Sexism In The Handmaid's Tale

In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood uses the patriarchal regime of Gilead to suggest that thought Gilead may seem like a far-off dystopian society, its sexist restrictions reveal a misogynistic darkness into which our own society could easily fall into if not prepared to address and understand it. Gilead indoctrinates its citizens into believing that the molestation of women is the foundation of their nation, and the story is told through the first-person narrative of Offred, a woman whose purpose is to serve as one of the handmaids, Gilead’s chosen reproductors. While Offred yearns to regain the life that was stolen from her, she becomes pregnant, and simultaneously finds herself on a journey toward freedom. By relating

Published in 1985, America was in the midst of Ronald Reagan’s presidency. Reagan appealed to conservative Christians as a figure who held traditional views on gender roles and marriage. He tells the nation that “the time has come to turn to God and reassert our trust in Him for our great nation’s healing. We need to join forces and reclaim the great principles embodied in Judeo-Christian traditions and in Holy Scriptures'' (Coste 2 qtd. in Fuentes, Garcia 78). His administration was known for providing difficulties for women, which led to Reagan being considered “the most anti-woman president of the 20th century” (Maria Fuentes, Rebecca Garcia 78). During this period of time, Second Wave Feminism emerged to change the stereotypical way women were viewed, and “concentrated on issue which specifically affected women: reproduction, mothering, sexual violence, expressions of sexuality and domestic labor” (Gillis, Howie, Munord). Women felt powerless, and with the surfacing of gender roles, their mental health seriously declined. Second Wave Feminism sought to break the systemic sexism that was evident in the American housewife ideology. Atwood’s novel brings these stereotypes to an extreme, by forcing women to accept the powerless role of either a wife or handmaid. Atwood’s dystopia was a reality for women in the 1980s, who relied solely on male dominance for their existence. They succumbed to men’s wants, which in turn led to female participation in pornography. Many anti-pornogrophy feminists argued that it was explicit exploitation of women based on “one’s own submission to male supremacy” (Fuentes, Garcia 79). The feminist argument was a controversial topic, and there was discourse on what feminism meant. Even women thought the movement was unnecessary, conditioned into believing that their position