About Us

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The Peninsula Handmaids (PH) were formed in Fall 2025 to raise awareness about the status of women, marginalized genders, and those facing racial discrimination here in the United States and across the globe. We create awareness through activism, education, and solidarity; we march with heads bowed to symbolize the oppression of the patriarchy.

 

In 1985, Margaret Atwood wrote a dystopian novel titled The Handmaid’s Tale. In 2017, the book was adapted for what quickly became a popular TV series, co-produced by MGM and Hulu. Despite the 32 years between the book’s publication and its TV adaptation, the themes of gender-based oppression and religious extremism have never been more relevant than they are today.

 

The Handmaid’s Tale tells the story of a patriarchal society, Gilead, in which women are stripped of their autonomy and reduced to their reproductive functions. The book was inspired by actual historical events and, as Atwood has said, “Nothing in the book hasn’t already happened at some point in history.” In Gilead, women are literally and figuratively silenced. They are not allowed to read, speak freely, or make decisions about their own lives. Their roles are rigidly assigned: to bear children and serve their social ‘higher-ups.’ Bodily autonomy and personal identity do not exist. Though the book is a work of fiction, the current political climate in the U.S. is driving real-world events and policies that echo far too closely the misogynistic themes of the book.

 

Being a woman in 2026 can feel terrifying. At a time when society should be moving toward gender equality, thus empowering women, the opposite is occurring. We are once again fighting battles that should be long behind us.  

 

Our uniforms are adapted from The Handmaid’s Tale and we don them as a visual symbol of our commitment to the plight of the oppressed everywhere. We are living in a time of intense political turmoil, war, and division, and the Peninsula Handmaids exist to remind you of what can happen when we remain silent in the face of autocracy and oppression.

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