“We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it. Nothing changes instantly: in a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it.” – The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
These words from the powerful speculative fiction novel hit hard in the light of Donald Trump’s recent presidential win. Despite the rhetoric that ‘feminism is now obsolete’ due to equality laws such as the Equality Act of 2010, you need not look any further to find systematically sexist oppression than our social institutions, crime statistics, and most importantly, public opinion. Misogyny is rampant in popular culture, seen in the recent spread of ‘bro culture’ podcasts and online discourse involving issues such as reproductive rights. Young girls online are currently being told ‘your body, my choice’ from anonymous male accounts with blacked-out profiles, digitally terrorised into the fear that their bodily autonomy means nothing to countless people. In Afghanistan, women’s civil rights are drastically being cut; they are not allowed to speak in public, there is no aid for instances of sexual violence, and the Taliban’s supreme leader has announced the resuming of women being publicly stoned to death as a punishment for adultery. This is happening right now. This is happening as you read this article and as the United States gets closer and closer to being led by a man accused of at least 26 counts of sexual misconduct.
Published in 1985, The Handmaid’s Tale is an amalgamation of real examples of patriarchal rule- a social commentary on how totalitarian regimes can emerge even during periods of perceived political safety. It describes a sick tale of governmental control, manipulating both the ideological and repressive state apparatus to achieve a theological dystopia for its citizens. The novel warns of human rights restrictions in the name of religious belief, eerily doubling the political climate of the time. Atwood has specifically corrected the assumption that it is ‘science-fiction’, instead highlighting its ‘speculative’ quality; there is a very real possibility that we are reading a description of the future. This analysis discusses how the novel mirrors political events and how it is still relevant in our understanding of the patriarchy in modern society, highlighting what we can learn from this tale.
How Gilead was formed
The novel follows a non-linear narrative, alternating between the different processes of the totalitarian regime, Gilead, being established. It follows Offred as she discovers the new restrictions against women and unsuccessfully attempts to escape. The formation of Gilead happens as follows: seemingly out of the blue, a far-right, religious extremist group called ‘Sons of Jacob’ overthrows the U.S. government by murdering its members and seizing power. Offred’s bank account is suspiciously frozen on the way to work, and when she gets there, she is told of a sudden law banning women from working nationally. Just like that, the entire foundation of her livelihood is gone, and she is forced to surrender to the regime.
Obviously, this situation has not happened in the USA or the UK, but the January 6th riots of the Capitol building in 2021 eerily compare in some ways. Donald Trump encouraged the raiding and physical violence included in this ordeal. Death threats were chanted by the extremist mob, unsuccessfully attempting to overturn the presidential election.
The sudden removal of female citizens’ rights can be compared to the overturning of Roe V Wade. The original case to protect the right to abortions took place in 1973, 12 years before the publishing of The Handmaid’s Tale. Around 50 years later, this right has been stripped from American women; abortion is now banned ‘near-total(ly)’ in 14 states, with that number growing gradually. This ‘rug pull’ of legislation may seem sudden, but the bodily autonomy of women has been a long-debated issue, suggesting that Atwood’s likening of politics to a ‘gradually heating bathtub’ can be used to examine our political climate today.
Restrictions placed on the citizens
There is a dominating culture of censorship and surveillance in Gilead derived from twisted interpretations of the Bible’s teachings. Freedom is sparse for its citizens, and the smallest rebellions can lead to life-destroying consequences. Most women are not allowed to read or write, save for hearing specific elements of scripture read out to them by male superiors. The only word Offred is allowed to read is on a pillow in her room embroidered with the word ‘Faith’, and even that alludes to the hiding of its ‘Hope’ and ‘Charity’ counterparts. The citizens are constantly watched: the handmaids must be paired up and are encouraged to report on suspicious behaviour, guards infest public spaces, and it is constantly emphasised that ‘Eyes’ are on everyone, imitating the religious power of God’s omnipotence. This is a shared theme in dystopian stories, similar to the telescreens in Orwell’s ‘1984’.
