#until the birth rate started decreasing and they decided to start applying restrictions on reproductive choice etc

[terfmin]

If people actually read the book!! The handmaid's tale discusses cashless societies could be used specifically as a tool of control, especially for women. The government/banks know who exactly who is a woman, and in the book the state were able to freeze women's bank accounts and transfer funds to male kin (e.g husbands, fathers and the state in cases where these were not there iirc).

At the time Atwood wrote the book, the equal credit act allowing women to apply for credit without a male guarantor was only 10 years old, it was incredibly new and fragile, and the technology to implement this kind of restriction has only improved over time.

For example, the social credit system is used in China gives the state the ability to restrict the movements of people with negative credit scores; in Saudi Arabia, women under the guardianship system are treated as minors, and are unable to get married or divorced etc without male approval. The Absher app also allows men to control how women under their guardianship can travel in real time, and notifies them when they're about go leave the country.

The implications of cashless society and increasing digitalisation for the safety and freedom of women and other minorities cannot be overstated. No cash means a woman in a domestic abuse situation won't be able to discretely save money to leave her abuser. It means women aren't able to organise and pool resources to help each other. It means feminist activists can be more easily cracked down on, which is exactly what happened in China and Saudi Arabia.

A lot of the data to implement these systems of control already exists, however privacy laws and the anonymity that cash allows do a lot to balance this out. Preserving these are extremely feminist concerns.

HERES WHAT NO CASH ACTUALLY MEANS

A cashless society means no cash. Zero. It doesn’t mean mostly cashless and you can still use a ‘wee bit of cash here & there’. Cashless means fully digital, fully traceable, fully controlled. I think those who support a cashless society aren’t fully aware of what they are asking for. A cashless society means:

* If you are struggling with your mortgage on a particular month, you can’t do an odd job to get you through.

* Your child can’t go & help the local farmer to earn a bit of summer cash.

* No more cash slipped into the hands of a child as a good luck charm or from their grandparent when going on holidays.

* No more money in birthday cards.

* No more piggy banks for your child to collect pocket money & to learn about the value of earning.

* No more cash for a rainy day fund or for that something special you have been putting £20 a week away for.

* No more fivers on the side because your wages barely cover the bills or put food on the table.

* No more charity collections.

* No more selling bits & pieces from your home that you no longer want/need for a bit of cash in return.

* No more cash gifts from relatives or loved ones.

What a cashless society does guarantee:

* Banks have full control of every single penny you own.

* Every transaction you make is recorded.

* All your movements & actions are traceable.

* Access to your money can be blocked at the click of a button when/if banks need ‘clarification’ from you which will take about 3 weeks, a thousand questions answered & five thousand passwords.

* You will have no choice but to declare & be taxed on every pound in your possession.

* The government WILL decide what you can & cannot purchase.

* If your transactions are deemed in any way questionable, by those who create the questions, your money will be frozen, ‘for your own good’.

I could write lists for 5 days & still not finish explaining how utterly awful a cashless society would be, for everyone. Even for the goody two shoes who wouldn’t dream of not declaring £500. Forget about cash being dirty. Stop being so easily led. Cash has been around for a very, very, very long time & it gives you control ove https://www.instagram.com/p/CCqbpY_hVlb/?igshid=lidmavfm877b