TW: This article discusses topics of a sensitive nature such as sexism and sexual violence.
While some women hate being the subject of the male gaze, others feel empowered by the fact that they now control that man’s attention. That they can tell exactly what is on his mind – boobs, boobs, and more boobs… although not all men, of course. Some guys are more interested in asses.
Empowerment under the male gaze
Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale captures this empowerment women may feel through their womanliness, but simultaneously shows the powerlessness of women under patriarchy. As Offred walks away from the guards “swaying her hips”, she knows they are watching her in desire. Hers is the walk of a woman who knows she’s secondary to her male counterparts. She knows she’s seen as feeble, and easy to exploit. But my God, does she own it, strutting in her heels that you can practically hear Beyoncé’s ‘Formation’ echoing in every bouncing footstep.
Should I ever meet Atwood for coffee – oh, I would be the most annoying flood of endless questions and admiration should this actually occur – I think we would both agree we are simply realists. Atwood questions the feminist view by asking “Do we mean women are better than men? Do we mean all men should be pushed off a cliff?” for she does not see women as being “always right”, as “Theresa May is a woman, for heaven’s sakes”, and so argues it shouldn’t be about women getting better treatment than men, but should instead be about equality.
Everyone suffers under the patriarchy
“Both men and women who do not carry out their roles in the patriarchal system are punished”
This is projected through the novel, where she shows, it is not only the women who suffer in this dystopian world of Gilead. Not one person has the ideal situation; even the Commander, Fred, who seems to have it all with no real consequences for any of his actions. Even when he defies the system of Gilead by forming a sexual relationship with Offred outside of the Ceremony, and takes her to an illegal brothel, he still suffers as he cannot ever have the companionship he is devoid of. It shows how even the highest-ranked men are left isolated, lonely and vulnerable. Both men and women who do not carry out their roles in the patriarchal system are punished – the ‘Salvagings’ epitomise this, as even men, the ones in power under patriarchy, are killed for deviating away from the social system. The Handmaids’ are seen as “walking vaginas”, wearing the colour red as a symbol of fertility and menstruation, and are deemed possessions by their names like Offred, meaning the belonging Of-Fred, her commander. The Wives are seen as pure, more powerful women, but this seems a joke when they have to watch their husbands have sex with another woman, leaving them completely cast aside.
“The entire system of patriarchy is simultaneously questioned and proved real through her novel”
Thus, whether the characters are male or female, or in a position of power or not, they all suffer in the misogynistic society. Therefore, the entire system of patriarchy is simultaneously questioned and proved real through her novel, that leaves you feeling as though you’re uncomfortably full but you can’t stop yourself eating more and more. Despite coming out in 1985, the novel has taken on new significance in a post-Weinstein #MeToo era, that reflects the mindset of Donald Trump – his demeaning attitude towards women leaves little to the imagination when he claimed “grab them by the pussy, you can do anything” in 2005. So, despite the darkly, unsettling and seemingly exaggerated nature of the novel, it is a must-read for the fact that it acts as a demonstration of how the patriarchy in our society today is a simulation of the horrors of Gilead.
Jasmine Laws
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