Oh to imagine a world where women have no rights, where women are sexually abused on a regular basis, or where no one can speak up against all the wrong in society. But is that reality really far fetched?
In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood depicts a horrendous alternate reality which shakes every person to their core. The book and the show are situated in a post-civil war United States where the extremists have taken over the country and have enforced strict biblical law. Society is run by totalitarian leaders who impose anti-feminist laws, where women cannot own property, handle money, read or write, and cannot speak up in public. The country is plagued by declining fertility rates and increasing environmental pollution. As a solution to these problems, the very few fertile women are labelled as ‘Handmaids’ and are assigned to a ruling elite couple (a Commander and his wife) who cannot conceive on their own. The handmaid is then obligated to participate in a ritualized rape ‘ceremony’ by her Commander, while his wife is present, so the handmaid can bear their child for them. Once the handmaid delivers their baby, she has no right over the baby and is transferred to another home.
That is just a glimpse of the mind-boggling plot that is devised by Atwood. As I progressed through the book and the show, it was painful to read and watch some of the scenes. Even though this is in no way based on any true events, I could feel the humiliation and pain radiating off of the characters. The author describes the rape ceremony in detail which gave me goosebumps, and these scenes are equally explicit in the TV series. Watching the show was emotionally draining and horrifying because of how normalized sexual abuse is made out to be in that setting. And let me be clear, it wasn’t just uncomfortable to watch an explicit scene, it was the sheer lack of emotions that the Handmaids showed while being blatantly raped. That is how normal it was; like it was an everyday casual thing. And I guess that is what the author was going for – to show everyone how you have to disassociate from yourself to endure sexual abuse on a daily basis.
However, the events delineated by Atwood are not entirely fiction in my opinion. I feel as though this piece of literature cannot be dismissed just because ‘that can never actually happen in real life!’. There are many places where, just like in The Handmaid’s Tale, women are treated as inferior beings with essentially no human rights. They are abused, sexually and physically and are at the complete mercy of men. At its most extreme, this abuse takes the form of human trafficking, which exists across the globe. I feel as though Atwood created this world taking inspiration from the real world and showed us the hidden realities. While the book may exaggerate, the overall themes can be mapped out on our world perfectly.
From women not being granted basic human rights to being raped as part of their morning routine, these abuses are taking place all around us. It exists; we just have to open our eyes. That is why our work at Survivors to Superheroes is so important. We want to uncover the hidden abuses and shine light on the experiences of those for whom rape and abuse is reality and not fiction.
