What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ teaches about resisting authoritarianism

This article What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ teaches about resisting authoritarianism was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” hit a nerve when it premiered just a few months after the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump and the revelation that he bragged about sexually assaulting women and getting away with it.

Based on Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, the Hulu series (which includes a trigger warning) is set in a totalitarian country named Gilead, where powerful men are legally allowed to rape “handmaids,” fertile women enslaved for the purpose of bearing children.

Now, some eight years later, the show approaches its finale just months into Trump’s second term, with a Supreme Court that has already constrained women’s reproductive choices. The parallels are sobering: nationalism cloaked in religion, flagrant hypocrisy by the powerful, the rollback of rights, the rise in political violence.

As a trainer of nonviolent direct action, what stands out to me are the show’s less obvious but very timely lessons in resistance, which parallel what I know of actual resistance movements. With millions of people preparing to watch the final episode (which drops on May 27), it is worth a few spoilers to point out what “The Handmaid’s Tale” can teach those of us resisting rising authoritarianism in the United States today.

1. People can learn to be brave. In Gilead, which was established in what had been the northeastern United States, those who defy the regime’s strict rules can be hung or maimed, with the story’s gruesome details based on actual historical atrocities. Yet, by the second episode, we hear there is an organized resistance, called Mayday. When invited to help gather intelligence, the protagonist, June, says, “I don’t know. I’m not that kind of person.” Another handmaid tells her, “No one is until they have to be.” Indeed, throughout the series, June and her friends find the courage to challenge their oppressors many times. Their increasing boldness is a poignant reminder of what some call “the paradox of repression,” the fact that when draconian methods are used to control a population, those methods will backfire with at least some people, who will be even more motivated to resist. After initially hoping that some invisible organization was leading the resistance, June eventually realizes, “We are Mayday.”

2. Disobedience undermines power and the fear it relies on. Although they were renamed for the men they were assigned to, the handmaids break the rules to share their real names with each other. Other small acts of defiance build their courage and confidence. In the third season, they pull off the daring rescue of dozens of children kidnapped by Gilead, reuniting many of them with their birth families in Canada. It is a great example of nonviolent direct action that both interrupts and illuminates the system it’s fighting, which in this case claims to be all about family despite tearing families apart. The successful rescue strikes an emotional and public relations blow that is arguably more damaging to Gilead than the violent struggle happening on the frontiers.

Watching flashbacks from this world’s recent past, I couldn’t help wondering if the rise of a right-wing theocracy might have been prevented if more ordinary people had disobeyed earlier. This feels especially relevant for our time.

3. Hiding and complying doesn’t work. In a flashback, when June and all her female coworkers are fired from their publishing jobs, her male boss tells them, “I feel really sorry about this. It isn’t my decision. I don’t have a choice.” June and her colleagues leave the building quietly, assuming they don’t have a choice either. In hindsight, June understands that complying was a choice. She reflects that most people went along with the gradual erosions of their rights. “Now I’m awake to the world,” she says. “I was asleep before. That’s how we let it happen.”

In another flashback, a gay college professor hides photos of his husband, but that doesn’t protect him from being hung as a “gender traitor.” Running away helps some stay safe, but those who escape to Canada live with great guilt and longing for those who don’t get out. Many characters seem to find their courage to resist only after resisting becomes extremely dangerous, when doing so earlier and en masse might have thwarted Gilead’s rise. It is a cautionary lesson for college administrators and others today who are complying with Trump’s orders in the hope that it will protect their jobs and institutions. Acquiescing never works to thwart the power-hungry.

4. Yelling at people doesn’t work either. In season two, we glimpse an even earlier period from the perspective of Serena, the most complex character in the series. Serena believes that women should focus on bearing children, who are becoming scarce amid a fertility crisis caused by toxic pollution. Promoting her book, “A Woman’s Place,” she tries to give a speech on a college campus, but is met with loud boos and gendered insults, like “Nazi cunt” and “fascist bitch.” As she leaves the venue, she is shot in the abdomen. Neither the insults nor the attack stops Serena or her ideas. Instead, they seem to build sympathy for her. Ultimately, Serena helps lay the ideological groundwork for the system that forces June out of her profession and into the role of handmaid for Serena and her husband, Fred.

Serena later defies Gilead by reading aloud, which for a woman is an act of civil disobedience. The commanders, including Fred, order the amputation of one of her fingers as punishment. Serena flees the brutal regime that she helped create, betraying Fred in the process. When they both land in detention in Canada, she rebuffs Fred’s suggestion that they “team up.” Then June visits Serena and screams at her with understandable rage. But the catharsis backfires. At a moment when Serena could be recruited to publicly criticize what Gilead has become, she feels threatened by June’s outburst and accepts Fred’s offer. At the International Criminal Court, Serena validates his denial of rape and abuse in Gilead, a devastating blow for June.

This is where I found analyzing fiction particularly liberating. We can’t blame June for her rage, and if she were a real person, I might not point out that yelling at people is her least effective tactic. Especially as a straight, middle-class, white citizen of the United States, I don’t want to “tone police” those who are traumatized by today’s right-wing attacks. Yet, as a nonviolence trainer, it’s my role to help people make conscious choices about what they are trying to achieve and what tactics might help them. In real life, I’ve never actually seen yelling work to get people what they want. Reflecting on a popular fictional story, like “The Handmaid’s Tale,” could help more of us have these challenging conversations, including those about the use of violence.

5. Violence has a steep cost. As in many real-life struggles against totalitarianism, violent and nonviolent tactics are both used in the struggle against Gilead, including by June. I appreciate the fact that “The Handmaid’s Tale” does not over simplify violence or minimize its cost, including to the perpetrators. Those women who escape Gilead are haunted by what they did to get out, as well as what was done to them. I am glad the series shows both formal and informal support groups where women can share their trauma, but it’s clear they will never be completely free of it.

