Misogyny In Gilead
Prejudice and discrimination have always been a part of human society. However, what happens when this goes unchecked? This is the question addressed by the book The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. In this novel, sexism and misogyny in our society have culminated in a coup that has usurped the United States government. This coup results in the Republic of Gilead, which treats women as property to be awarded to men based on their rank and societal status. In Gilead, women are treated as property, are severely restricted in their actions, and are denied basic liberties in regards to their bodies. In these ways, the misogyny that we see scattered in our current world has been institutionalized. However, such an extreme change cannot occur suddenly; it must have been building up over a long period of time in society. In fact, misogyny and discrimination have always been a part of the society reflected in the novel.
Throughout the novel, we repeatedly see women being treated as property, both domestically and legally. As Offred says on page 65, “I am a national resource. ” (Atwood 65) To Gilead, all women like Offred are a means to an end, a way to birth children and nothing more. “We are for breeding purposes. ” (136) “What I must present is a made thing, not something born. ” (66) In Gilead’s society, women aren’t people; they are property, things to be “presented” to other people. “You take what they hand out, right, girls?” (115) This women are objects to be distributed to men of higher class and societal rank, not fellow human beings. “You have to create an it, where none was before. You do that first, in your head, and then you make it real. ” (193) In order to put themselves above women, the men in this society have objectified and dehumanized women. However, this misogyny isn’t entirely a new problem. As Offred thinks on page 48 of the novel, “For some, in some ways, things haven’t changed that much. ” (48) Although the problem of sexism has been increased one hundred fold and been institutionalized, this problem has always existed in the society reflected in the novel, and indeed our own.
Not only are women in Gilead seen as objects, but they are also severely restricted in their actions. On page 30, Offred thinks, “Given our wings, our blinkers, it’s hard to look up, hard to get the full view, of the sky, of anything. But we can do it, a little at a time, a quick move of the head, up and down, to the side and back. We have learned to see the world in gasps. ” (30) In Gilead, some women are not even allowed to look around freely at their surroundings. In fact, women in Gilead are not even supposed to think of freedom or hope for liberties. “Such songs are not sung anymore in public especially the ones that use words like free. They are considered too dangerous. ” (54) Women cannot read, because it is considered too dangerous. “We can be read to from it, by him, but we cannot read. ” (87) And although this misogyny is much more extreme in the Republic of Gilead, it was the culmination of years and years of prejudiced thinking and discrimination built into society. Just as Offred thinks on page 56, “Nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it. ” (56) While women in Gilead only became oppressed by law recently, the mentality had gradually been growing hotter one degree at a time.
In addition to the laws defining women as property and severely restricting their actions, women’s bodily autonomy was also destroyed in Gilead. For instance, women in Gilead are forced to wear certain uniforms based on their jobs. To them, dressing freely is a thing of the past. “Then I think: I used to dress like that. That was freedom. ” (28) Going to the doctor’s office for checkups is now mandatory for women, including bodily exams. “I’m taken to the doctor’s once a month, for tests: urine, hormones, cancer smear, blood test; the same as before, except that now it’s obligatory. ” (59) In fact, some women are even forced to have sex. What used to be considered rape is now legal. “My skirt is hitched up to my waist, though no higher. Below it the Commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he’s doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only one is involved. ” (94)
