The Handmaid's Tale

I have never read The Handmaid's Tale, but am reposting this from my blogger friend jaykaym (whose opinions I thoroughly trust)...and then  I am going out in search of the book...

 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2011

Maybe we should re-read "The Handmaid's Tale" When I read this article in the Huffington Post (House Republicans Attack Women's Health Again) on the recent House of Representatives passage of H.R. 358 restricting women's right to an abortion even to save her life, I immediately flashed back to Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale". I recalled that it was about the subjugation of women by religious men and that at the time I read it I found it terrifying and totally believable. I looked up its plot summary to refresh my memory and found this on Wikipedia:

The Handmaid's Tale is set in the near future in the Republic of Gilead, a country formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America. It was founded by a racist, male chauvinist, nativist, theocratic-organized military coup as an ideologically driven response to the pervasive ecological, physical and social degradation of the country. Beginning with a staged terrorist attack (blamed on Islamic extremist terrorists) that kills the President and most of Congress, a movement calling itself the "Sons of Jacob" launched a revolution and suspended the United States Constitution under the pretext of restoring order.

Taking advantage of electronic banking, they were quickly able to freeze the assets of all women and other "undesirables" in the country, stripping them of their rights. The new theocratic military dictatorship, styled "The Republic of Gilead", moved quickly to consolidate its power and reorganize society along a new militarized, hierarchical, compulsorily Christian regime of Old Testament-inspired social and religious orthodoxy among its newly created social classes.

It appears that Ms Atwood may have been prescient.

We should all be terrified.

Comments

[Karen Maestas]

I remember reading that book and cringing at how small and controlled her world was! We all need to defend women's/human rights. We should stay vigilant and continue to share what we've been through with the next generation. Apathy is our biggest enemy. Thanks for sharing Marianne.

[naomi dagen bloom]

Yes...and supporting Emily's List and/or the Center for Reproductive Justice, folks who take on all the lawsuits that never seem to end.

[Lisa]

I read the book a long time ago and found it very disturbing and thought-provoking. Another, and more hopeful (though post-apocalyptical) book of feminist sc-fi/fantasy is The Gate to Women's Country, by Sherry S. Tepper. It is outstanding and I think you would love it...