The series also dramatizes the danger of using violence against a heavily armed state. One flashback to the time when Gilead was first emerging shows a few protesters throwing water and punches at a line of soldiers, who then open fire on the crowd. At every turn, Gilead uses such chaos to consolidate its own power. Later, a handmaid suicide bomber inadvertently kills more handmaids than commanders. One power-hungry commander uses her attack as an excuse for an even deadlier killing spree. The backlash to a later plot is also swift and brutal.

The cyclical nature of violence in “The Handmaid’s Tale” reminded me of three places I studied in the 1980s: Northern Ireland, Palestine and South Africa. Years after his involvement in the struggle for democracy, a Black South African friend told me that experiencing the steep cost of violence had made him a passionate proponent of active nonviolence. Still, he had deep empathy for the comrades who chose to join the armed wing of the struggle.

Being able to hold empathy for those who feel violence is justified is important for those of us who argue that nonviolent strategies are preferable, spiritually and strategically. Especially if this debate escalates in the coming years among U.S. activists, I want us to learn from people like my friend who have lived experience of these issues. I also wonder if fiction might offer some emotional distance to help us grapple more deeply with the costs of violence, especially fiction from the many international authors who have lived through violent conflict themselves.

In my reading of history, one downside of violence is that, like yelling, it can push away potential allies, who play a crucial role in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” as in many struggles.

6. We all need allies. Like most repressive regimes, Gilead has mastered the art of divide and conquer. Although race is strangely minimized (the most unrealistic aspect of the story, in my opinion), adult women are divided by the color of their dresses and taught to mistrust each other. Of course, the women are most effective when they work together across the divisions the state has created. To rescue the children, June builds an alliance between handmaids and Marthas (domestic servants). She also recruits help from Commander Lawrence, whose love for his wife leads him to regret his role in creating Gilead. June frankly acknowledges that she needs powerful allies and uses Lawrence’s guilt to her own advantage. There are even several crucial times when June and Serena help each other.

Although not all of June’s powerful allies are trustworthy in the end, her willingness to work with anyone who can help her is a major part of her effectiveness, even when it gets her criticized by her friends. I believe this is what makes her a great organizer.

One dynamic not explored in the series is how a resistance movement might counter the ideas that a regime uses to attract support. It’s hard to admit, but in the world of the story, Gilead provides a solution to a real problem: infertility. Rape is a terrible, unjustifiable solution, but we don’t hear an alternative articulated by those trying to topple the regime. We see the visit of a female ambassador from Mexico, who could have been an ally to the handmaids, but she is seduced by the promise of children. Even in sympathetic Canada, those who envy Gilead’s birthrate are part of the backlash against Gilead refugees.

Understanding what motivates people is especially important when recruiting and maintaining allies. The resistance might have used Serena and Fred’s pregnancy to prove that Gilead’s increasing fertility was due to its strict environmental policies, which other countries could emulate without the violence.

Figuring out how to be true to our own values while appealing to people who don’t share all of them is another challenge for today’s activists. So many dynamics contributed to Trump’s 2024 election victory. There are no shortage of directions in which to point fingers. While I believe that racism and sexism played major roles, I also recognize economic insecurity as an issue where Americans might find more common ground. Asking what we might do or say to win over at least some of the people who voted for Trump is necessary to ultimately defeat the MAGA movement.


7. The end of Gilead begins when its supporters become disillusioned. In Margaret Atwood’s sequel novel, “The Testaments,” we learn that someone who once supported the regime plays a key role in its eventual demise. Season six is clearly setting up this new story. Commander Lawrence is haunted by what he helped to build, so he implements reforms. When those are threatened, he joins a plot against his fellow commanders, ultimately giving his life for the cause. Aunt Lydia, who uses violence to train the handmaids into submission, comes to see the reality of the system she has enabled. For each of them, it’s love of one woman that breaks through and motivates them to change. Love is also key for Serena, whose love of children motivates her most heroic acts, starting with her choice to let the baby girl in her care escape. It’s fitting that the final words of “The Testaments” are, “Love is as strong as death.”

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If fear is the goal, then solidarity is the antidote

In this current political moment, all of these lessons are relevant. It’s good that many people are showing up to protests, but we also need more people refusing to comply in every area where Trump is trying to scare people into submission. Such nonviolent resistance is much easier to employ now, when violent repression has not reached totalitarian levels. Like the Gilead commanders, Trump’s team is trying to institute many draconian policies at once, which makes solidarity between groups even more important.

Recruiting allies who don’t themselves feel threatened may be harder, until we remember that many people love someone more vulnerable than themselves. Rather than shouting at those who don’t share our views, we need at least some people to play the role of listeners, who can patiently understand their concerns and speak to them in ways that might break through. In a turning point for Aunt Lydia, June appeals to her better nature, affirming her belief in God and asking Lydia if she believes God wants this life for the handmaids. A few minutes later, Lydia allows the handmaids to escape, intervening with an armed soldier on their behalf.

History shows that the dangers in “The Handmaid’s Tale” are real, but so are the things that work, especially love, courage and the ability to recruit allies. Given the show’s vast viewership, its well-publicized finale offers an opportunity to engage more people in conversations about what we can do to prevent totalitarianism today. Using whatever is available is exactly what June would do.

This article What ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ teaches about resisting authoritarianism was originally published by Waging Nonviolence.

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Source: https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/05/the-handmaids-tale-lessons-resisting-authoritarianism/