Surveillance and censorship are displayed in modern culture, especially with the tracking of citizens online. Advertisements track your social media patterns, such as the content you engage with, and curates your online experience to fulfil economic and political aims. For example, TikTok’s algorithm has been reported to restrict its users to one side of the political debate, using information from your interactions to only display information that coincides with this. This way, news is restricted and framed in a manner where users find it hard to engage in a nuanced understanding of topics, such as the 2024 election. This is harmful for all areas of the political spectrum, as information is not freely explored and one can become trapped in a culture of narrow-minded political belief. Censorship is displayed online through Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, with ‘X’ now banning the word ‘cis’, a term used by primarily left-leaning people, and it has become a breeding ground for an increase of racial slurs and hateful ideology. This is done in the name of ‘free speech’, but a platform that is algorithmically tampered with to boost the messages of its owner (Musk) and a political figure (Trump) arguably abuses its rights as a public forum for news and opinions, and undemocratically influences its users to believe in republican messaging.
The infamous ‘Project 2025’, created by the Heritage Foundation think tank, has a controversial list of content they believe to be harmful for their ultra-conservative beliefs. All LGBTQ+ based teachings and literature is seen by them as pornographic and therefore bannable, and critical race theory is intended to be censored in schools. It should be noted that there is a viral list of banned books including The Handmaid’s Tale that is said to be included in the Project 2025 manifesto, yet I have not been able to find this in the text (I primarily reside on left-leaning algorithms which may contribute to this finding). Regardless, this censorship resembles the events of Atwood’s novel, and disrupts the liberties of the First Amendment.
women as oppressors
The Handmaid’s Tale contains many female characters that abide by, or actively encourage, the patriarchal system they live in. Aunt Lydia is positioned to support the ideology of Gilead, training women to become handmaids or wives. She explicitly scolds feminists and those who have ‘strayed’ from the path of being respectable religious women. A salient factor of her characterisation is her insistence that pre-Gilead days were more restrictive than the current times, with women objectifying and endangering themselves. Serena Joy, the wife of the Commander with whom Offred is stationed, was a religious tele-evangelist before the uprising and advocated for women being housewives. Despite both women’s freedoms being restricted by Gilead and being subjected to abuse, they still contribute to the oppression of women. It is debatable how convinced they are by the views they express as they display covert resistance and bitterness toward the regime.
The ‘trad-wife’ movement has exploded online, with women embracing traditional gender roles such as being homemakers and remaining under the rule of their husbands. Despite the option to become a housewife being a completely valid choice and an extension of feminist autonomy, the way it is spoken about is criticised for being potentially harmful to the representation of women. This is preached to be the only lifestyle solution for women due to biological factors that insist on gender roles. There is a predatory element of men controlling a woman’s finances, employment and bodily autonomy, paired with a sickly positive attitude by these creators that encourage their young audience to follow this ideology. This possible false consciousness of autonomy in the trad-wife position echoes characters like Aunt Lydia or Serena Joy. This comparison is in no way attempting to undermine the happiness of those who choose to become a trad-wife and genuinely embrace the livelihood with those they love: to each their own. However, the idea that it is a trend to try and influence their watchers to adopt this style as it is the ‘true purpose of women’ creepily pushes hints of subtle misogyny onto audiences.
Despite right-wing politics discouraging the autonomy of women through the pro-life movement and other restraining traditional opinions, there is a large female audience that supports these ideations. Many pro-life supporters are women, with entire organisations being run by them, such as ‘Feminists For Life’. It is indisputable that these values appeal to women, despite it seeming, to some, contradictory to their political liberation.
what can we learn from this?
There are countless parallels between the novel and contemporary culture which this analysis has not covered. The condition of the climate is brought up through pollution of ‘The Colonies’, similar to the current climate crisis and its contentions regarding economic progress. Theocratic rule is topical when thinking of the separation between church and state, including the new Louisiana rule to require public schools to openly display the Ten Commandments. Sexual violence is rampant in Gilead, an alarming mirror to femicide worldwide. The novel highlights men’s suffering under this ideology through The Commander and Nick’s struggles, relating to how misogyny also has strikingly negative effects on the male population, such as the repression of emotion and the expectation to maintain unrealistic and harmful levels of masculinity. The Handmaid’s Tale is a crucial piece of literature in understanding our political climate, allowing us to critically reflect on how we navigate our social context. This text reminds us to be open in our evaluation of liberties and recognise harmful abuses of political power. These messages remain pivotal nearly 40 years later, and should not be ignored, for “in a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it”.
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