Theme Of Misogyny In The Handmaid's Tale

Flawless Flawed Women;
The Internalized Misogyny in The Handmaid’s Tale
Women, are socialized to internalize a hatred of femininity and espouse the belief that they “aren’t like other girls” to separate ourselves from the generalizations. Phrases like “Women are catty” “Women constantly gossip, and are shallow” “Boys have less drama” homogenize the entire female gender down to a few negative stereotypes. When women perpetuate sexist stereotypes it is called internalized misogyny. Women are guilty of perpetuating misogyny as often as men. Often called girl-hate in colloquial media, society conditions girls and women to compete with each other, not for careers, or for accomplishments but for the attention and pleasure of men. In The Handmaid

By present day, she has accepted the systematic oppression. Yet, in the past, women were free to wear what they wish, and do, to some extent, what they wished. In the “little time [it took] to change [the women’s] minds” (pp 36) the Republic of Gilead forced a new norm onto society. The impregnation ceremony, for example, Offred is forced into having sex with the Commander, and despite the fact that she has no other real choice she thinks, “Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven’t signed up for” (pp 116) What choice did Offred have? Either get pregnant by the Commander, or be send off to the colonies with the other Unwomen, Life or death is not a choice. Offred’s accepting language is unmistakable evidences of society’s new views on women, Handmaids especially, and her despondent attitudes about being a Handmaid. The protagonist’s mind was indoctrinated by Aunts to be accept the internalized oppression, and her

The Aunts are the only representation of female power in The Handmaid’s Tale. At the Reeducation Center equipped with “cattle prods…and brain washing slogans” (118) the Aunts encourage and teach women to deceive and betray each other. “Danger was from the other [Handmaids]” not always the Aunts. (88) The aunts taught them that “friendship were suspicious” (87) Women couldn’t be friends! They were competing with each other. Rivals is all they got to be. In the beginning, when all was new to them, the Handmaid’s whispered their names to each other. Lip reading, became a mandatory skill. Even if friendships were made they could never be kept since the Handmaid’s names were changed upon arriving at their commander. Tracking down anyone would be near impossible. The Handmaids are denied friendships and basic human interactions. They are left to feel constatnly alone, with only the approval of the Aunts to give them any