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Melanie Klossner

Professor Matthew Kotula

DCC100-02

September 28 2016

Reproductive Control in Gilead and in the Present United States

We are containers, its only the insides of our bodies that are important. This quote from

the book, The Handmaids Tale, by Maragret Atwood describes the feelings on a typical woman

in Gilead (119). She is saying that women do not matter, they are only important for

reproduction. Rape, outlawing birth control and abortion are oppressing women in Gilead. In the

present United States, women have more rights than women do in Gilead, but there are some

aspects in the United States that can compare. In the book, womens reproductively capable

bodies are a prized possession because many women cannot reproduce anymore. Since

reproductive women are so valuable, their rights are being taken away.

In Gilead, controlling reproduction means that women are completely controlled. Women

are becoming slaves to the government. The government wipes away the history in a womans

life including names, families, religions, and freedoms to conform a human being into just a

container. Handmaids are characters that are assigned to have sex with high class men and carry

babies for the wives of those men (Atwood). This means that handmaids even have to give up

their own children, that they were forced to have, for the high class men. Handmaids have lost

the right to choose who they want to reproduce with and the right to keep a biological child.

Women in Gilead are oppressed though rape. Rape is defined as a crime of forcing another

person to have sexual intercourse with the offender against their will (Oxford Dictionary). The

handmaids are forced and are not willing to have sex. My red skirt is hitched up to my waist,
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though no higher. Below the commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my

body. I dont say making because that is not what he is doing (Atwood 121). Offred would have

said love making if the feelings were mutual. Sex and pregnancies are not chosen for these

women. It is forced upon them. This is a right that has been taken away in the name of

reproductive control. Gilead methods of increasing the rate of reproduction is unethical. This is

considered rape. In present day, rape occurs because men and women have bad morals. Their

mindset is not to increase the population. One out if six women are victims of rape. One out of

ten men are victims of rape in the current United States (Victims).

The biggest difference between Gilead and the present day, it that women get to decide

their childrens fate. They can keep the child, abort, or give the child up for adoption.If the

declining population is the reason for forced reproduction, why do the real mothers of the

children not have a say in who the child will belong to? Why does it matter who the child

belongs to as long as the population is being managed? Margret Atwood wanted her readers to

ask these questions. The answer is that the author wanted to clearly define that Gilead chose to

oppress womens rights to have the outcome of an increased population. Empirical findings that

individuals attitudes about general intergroup dominance and sex-based oppression are

significant, unique predictors of their attitudes toward rape and rape victims also support the

feminist perspective that rape and rape myths are structural components of male dominance

(Hocket 140). Margret Atwood portrays men to feel as if this form of rape is acceptable. Male

dominance therefor is increased, oppressing women even more. In the present United States, men

and women can choose to have children or have sex with chosen people. The government has

dictated that men are more important than women. Men are not forced to have sex with women.
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They are never put in the position of having a child taken away from them. Men are given the

power to keep a child.

There is also reproductive control over women that are sterile. Some examples of the

women that cannot reproduce are called nonpersons and jezebels. Nonpersons are women that

are sterile. They are sent to forced labor camps that work with radioactive wastes. The women

eventually become ill and die a slow, painful death (Atwood 248). Jezebels are beautiful women

that are usually educated and are also sterile. Most of them are younger in age. Jezebels are

prostitutes that have only one purpose, to please men. Jezebels only preform for the men so that

they can feel some of the freedoms they once had. Once a jezebel loses her beauty or becomes

too old to be desirable, the women are also sent to forced labor camps with the nonpersons. At

first the reader may question why these types of women are still controlled, but the answer is

because the government does not want handmaids to feel like they could have the same rights as

a sterile woman and rebel. Even though these women are incapable of reproduction, they are still

controlled by the government because of the fact that they are women.

Abortion is illegal because reproduction is becoming even more rare and the population

is dying. The government is trying to save Gilead by forcing reproduction upon women. Anyone

who has had an abortion, practices, or has ever practiced abortions, including doctors, in the past

are executed. Birth control is banned for the same reasons. In Gilead, abortion is a crime against

the state. In the United States, it is a crime against the fetus and is deemed illegal in some states.

On the other hand, low population in the United States is not an issue. If it was, it is possible that

reproductive control could become more intensified. Gilead is taking an unethical approach,

though. The government targets women more than men. The government in Gilead is oppressing
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women. Women, no matter the class are properties of the government and to men. The capability

of reproduction has driven the town of Gilead into a highly controlled society.

The United States government cannot control reproductive rights as severely as the

government can in Gilead. Unlike in Gilead, birth control is legal and is highly practiced.

Women see it as their right to use birth control so that accidental births do not result in an

abortion. In fact, the government encourages the use of it. The United States government is more

considerate toward the wishes of women. The government does not want people to have

abortions or to have to give children up for adoption. In Gilead, the government does not care

about womens wishes, they care about a lasting population.

There are a lot less sterile women and men now than in Gilead, many people still want to

have children but are unable to. Even though the methods of reproduction in Gilead are so

immoral, the purpose is similar. Gilead uses revolting ways to reproduce that strip away

womens rights instead of using methods that we have now. When someone is sterile, there are a

few options that can broaden the chances to have babies. For some people there is the option of

artificial insemination, sperm or egg donors, and even surrogates. The surrogate method can

compare to the duties of handmaids. They are just forced surrogates for a woman that cannot

carry it herself. A handmaids job is basically the same thing but with the handmaids eggs.

