Women can’t add, he once said, jokingly. When I asked him what he meant, he said, For them, one and one and one and one don’t make four. What do they make? I said, expecting five or three. Just one and one and one and one, he said.

He is the Commander, Fred, in his office with Offred, but in Offred’s mind on page 186 of The Handmaid’s Tale. The two chatted after their regular game of Scrabble, the tensions between them diminishing with each secret rendez-vous. After Offred asks about the Commander about the phrase in faux Latin, she offers to write it down. The Commander hesitates, considering whether to allow this forbidden usage of a pen or pencil, which is what pushes Offred to remember what he said about women and simple arithmetic.

Adding is the first math operation that is taught to young children, so it is statistically untrue that women cannot add. Plus, to assume that women would fail to perform at a task that is expected of small children is to diminish the skillset and value of an entire group of people. This is the first step to objectifying women. To determine (falsely) that they are simply incapable of doing certain tasks, rather than trying and being wrong. This way, they are prevented from doing anything other than whatever they assign to them, which in the case of The Handmaid’s Tale, is being silent and carrying children.

What’s more with the Commander’s statement is the implication that women are not allowed to add. They are not allowed to prove his misconception wrong. This means two things. First, the Commander and whoever else “believes” in the sentiment that women are incapable know that they are wrong. They know that their statements fail to be backed up by any scientific evidence or research, but they don’t need to care about scientific evidence as long as they maintain a faux image of power. As long as the Commanders and men keep the women oppressed, stripped of any opportunity to prove themselves and refute the Commanders’ facade of superiority. If women are given a chance, the Commanders know that they will actually thrive and excel, which means there is nothing that makes men superior, and their power becomes useless.

This phenomenon is not exclusive to The Handmaid’s Tale unfortunately. I was immediately reminded of the horror, infantilization, and verbal abuse experienced by women in the gaming community. I have personal ties to this, as my family tried to prevent me from playing video games entirely, always treating the satement, “Girls don’t play video games” as a rule. All of the girls and women in the gaming scope are treated as though they were clueless, needing a man to mansplain and guide them through the game. All of the stereotypes of girls who have cutesy, pink gaming setups who are not treated or respected as “real” gamers, and at the same time, they are reduced to being a sexually favorable woman, being subjected to all types of sexual harrassment. My friends who play combat or RPG games that are male-dominated have expressed hiding their voices or deepening it to avoid being perceived as a woman.

Further examples are in STEM fields, politics, and any argument against women in leadership. Women engineers, for example, are scarce, because of the harassment and undermining they receive. For example, when I interviewed Ms. Serenity Baruzzini last year about her experience as a woman studying engineering, she recalled a story where a male professor said the best students he’s ever had were students who said they were engineers who happened to be women, and that her identities as a woman and engineer should be completely independent of each other. Again, this shows how women being in the STEM field is so unexpected that the entire image of an engineer aligns with a man. This image excludes women and discourages them from pursuing a pathway where they could really thrive.

The last example is the argument that women are too emotional to be leaders. I’ve heard it all the time. In politics, STEM, everywhere. However, research literally suggests that women are more effective leaders. Back to the point of the Commander, it is so much easier to shut women out from these fields and claim that they are incapable, than try to justify their falseties when women are more effective than men. It’s interesting that the Commanders in The Handmaid’s Tale have to continuously oppress and reframe the ethics of their society to prove that they are right. To prove that they are superior. Even though it works in Gilead, it’s no doubt there are flaws in their logic. Especially now when the state of our nation is fragile and uncertain, it is important to remember to poke holes in arguments until they are sound. No one should be reduced, objectified, and infantlized. Oppression will not win.

Artist Statement: This image depicts the scene on pages 71-72 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Janine is in the center, small as can be, while the girls around her point accusingly. Janine shrinks under their hurtful gaze, their faces graying into anonymity because their personal identities are not relevant to her pain. They are a single entity that taunt her, not because of who she is, but what was done to her. To them, she has been reduced to a nasty word; comparatively, the girls have been reduced to bullies.

This scene is from Janine’s perspective, so the girls surrounding her are intentionally one-dimensional. Surrounding them are vague shadowy figures with reaching claws. This can be interpreted as both the handmaids-in-training further melting into a concept, a voice, for Janine. Or, as the demon that is girls turning against each other. They are grabbing and clawing, both at Janine, and at the girls. Perhaps they are trying to coax more girls into the bullying. The only thing Janine can register is their incessant chant. “Her fault. Her fault.” Those words are ingrained everywhere in the art, the bright white contrasting the dark reds, burning the etches into Janine. Still, this behavior is unexpected because of the concept of girls supporting girls.

In a world where women are supposed to stick by each other and savor as much power in numbers as they can get, it is jarring for that unity and empathy to be stripped away, especially for a tragedy such as a gangbang. That event was out of Janine’s control, despite however neutral or positive she may have felt. Instead of empathizing with her, they are taught to blame her. Void of support, it feels as though the entire world has turned on Janine. Thus, the piece illustrates the idea that a single phrase can hold the weight of the entire world.

Offred knows this. The other girls know this. They understand the heavy impact of their words and that Janine doesn’t deserve this at all. Still, there is unity in turning against her. In this us vs. her ultimatum, the girls see the damage that Janine takes, and it is less appealing to be in her position or on her side. They are complex creatures in that way, that they know what they are doing is wrong, but justify it through their fear. Their fear that they will be given away, the fear of openly standing against this society and culture of blaming women for sexuality, and the fear that at any moment, they can be her. Janine’s position is one of relief, for at least it’s her that suffers, and not them. But it’s important to note that these girls aren’t evil. They have been pushed into a corner and are doing everything in their power to preserve their sanity. Unanimously despising an innocent is far from the best preservation of humanity, but it’s better than nothing.

Other details worth noting are the overall red color scheme, which is a tie to the red of handmaids, and how the color darkens as the image zooms out.

Our map is titled: The Cheese Coalition vs The Rodent Republic. The map is split in half, and both sides are at war with each other. This map includes general buildings for living as well as many war-related locations (cough cough Hannah Stein).

Click here to view our visitor’s guide!

This quarter, my notebook has grown and become full with thoughtful notes. Aside from given in-class notes, we’ve had both pod and full class discussions, in which I wrote down my own ideas and recorded the ideas of others. My notebook has allowed me to experiment with new note-taking styles and has been a place for me to express my opinions. Moving forward, I want to continue experimenting with all the different note-taking styles we learned in class, and continue using methods I learned in this quarter.

Click here to see video

My notebook has been a way for me to write down my thoughts about prompts that I hadn’t thought about before, and from that arose new knowledge about myself. I was able to learn about myself and my class in the way that others show their thinking in discussions.

I learned how to make my notes better, even though I’m still working on my goals set in quarter 1, but throughout the first few weeks, I’ve come up with better organization systems and a list of different ways to take notes for future quarters.

Here is my video, however, Google Drive makes the quality bad and unreadable.

A story about Amalia and Willow, who are best friends and visit each other for the first time. However, they both seem to be hiding something. This story is inspired by “Far From the Tree” by Robin Benway, built from the starting questions of “What does it mean to be a family” and “How does family affect one’s identity?” Far From the Tree not only changed my definition of family (which influenced this story), but I used story-telling techniques like dialogue and thoughtshots, which was also inspired by Robin Benway.

Enjoy my Me Magazine!