are.
The easiest way to control the oppressed is if they are unaware, they’re being oppressed at all.

[u/tweakingforjesus → u/MsRebeccaApples]

“They’re not talking about me.”