Other similarities are views on abortion. In Gilead abortion is illegal because it is a crime

against the state. Abortion is seen as a missed opportunity to create more lives. In the United

States abortion is on the boarder of being illegal because it is seen as murder. Some states are

close to completely banning with the exceptions of rape victims, incest, or when having a child

will harm a womans health (NARAL 85). Some states also make it harder for some women to

have an abortion. For some women, insurance will not cover the cost (NARAL 16). It is also too
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expensive to pay for without insurance. Birth control is also too expensive to pay for to some

people. Some birth control pills can run between 20 to 100 dollars a month before insurance

(Matthews 1). States are limiting womens rights by making birth control and abortions less

available to purchase. Other states are more lenient but still frown upon abortion. In these cases,

some states require counselling before a woman can have an abortion in hopes that counselling

will change their mind (NARAL 32). States are taking away rights by trying to brainwash them

so that they think abortion is not an option. The United States is becoming more like Gilead on

abortion. It is important that women fight for their freedoms while we still have them. The

United States is on the verge of completely making abortion impossible or illegal.

Even though there are a fewer setbacks or restrictions in the present United States, it still

has far more freedoms regarding reproductive rights than in Gilead. The government in Gilead

takes away everything in a woman. They basically brainwash women so that they follow orders

and reproduce efficiently. Women are oppressed by their lack of reproductive control over

themselves. This dystopian novel exposes the oppression over women that can compare to the

present United States government. Men and women should protect their reproductive rights at all

costs. Gilead is a society with a dwindling population. Even though this is a dystopian novel, a

declining population can be real. Men and women in this novel should have worked together to

determine the best way to save the population. Instead women were taught to fear the presence of

a man because he may have unwanted reproduction. Gilead ended up resorting to oppressing one

gender over the other.

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Annotated Bibliography

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Anchor Books a Division of Random House,

1985.

The quotes that were used in this essay were crucial in providing evidence of how women in

Gilead were affected by oppression. Atwood has published many other short stories. For

example, Happy Endings, Rape Fantasies, The Resplendent Quetzal, Freeforall, Unearthing

Suite. The quotes that were used express the feeling of a typical woman in Gilead. This source

also provided the main subject of the essay.

Hockett, Jericho M., et al. "Rape Myth Consistency and Gender Differences in

Perceiving Rape Victims." Women. Sage,

vaw.sagepub.com.ezproxy2.drake.brockport.edu/content/22/2/139.full. Accessed 6 Oct.

2015. Originally published in Violance Against Women, vol. 22, no. 2, Jan.-Feb. 2016,

pp. 139-67.

This source is a research article about rape myths, the thoughts of a victim, and what goes

through the perpetrators mind about probably causes. The quote that I used explains that rape

sometimes occurs because it establishes male dominance. Male dominance is exactly the subject

in The Handmaids Tale. The authors of this peer reviewed article use scientific evidence and

examples to prove some of their theories.

Matthews, Merrill. "The Government on Birth Control." Forbes, 4 Aug. 2011,

www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2011/08/04/the-government-on-birth-

control/#1358b006bb84. Accessed 27 Sept. 2016

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This article was mainly about how the government can try to prevent people from purchasing

birth control and abortions. This source was critical in the essays explanation of how the United

States tries to reduce birth control and abortions to people that can not afford it. This article also

provides the governments views on the subject and the ways that birth control can be avoided.

The author is a journalist that was able to use examples to prove his point.

NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundatio, and The Policy Department at NARAL Pro-

Choice America. "Who Decides?" Pro Choice America, 24 Jan. 2014,

www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/download-files/2014-who-decides.pdf. Accessed 21

Sept. 2016.

This peer reviewed article was about the facts and statistics of state laws. The essay used facts

about how states are trying to get rid of abortion by banning it except in certain cases or

situations. The group that created this legal document article clearly state which states allow and

do not allow birth control and abortions. This essay used some of the article facts as evidence of

the governments views.

Oxford Dictionary. Oxford Dictionary, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/rape.

This is a reference source that the essay used to define what rape is classified as. The essay used

this definition to prove that the handmaids are being raped. This definition helped to assimilate

Gileads society with the United States.

Victims of Sexual Violence. Rainn, 2016. Rainn, www.rainn.org/statistics/

victims-sexual-violence. Accessed 30 Nov. 2016.

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This website gave statistics on rape victims. These statistics were crucial in proving that rape is

more common among females. The unknown author provides statistical facts about victims the

many different victims. This essay was only in need of using the male versus female statistics.
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Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Anchor Books a Division of Random House, 1985.

Klausen, Susanne. "Rethinking Reproduction: New Approaches to the History of Sexuality,

Gender, the Family, and Reproductive Control." Review Article: Rethinking

Reproduction. SAGE Journals Online,

jch.sagepub.com.ezproxy2.drake.brockport.edu/content/44/1/117. Originally published in

Journal of Contemporary History, vol. 44, no. 1, 2009, pp. 117-27. Accessed 27 Sept.

2016.

Matthews, Merrill. "The Government on Birth Control." Forbes, 4 Aug. 2011,

www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2011/08/04/the-government-on-birth-

control/#1358b006bb84. Accessed 27 Sept. 2016.

NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, and The Policy Department at NARAL Pro-Choice

America. "Who Decides?" Pro Choice America, 24 Jan. 2014,

www.prochoiceamerica.org/assets/download-files/2014-who-decides.pdf. Accessed 21

Sept. 2016.

Oxford Dictionary. Oxford Dictionary, en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/rape.

Victims of Sexual Violence. Rainn, 2016. Rainn, www.rainn.org/statistics/

victims-sexual-violence. Accessed 30 Nov. 2016.