10 scariest plagues from sci-fi and fantasy

The Handmaid’s Tale — “Night” – Episode 301 — June embarks on a bold mission with unexpected consequences. Emily and Nichole make a harrowing journey. The Waterfords reckon with Serena JoyÕs choice to send Nichole away. June (Elisabeth Moss), shown. (Photo by: Elly Dassas/Hulu)

3. The Infertility Pandemic from A Handmaid’s Tale

Not all fictional plagues hit above the belt, nor are they gruesome and graphic.

In A Handmaid’s Tale, a 1985 novel by Margaret Atwood recently adapted for TV by Hulu, the world has fallen prey to a bout of infertility that has left the human race on a fast track to extinction. There are no major signs that infertility has taken hold of a person, no outbreak or disease. The ability to procreate just gradually, quietly fades.

There’s a certain amount of ambiguity about what could have caused the infertility pandemic in A Handmaid’s Tale. It’s said that global warming and pollution played a significant role. Radioactivity and inorganic crops played their part as well. Other in-world theories have to do with birth control having an adverse effect on population growth, or STD epidemics killing off young, sexually active people.

If there’s one thing that is disconcertingly familiar about the nature of Margaret Atwood’s infertility pandemic, it’s how varied and vague the theories about its genesis are. Some ideas are strongly supported by the science of the world, others used as religious propaganda to enforce the horrifying gender roles that are at the core of the story, including the subjugation of young women as breeding slaves called handmaids.