Announcing a pregnancy is a beautiful moment, and some couples choose to do a photo shoot to commemorate it. But people have slammed one couple’s controversial The Handmaid’s Tale-inspired shoot.
Many people are inspired by film, books or TV, but given the subject matter of popular series The Handmaid’s Tale, many people have criticised the couple’s decision to announce a pregnancy the way they did.
Leah Hampton’s original caption read, ‘Blessed Day! We are happy to announce that I am carrying the precious fruit, arriving February 2020. HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 🎃👻🍭’.
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In the shoot, Leah is dressed up like a handmaid from the series. If you’re not familiar, handmaids are forced into sexual servitude to help repopulate the earth, in the fictional city of Gilead.
They are assigned to households against their will, and the man of the house forces them to take part in something called ‘The Ceremony’ where they are then raped.
One of the images that people were most disturbed by is an apparent reenactment of ‘The Ceremony’, which sees Leah lying on the bed and Marquis walking away doing up his tie.
It’s received thousands of comments, many of them criticising the couple for their decision to announce the pregnancy in this way. Some even accused them of ‘promoting rape’.
One comment read, ‘Do they not realise they’re literally promoting rape by doing this photoshoot?’
Another said, ‘So this man wanted to be depicted as a rapist?’
A third added, ‘I'm guessing you haven't seen the show.’
Other commenters asked ‘where the wife’ was, as handmaids are assigned to a household with a wife who is unable to have children. The handmaid’s baby is then given to the wife to raise as her own.
Leah has since hit back and these criticisms, accusing people of ‘harassing a pregnant woman’ and saying that the show is fictional.
Updating her caption, she wrote, ‘Some people have been so viscerally moved by the Handmaid’s Tale that our photoshoot has upset their sensitivities. They care so deeply and passionately about women that they have resorted to harassing a pregnant woman on Facebook.
‘Folks, we are UNMOVED.
‘We hope you continue to enjoy our Halloween/Baby Announcement photos and our take on the the fictitious television show, the Handmaid’s Tale. Not everyone will like or agree with our theme. We don’t give a f**k. ♥️’
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