Let's Talk About That Controversial 'Handmaid's Tale' Scene

Did June just force herself on Luke?

Yesterday’s episode of The Handmaid’s Tale was one of the better this season. June is finally free from Gilead—physically at least. The trauma of her bondage there has left her scarred and traumatized, suffering from PTSD and unsure of her place in this unsettlingly safe new world.

Read my review of the episode here.

One of the biggest hurdles to a return to “normal” is June’s relationship with her long-estranged husband, Luke. Things are not great. June is uncomfortable being around Luke. She’s likely not comfortable being around men in general after everything she’s experienced.

One night not long after her return, unable to sleep, June goes to the embassy and confronts Serena. She really puts the smackdown on her actually, and Elisabeth Moss pulls off one of her most riveting performances. Her rage is palpable. Serena is left cowed and weeping and June returns home, adrenaline pumping and a newfound sense of purpose and triumph pulsing in her veins. She may be in Canada but that doesn’t mean she has to stop fighting. She can still lay the hurt down—and on the people she despises the most.

Once home, she unzips her pants and climbs into bed with her sleeping husband who she awakens with kisses and a hand slid beneath the sheets.

I’ll let Ariana Romano describe the rest, because her commentary about this scene is something I’ve seen echoed elsewhere, including by some readers:

In seconds, June goes from stroking Luke under the covers to fully mounting him. No words are exchanged; no verbal consent is given. As Luke comes to understand what is happening, he goes to touch June, likely to feel like an equal partner in this sexual encounter. June grabs his hand, pulls it off of her, and pins it down. 

“June wait. Wait a minute. June wait. Wait,” Luke softly asks. The moment Luke says “wait” the first time, everything should have stopped. That is how sex (as opposed to sexual coercion and violence) works. June ignores Luke. She clamps her hand around his mouth to force him to be quiet. She continues to ride him, only increasing her vigor as time goes on. 

The Handmaid’s Tale zooms in on June as she reaches orgasm, treating the experience as if it is a sexual win for her. The tilt up to her face makes her appear powerful; her wide smile and gasps of pleasure paint her as free for the first time in ages. The camera’s glances down toward Luke sap this sex scene of any excitement. Instead, it’s sad. Luke winces as June holds her hand over his face, and his face goes slack once she removes it to enjoy her orgasm. This is not sexy for Luke. He doesn’t look like someone thankful to finally connect with his wife — he feels used and disoriented. Sex does not end like that. Sexual violence, however, does create these feelings. 

I was actually a little surprised when some readers suggested that June raped Luke, though I’m less surprised to see this kind of take in the media. Sexual violence is, of course, a horrible thing and we’ve seen plenty of it in The Handmaid’s Tale to remind us of that fact. How awful that June is now inflicting it upon her husband.

Then again, maybe we’ve overcorrected in our thinking about sex and what consent—or the lack thereof—actually means. I’ve seen people suggest that initiating sex with your partner at night while they’re asleep is tantamount to rape. I think that’s absurd. I also think it’s more than a little juvenile to say that any time a partner says “wait” or “stop” or “not right now” that any continued pursuit amounts to an assault or rape. Again, I’m talking about someone you have a sexual relationship with at this point, not a stranger or someone you just met. I don’t believe Luke was saying “wait” because he didn’t want to have sex. I think it was a lot more complicated than that.¹

The problem I have with these takes is they seem to ignore the realities of the mating ritual entirely. Sex is not and never will be (one hopes) an act that must include—each and every time—verbal consent. “Can I penetrate your vagina² with my penis?” is not a very sexy thing to say to your romantic partner just before taking the plunge. A great deal—most sexual communication really—is all about body language and nonverbal communication.

Here’s my interpretation of this scene which, I should add, was not very sexy at all. Certainly not very comfortable. It’s a sex scene designed to make us squirm a little, not titillate. But that doesn’t make it rape or sexual violence or assault, either. There is a huge gap between “awkward sex” and “sexual violence” that I think needs to be acknowledge because otherwise we cheapen actual acts of sexual assault—the kind June experienced in Gilead, for instance.

