SEE RAW VIDEO: 1/27/22 “American Democracy Under Siege: Sex, Wombs & God” | If America Fails?: The Coming Tyranny

@JaniceOCG @AtwoodSociety Here’s video of the 1/27 discussion, “American Democracy Under Siege: Sex, Wombs & God” w/ @Frank_Schaeffer @Ritzenhoffk on gender in @HandmaidsOnHulu. Watch Thursdays, 8 pm ET, 1/13 – 4/7/22, “If America Fails?:  The Coming Tyranny” on TWN.

RAW VIDEO: If we missed you at the 1/27/2022 webcast where we shared our thoughts on “If America Fails?:  The Coming Tyranny” – “American Democracy Under Siege: Sex, Wombs & God” with Mr. Frank Schaeffer, Artist, Filmmaker & Author, Fall in Love, Have Children, Stay Put, Save the Planet, Be Happy – you can catch up at the link below.

Season 1 of “If America Fails?:  The Coming Tyranny,” airs Thursdays, 8:00 pm ET, January 13 to April 7, 2022, on YouTube.  This TruthWorks Network production is co-produced by Janice Graham and L. Michelle Odom.  Joining us tonight –  guest co-host, Dr. Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Professor, Department of Communication, Central Connecticut State University and co-editor of The Handmaid’s Tale:  Teaching Dystopia, Feminism, and Resistance Across Disciplines and Borders.

Tonight we took up the theme of Gender, looking at the status of women, children and men, in The Handmaid’s Tale.  Gender roles are strictly defined and regulated in the series, with special attention (oppression) to women with ability to bear children.  Yet this oppression of women also restricts the freedoms and boundaries for men and children.  Similarly, women who cannot have children are forced into a limited set of roles as overseers, housekeepers, and sex workers.  So hardened are the lines, that even the medical care a highly qualified woman doctor is able to provide, is restricted.  When government seeks to control “sex, wombs & God,” The Handmaid’s Tale makes clear – we all lose. 

Our discussion with Frank Schaeffer included some of his insights from growing up in a prominent family on the religious right, as well as factors that led him to his current self-definition as an “ardent feminist.”  Frank was able to compare conditions that led to the growth of the religious right in comparison to the situation today where that community is now prominent among those attacking democracy in the U.S.  Frank shared perspective on how the history of women, abdication of their agency, and past discrimination might affect their existence in such a society and under an authoritarian government. The question of the extent to which our tolerance of such a process will lean into that history while eradicating democracy and accepting an autocratic, oppressive form of government, remains unanswered.

“IF AMERICA FAILS?:  The Coming Tyranny,” is a real-world exploration of a fictional story.  A new totalitarian society is created in the dystopian world of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”  It resonates, frighteningly, with the dramatic efforts happening in the United States today—to suppress voting rights, limit a woman’s right to choose, criminalize free speech, distort education, rewrite history, and other threats taking place in the country now.  Our Black voice collaborative considers the themes presented by the universally-focused web series, from our own perspective—relating them to real-life current events—and warns, the time to fight fascism is NOW!

#IfAmericaFails #TheComingTyranny #TheHandmaidsTale #TruthWorksNetwork #TruthTalkTherapy

A TruthWorks Network Production.

WATCH RAW Video | “American Democracy Under Siege: Sex, Wombs & God” | If America Fails?:  The Coming Tyranny | TruthWorks Network | 1/27/2022