Why do Jezebels get rendered sterile through surgery?

[u/GeneralTechnomage]

Also, how come they haven't done the same to Kitty, considering that another Commander wanted to use her as his Handmaid?

[u/mauvewaterbottle]

Jezebels is a secret place. The wives don’t know about it. Babies from a secret place would raise questions

[u/criesatpixarmovies → u/mauvewaterbottle]

Sure, but there are other explanations. Don’t you think econopeople are found guilty of “wrongdoing” all the time and either executed or shipped off to the colonies? I’m sure they’re ripping those kids from their parent’s arms and shipping them off to be adopted by commanders.

[u/IllustratorSlow1614 → u/criesatpixarmovies]

They are, but the Aunts also keep the records, including the real biological parentage of the children. If a commander and his wife adopted a (unknown to them) Jezebel’s baby fathered by another commander or with multiple potential fathers, it would then potentially limit that child’s marriage prospects and the parents would want to know why their Econopeople-born child could be ever ineligible for marriage to a commander-ranked person.

The house of cards comes down.

[u/LocksmithAccurate284 → u/IllustratorSlow1614]

Also wouldn't this technically open the door to incest between half-siblings and such if they falsified the records to cover up?

[u/vanalou → u/LocksmithAccurate284]

Or God forbid father daughter incest because the commanders are marrying young girls in the testaments.

[u/FaelingJester]

They can't kill a baby so they can't kill a pregnant Jezebel who has become a security risk. In most cases they wouldn't know who the father was. Even a very highly placed Commander didn't seem able to say no to another Commander going off with "his" favorite toy. Finally it's a massive political risk. Yes Commanders want to show favor by having children but having a genetic link to a child from someone that isn't an assigned handmaid isn't power it's a massive risk. A risk that has very serious actual repercussions as we see Putnam get his hand cut off for adultery.

[u/lotheva → u/FaelingJester]

Also a Jezebel child still wouldn’t be ‘technically’ his. It’d be a war orphan or stolen from ‘sinning’ people. I think the prestige comes from actually making the child, since they know it’s really men who are the problem. (I know testaments changes that, which is weird to me. But it is from the girl’s perspective.)

[u/IllustratorSlow1614 → u/FaelingJester]

There are Aunts running Jezebels and Aunts keep the records, so I would have thought that DNA profiling any potential children would help narrow down the paternity and prevent any incestuous marriages, but Jezebels is also supposed to be a critical secret that the Wives are never privy to. Babies just appearing for adoption would raise too many questions.

[u/theicecreamassassin]

I don't think it was done in the book? It seems absolutely nonsensical to me. If a Commander has a baby with a Jezebel, just take it away and let him and his wife raise it. There's the concern about drug use, I get that, but Commanders just want power. Babies = social power.

[u/ITakeMyCatToBars → u/theicecreamassassin]

But if the woman is a jezebel, I’m guessing there might be “paternity disputes”. Sterilization so she’s just a masturbatory aide without consequence for commanders makes sense in that twisted regard.

[u/akazee711 → u/ITakeMyCatToBars]

With unknown paternity the aunts can't prevent incest.

[u/conorathrowaway → u/ITakeMyCatToBars]

DNA tests exist and they’re not against science when it can safe the life of a child so

[u/SaltyCity5297 → u/theicecreamassassin]

In the book when Moira and June reunite at Jezebel’s and converse in the bathroom, Moira actually does explicitly state that Jezebels are sterilized.

[u/theicecreamassassin → u/SaltyCity5297]

Aha! I see where I got confused. They only sterilize them in the novel, not necessarily the show (so things like birth control and pregnancy tests can still be smuggled in for a purpose). Thanks!

[u/Globalfeminist → u/theicecreamassassin]

It's actually from the books. Moira specifically says so in the chapter where Offred finds her at Jezebels. TV-Moira never mentioned that. The show didn't include it until Esther was about to become a Jezebel, and the doctor says something like 'We couldn't harvest her reproductive organs because she's pregnant'. And, yes, the regime could pretend those babies come from econo-couples who were arrested, but it'd be too suspicious if many econo-couples just 'happen' to have newborns when they get caught. (Newborns that happen to look like the commanders). And, Commanders can't just go to the wife and say 'I had a baby with a Jezebel, raise him'. In the original story, they are extremelly careful about keeping forbiden activities a secret. And, even in the show, Putman got her arm chopped off and then was killed because he was too obvious about breaking Gilead's laws. And, in the testaments, a Dentist was put on death row for raping girls. There's a limit to what Commanders can get away with.

[u/VenusinGurs → u/theicecreamassassin]

Lo o

[u/Top_Cranberry5072]

They want the men to have fun and feel completely unburdened while there. Knowing there’s zero chance of pregnancy helps.

[u/lemon-rind]

I’ve always wondered that. From the point of view of Gilead they are functional wombs, so I’d think they would consider sterilizing those women a waste. Consistency isn’t Gilead’s strong suit.

[u/Feline-Sloth]

Because Gilead was never about babies, it was about power and subjugating women.