Abstract
In this essay I endeavor to provide such an account, and describe at a pretheoretical level an embodied subjectivity at odds with its own state of embodiment, and on the other hand, to explore the limited agency induced by constraints that fall upon an embodied subject who is compelled to live a body which is free to engage the various possibilities of the world in every respect except one, within the context of an intercorporeal social reality. This description will provide a sound ontological foundation where the central place of embodiment in the abortion debate can be re-asserted and properly taken into account. What this description will reveal is the ontological drama of such “aversely pregnant subjectivities” at a time when ever more legislation is being passed that poses ever more restrictions on reproductive rights of women in the United States (Guttmacher Institute 2018). This investigation is all the more pertinent in light of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s recent announcement that he is retiring from the U.S. Supreme Court, which may well put the right to legal abortions in jeopardy (Davis 2018). My highest ambition, however, is to convey the significance of these restrictions to those who have never been and never can become pregnant, but who by and large determine the polices that play a substantial role in shaping such subjectivities.
Highlights
The Handmaid’s Tale and Embodied Subjectivity Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) describes a nation called Gilead, a patriarchal theocracy founded on Old Testament Christianity
This description will provide a sound ontological foundation where the central place of embodiment in the abortion debate can be reasserted and properly taken into account. What this description will reveal is the ontological drama of such “aversely pregnant subjectivities” at a time when ever more legislation is being passed that imposes ever more restrictions on the reproductive rights of women in the United States (Guttmacher Institute 2019). This investigation is all the more pertinent in light of a new conservative majority on the US Supreme Court (Litman 2019), which may well put the right to legal abortions in jeopardy and move the country closer to Atwood’s dystopian vision
There is another, more stark difference between the two societies worth noting: the children born in Gilead have to be more highly valued than those born in the United States
Summary
The Handmaid’s Tale and Embodied Subjectivity Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) describes a nation called Gilead, a patriarchal theocracy founded on Old Testament Christianity. Pregnant bodysubjects experience the current of public disapproval as flowing against them, by virtue of their perceived behavior, or because of certain factical features of their embodiment or their particular place in a social order.
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