Content warning: This story mentions rape and sexual assault.
Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale paints a dystopian future where women’s bodies are controlled and subjugated by a totalitarian regime that forces them into reproductive servitude. The narrative, set in the fictional Republic of Gilead, echoes many real-world concerns about the treatment and regulation of women, particularly in the context of their reproductive rights. Atwood vowed to “not put any events into the book that had not already happened” in real life, adding to the uneasiness people feel when reading it.
By looking at the United States’ history, legal frameworks, and current societal trends, it becomes clear that there are alarming parallels that can be drawn between the U.S. and Gilead. Although considered dubious by many, a recurring question often emerges in the context of The Handmaid’s Tale: How far off are we from living in a society that resembles Gilead? A closer look at the country, century by century, provides us with a chilling answer.
17th century
The United States was built on the theocratic beliefs of the Puritans, where almost all aspects of society were dictated by religious principles. To have access to vote, people would have to be a member of the church. The laws created for the new cities they were forming were directly influenced by Biblical commands.
During this time, women had to tread lightly for fear of being severely punished for acting immorally. One core belief of the Puritans was that all women were born inherently sinful, which was based on the Biblical story of Eve being tempted to eat the forbidden apple in the Garden of Eden. This led them to heavily emphasize how women should be pure and submit to the two roles they were expected to embrace: wife and mother.
18th century
The suppression didn’t stop there. The Puritan ideologies were followed by 18th-century beliefs that continued to keep women from reaching their full potential. The legal practice of coverture — although already established amongst the French and Spanish — made its way to the United States in the late 1700s. This legal doctrine stated that no woman has a legal identity. When she’s born, she’s covered by her father’s identity, and as soon as she marries, she takes her husband’s. Along with not having a legal identity, all her rights are subsumed by her husband.
Such rights include being barred from working outside the home, losing custody of children and possessions in the event of a separation, and having no control over her own body. The lack of autonomy meant that for married women, a wife’s consent was implied, making anything sex-related, including rape, legal — a concept all too familiar in The Handmaid’s Tale with the monthly ritualistic Ceremonies the handmaidens were forced to participate in with the commander they were assigned to.
19th century
The Cult of True Womanhood was a group that aimed to bring back traditional values by defining a real woman as morally pure, self-sacrificing, and dependent on her husband. Women who deviated from what they perceived as the “perfect woman,” whether by seeking independence or pursuing careers, were ostracized.
The doctrine of separate spheres was another theory that was widely popular at the same time. It claimed that life is split into two spheres: public and private. Men engaged in the public sphere, where they can leave the house and partake in events away from the family. Women, however, belonged to the private sphere, where they took care of household matters. Both the Cult of True Womanhood and the doctrine of separate spheres mirror Gilead’s rigid gender roles and expectations.
20th century
The 20th century is full of concepts and beliefs that can be connected to The Handmaid’s Tale. One of the earliest examples is the eugenics movement, which sought to control reproduction and the quality of individuals born in the United States. This form of selective breeding disproportionately targeted women who were unfit to carry, poor, and minorities. The women who fell into at least one of the categories would experience forced abortions, sterilizations, and institutionalization.
Then there were the Magdalene Laundries — a part of U.S. history that remains hidden in the shadows from many. These “laundries” were institutions for those who were said to be “fallen women.” Women who had children outside of wedlock, engaged in premarital sex, or seemed to be independent-minded were sent to these institutions and required to wash away their sins by cleaning other peoples’ laundry. This reinforced the idea that women were used for unpaid labor and easy access to their bodies, as depicted in the fictional Gilead.
21st century
The first current-day issue one probably thinks of when analyzing The Handmaid’s Tale is the ongoing debate surrounding women’s reproductive rights in the United States. Roe v. Wade was meant to secure a woman’s right to choose at the federal level, but when it was overturned in 2022, it became clear how easy it is for these freedoms to be taken away.
Individual states now have the power to set their own abortion laws, leading to total bans in 12 different states and stricter abortion laws based on gestational duration — such as the six-week ban in Florida, Georgia, Iowa, and South Carolina. The loss of autonomy that millions of American women endured, with some reproductive rights being stripped, can be tied back to the oppressive control Gilead has over the handmaids’ bodies.
Human and sex trafficking is also a major issue in the United States and is one that disproportionately affects girls and women. With seven in 10 trafficking victims being women and 50 percent of trafficking victims being sexually exploited, it highlights the urgent need for systemic change, greater awareness, and stronger legal protections to ensure that women and girls are not viewed as property to be controlled, sold, or discarded. These structures of oppression must be dismantled before the lines between fiction and reality blur even further.
Another frightening instance that was just issued by the White House on March 27 was the Executive Order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which aims to erase “undesirable” parts of U.S. history from Smithsonian museums. Some of the topics that are set to be removed or modified are LGBTQ+ representation, feminism, social justice movements, abortion rights, anti-American ideologies, slavery, racism, sexism, and any mention of the mistreatment of a marginalized group. By rewriting history in a way that is more comfortable for Americans to digest, the forgotten history is at risk of being repeated in the future.
One final, ongoing, ironic event to end on is the censorship of books around the country. The instances of book bans have significantly increased, jumping from 2,532 in 2021-2022 to 10,046 in 2023-2024. What’s most interesting is, when looking at information from the 2023-2024 school year, the ninth most banned book was The Handmaid’s Tale, experiencing bans in 67 districts across the country.
While the United States is not a full-fledged dystopia like Gilead, the persistent themes of control over women’s bodies, reproductive rights, societal roles, erasure, and censorship resonate throughout history. From the 17th century to modern-day debates over abortion and reproductive health, the disenfranchisement of women has been deeply embedded in United States culture and law. As the fight for gender equality and reproductive justice continues, it’s crucial to remain vigilant against the rise of authoritarian practices that seek to limit women’s freedom and autonomy.
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