June has been afraid of physical intimacy and the only way she can break on through to the other side of that fear is after confronting Serena and bringing her sense of empowerment and control into the bedroom. She goes into this encounter as the dominant partner. This is new for both her and Luke and given that Luke is half asleep, he’s likely somewhat confused by the whole thing. That confusion is heightened by the fact that only hours earlier she was incapable of being touched and further still when he tries to touch her now and has his hand pinned.

This would be confusing to anyone especially having been separated from your spouse for so many years. (They mention “7 years” in this episode but I can’t square that with the timeline or Hannah’s age so I’m confused about that also. Anyone understand that line when they’re talking about chips changing?)

Luke was telling June to wait not because he didn’t want to have sex but because he was a little taken aback by how it was going down. I think if Luke had really not wanted to have sex he would have stopped her given that he’s twice June’s size and could easily physically overpower her. People have told me that’s beside the point. I disagree. Physical size and strength matters. Luke was in no way restrained or inebriated or incapable of taking care of himself. He may have said “wait” but he didn’t try to stop June. Maybe because he didn’t want her to stop but was still perturbed. We can feel contradictory things at times. It’s human.

Sex is complicated. This kind of sexual encounter is super complicated and I’m sure Luke wasn’t thrilled by how it went down. Then again, given that he was fine in the next scene it’s possible that he understood that June needed something like that. Maybe sex for her going forward will be all about taking back some agency. Maybe he’ll have to be open to a new sexual role—that of the submissive to June’s “dom.”

Sex is messy. We don’t live in a world where every sexual encounter can be codified into “consent” or “not consent” because the world is messy, too. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it’s not. This is the latter. Nothing is obvious about this encounter. Was Luke really telling June to stop or was he simply concerned about the how? Maybe he wanted more physical intimacy, have more foreplay, get on top—who knows? June needed to be in charge at that moment and Luke let her, and he probably didn’t fully understand all the deeper, emotional trauma stuff that played into all of it at the time but that’s fine. He can reflect on all that later.

Rape is a strong word. We should be careful about cheapening it, diluting it with by including awkward or uncomfortable sexual encounters under the same umbrella. As a man, watching this scene did not make me think of rape at all. It reminded me that our sexual relationships are rarely black and white, are often riddled with issues and misunderstandings, and that even great sex often comes bundled with miscommunication and disappointment at times.

From the post I link to above we get some insight from the episode’s writer, Yahlin Chang.

“We all want a fairy tale ending for June. I really, really do,” episode writer Chang said. “Is it realistic, given what this particular character has gone through … given her years in Gilead and all the trauma and violence that has infused her life there (and some of which she has been forced to inflict), that on this particular day right after she left Gilead that she could instantly snap into a super healthy and tender intimate relationship with Luke?” 

“Is it more honest to the character that issues of power and dominance along with just the thrill of escapism have creeped into her relationship to sex,” Chang continued, “And that sex might be more enmeshed with some of those issues rather than being about an intimate loving connection with the husband you haven’t seen in years?”

I completely agree with this take. The answer, of course, is that sex—if it happened at all—would be weird. Survivors of sexual assault and rape and molestation often experience long term PTSD and even when they’re in healthy relationships past trauma can lead to all sorts of sexual roadblocks and unpleasant surprises.

I think it’s possible to acknowledge that June’s first sexual reunion with Luke was not great, was not ideal, was more about her than about him, more about her own sense of taking back control than connecting romantically, but to call it rape is not simply a stretch, it’s a broadening of the definition of rape that is neither useful nor fair and could in fact be dangerous.

Should June go to jail for what she did? Should Luke press charges? If you think so, okay, that’s your take. I think that relationships and sex are complicated and that we can rarely boil down an encounter like this to a clean and simple conclusion. I think they could use some therapy. But maybe that’s just me. As always, I’m open to civil discussion on the matter so shout out in the comments or on social media and thanks for reading!

I discuss this issue in my latest YouTube video as well so give that a look if you’d like and let me know your thoughts wherever you feel like posting a comment. Blessed day.

1. I’m not saying consent is a bad thing by any means. But there are many ways consent, or the lack of consent, can be conveyed. An obsession with literalism is unhelpful and robs us of nuance. The mating ritual can include these words and still be consensual. Consensual sex can occur without any words spoken at all and indeed often does.

2. Or whatever you enjoy penetrating.