The Use Of Sexual Corruption In The Handmaid's Tale

The story The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood illustrates a different type of dystopia from most other classic dystopian novel. It creates a world where women are used either for sexual reproduction or as a way to control other women who will be used for the same purpose. Attwood tells the story of America after the Gilead regime has taken over and sets things “in order” following a long period of anarchy which is referred to as the “time before” (Atwood, 5). The Gilead regime has taken control of the direr straights that the country has entered with reference to the birth rate. This need to control the population has lead the regime to connect sexual reproduction and policy making; in fact at the time of the Gilead regime sexual reproduction and politics have become so intertwined that it is impossible to talk about reproduction without talking about politics. The main character and narrator of the story, Ofwarren, once lived in a world that was free from the Gilead regime. In the time before

This is made clear when the commander takes Ofwarren to the officers club where she runs into her friend from the time before, Mira. Mira makes an illusion to having had sex with the commander when she says “that shit you 're with? I 've had him, he 's the pits" (Atwood, 221). By making sex for fun a complete taboo for women but one that men, or a high rank, can get around it is apparent that sexual reproduction and the policies around it are being used to keep women in their place. This double standard happens all too often in today’s society where women are told that their virginity is sacred and men are expected to be experienced by marriage. The rules of sexual reproduction in Gilead, just like in today’s world, only pretend to apply to men when their real purpose is to make society see women’s real purpose as