I can't do an email (sign up) without mentioned the TV show that is so brutal, riveting, excited-about-each-Sunday-watchable and close to the knuckle. The flashbacks to what could easily be considered "now", and how easily this normal becomes a new normal is utterly terrifying.
Click to read spoilers of Series 2, Episode 2
"The story of Hannah’s daughters sick day and the line of questioning it sparked contained a raft of assumptions about motherhood: A good mother should cease to exist in her own right. A career and personal fulfilment must always be sacrificed for the saintly honour of raising a child. Working mothers will always be judged and will always be found wanting… The Handmaid’s Tale is skilled at showing how strands of thought prevalent in the real world prepared the ground for Gilead’s extremes." (from Den of Geek - my go-to along with The Guardian for giving me more, more, more about the good TV stuff.)
I see these strands of thought in my own life, and try and bat them away, and mentally struggle with being a 'good mum' which I know I am, and a creative, hard working professional (which I'm trying to be in a specific time frame, most evenings and early mornings). It's important to me to be a person, not only one thing or another thing. This time last year when Series One launched, I remember walking to the shop with my children on mat leave, thinking 'I'm participating in the traditional, Gilead way of life' and not really knowing what I could do about it, as mothering is mothering! Hurts my head.
Please watch it! Series One is on Amazon - start from the start - and I'm very envious if you're new to it.
