Jezebel's Club

Lore & Background

Unlike the Handmaid system, where pregnancy is mandated and monitored, the women at Jezebel’s are strictly required to use contraception. This ensures that no children from these encounters can claim legitimacy under Gilead’s lineage laws. The club operates in deep secrecy; public knowledge of its existence is suppressed to maintain the illusion of a pious society, though rumors circulate among those with access to the upper echelons.

In Their Own Story

The heavy velvet door closes behind him, muffling the sounds of the street outside. Inside, the air smells of expensive perfume and stale smoke. He loosens his collar, shedding the rigid uniform of a Commander for the shadows. A woman in dark silk approaches, her eyes lowered but knowing. She does not wear red; she wears the color of sin. Here, he is not a servant of God, but a master of desire. The silence between them speaks louder than the hymns sung at home.

Reader's Guide

Jezebel’s Club originates from the deep hypocrisy embedded within Gilead’s foundational laws. While public morality demands chastity and strict gender roles, the ruling Commanders require a private outlet for their desires that does not threaten the state’s reproductive agenda. This establishment functions as a pressure valve, allowing elite men to indulge in sex without risking unauthorized pregnancies or challenging the Handmaid system directly. For the women sent there, it serves as both punishment and erasure. Former Handmaids who fail to conceive, or those deemed rebellious, are stripped of their titles and forced into servitude under the guise of biblical sinners. They wear distinct clothing, often darker than the red robes, marking them as outcasts from the main society. This separation ensures that any children born there would not be claimed by Commanders, preserving the genetic purity required for the Handmaid program. Symbolically, Jezebel’s represents the ultimate double standard of the regime. It proves that the strict religious laws are tools of control rather than genuine beliefs. For characters like Offred, the threat of being sent to Jezebel’s is a weapon used by the Eyes and Commanders alike to enforce obedience through fear. Ultimately, it stands as a physical manifestation of the corruption festering beneath Gilead’s pious exterior.

Did You Know?

• In the Bible, Jezebel is identified solely as the wife of King Ahab and a prophetess in the church of Thyatira mentioned in Revelation 2:20.
• The term 'Jezebel' refers to a genus of butterflies called Delias, including species like the Common Jezebel (Delias eucharis).
• A bare critical experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory made of plutonium is named 'Jezebel'.
• There are numerous musical references to the name, including songs by Sade (album Promise), Depeche Mode (album Sounds of the Universe), and The Specials.