The Materialization of radical second wave feminism ideals in The Handmaid’s Tale by

Margaret Atwood through anti-utopia.

How does Margaret Atwood use anti-utopia in The Handmaid’s Tale to materialize the ideals of

the Radical Feminist Movement from 1960s to 1980s?

International Baccalaureate Diploma Program

Extended Essay English B Category 3: Literature

Word count: 3722

Session May 2020

Table of Contents

Introduction:....................................................................................................................................3

Chapter 1: Second-wave Feminism, radical groups and the definition of anti-utopia....................4

Chapter 2: Triggers for sexual violence...........................................................................................7

Chapter 3: Sexual Violence...........................................................................................................11

Conclusions:..................................................................................................................................14

Bibliography:.................................................................................................................................16

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Introduction:

The Handmaid’s Tale is a Dystopian novel written by Margaret Atwood and published in

1985. It takes place in a world where the Second-wave feminist movement loses the equality

battle and the world suffers an environmental crisis that allows a new Theocratic government to

take control. The story is narrated by Offred, a handmaid who suffers at the hands of this new

government that decides that her only destiny is to bear children. The book shows her day to day

live with several flashbacks into her past when she was free. Women in what used to be The

United States, now The Republic of Gilead, are completely subdued and left at the mercy of

men. The novel also portrays political and social events through flashbacks presented by Offred,

focusing on the second wave feminist movement, including the radical groups.

After analyzing the novel and understanding the context of the book, the following

question was formulated: How does Margaret Atwood use anti-utopia in The Handmaid’s

Tale to materialize the ideals of the Radical Feminist Movement from 1960s to 1980s?

To answer the research question, it is pertinent to use a Close reading of The Handmaid’s

tale to determine how the author uses Anti-Utopia to describe the ideals of the radical feminist

movement. The theory of anti-utopia will be developed from Tower’s definition (1994) to apply

to the events happening before and after Gilead., based on the analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale,

using secondary sources to support the analysis. The theory about anti-utopia that will be used is

from Tower (1994). This question is relevant because, even though this novel has mainly been

studied as a dystopia, it presents elements of anti-utopia that serve as a criticism of the radical

wings of the feminist movement. Also, the second-wave feminist movement is a crucial element

of the book and it can be seen from various perspectives; this movement achieved many

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milestones for women, but some of the more radical groups hampered this progress. Lastly, in

her novel Atwood uses anti-utopia to criticize women’s role in society and the lack of freedom

they have had throughout history.

Chapter 1: Second-Wave Feminism, Radical Groups and Anti-Utopia

In The Handmaid’s Tale, as Offred tells her story, there is some insight on her pre-Gilead

life. Through these flashbacks the feminist movement, specifically the second-wave radical

feminist movement, is depicted. An example of this is when Offred recalls going with her mother

to feminist reunions where they burned magazines which, according to them, sexualized women.

When the new regime overturns the old government, a new conservative society emerges; this

new system invalidates the progress made by the women’s rights movement, such as obtaining

political representation and the right to education. This is done as an effort to control the fertility

crisis happening in the United States at that moment and to protect the country from opposition

groups.

To contextualize the story, the second-wave feminism takes places around the 1960’s to

the 1980’s in The United States (Drucker, 2018); it comes after the first wave achieved voting

rights for women in 1919. These second stage of the movement, contrary to its predecessor, is

not focused on voting and property rights for the female population; it centers around equality

and against discrimination in the social and cultural atmospheres.

During this time, there is a growth of activism and indignation from women, which

triggers the creation of radical liberation groups. These organizations have the same ideals as

NOW (National Organization for Women) but, take them to the extreme and thus create

separation within the movement. One of these radicalized groups is Redstockings, founded in

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1969. This radicalized group creates a manifesto, that explains what they believe in and blame

male supremacy for every problem in their society such as women’s oppression and racism:

We identify the agents of our oppression as men. Male supremacy is the oldest, most

basic form of domination. All other forms of exploitation and oppression (racism,

capitalism, imperialism, etc.) are extensions of male supremacy: men dominate women, a

few men dominate the rest… All men have oppressed women.” (Redstockings, 1969).

Ultimately, these groups want women to be free of sexual objectification, as seen in

pornography and magazines depicting women. Also, they make clear that they think the

oppression is absolute and comes from all men. Other concerns of these groups are rape, safety

both inside women’s homes and in the streets and catcalling, which meant men shouting

obscenities to women in public spaces. Even though these are real problems for women, radical

groups complicate the movement and sometimes make a mockery out of it. For example, during

the Miss America Pageant these radical groups protested by throwing brassieres, magazines and

other objects into the “freedom trashcan”. This protest is incorrectly labeled bra-burning, and

thus gives women in the movement the famous stereotype of bra-burning angry women. This

specific event is described in the novel when Offred refers to her mother’s involvement in the

radical feminist movement.

Eventually, when the separation within the movement becomes more evident, many

antifeminist groups take advantage to undermine women’s fight for equality, gaining some

traction, but not enough to destroy the movement; contrary to the Handmaid’s Tale’s events,

where these antifeminist groups take control of the United States. At this point, Atwood uses

anti-utopia to portray how the demands of the radical groups materialize. These utopic ideals

transform into a society where people’s freedom is constantly attacked. In this new society, anti-

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feminist groups, led by men, manage to remove the rights of women to work, have bank

accounts, read, among many other rights that previous feminist movements had achieved, yet

claiming they are protecting their society and women.

To understand how the novel portrays the radical feminist movement, it is important to

define the literary device used to do this. Despite the fact that Atwood’s novel is widely

considered a dystopia, the author uses anti-utopia, in Offred’s flashbacks, to refer to the feminist

movement and how the ideals of the radical groups and women overall become a reality in

Gilead, but convey dreadful consequences. Anti-utopia is “a non-existent society described in

considerable detail and normally located in time and space that the author intended a

contemporaneous reader to view as a criticism of utopianism or of some particular eutopia.”

(Tower, 1994, p.9). To understand this definition, it is necessary to also define de concept of

utopianism, which is social dreaming (Tower, 1994, p.9). The depiction of anti-utopia and the

radical feminist wing will be illustrated with examples from the novel in the later chapters of this

essay.

Due to the fact that anti-utopia is a criticism of utopianism, it can be considered similar to

a dystopia, as both describe societies where the situation tends to be undesirable. However, it

differs from it because, according to Tower (1994), dystopia portrays the worst-case scenario and

creates a society that is not ideal for the reader; whereas anti-utopia criticizes the social dreaming

and the better society presented by utopia. Anti-utopia can be seen as the ideal society that leads

to a negative path, instead of the positive outcome originally intended. In Atwood’s novel, this

criticism can be clearly perceived in the new ideal society represented by Gilead where some of

the foundations of the radical feminist movement are materialized; such as catcalling protection,

yet abusing the rights of the women subject to these new regulations.

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 One of the objectives of the new Gilead society is to protect women from sexual violence

while trying to solve the fertility crisis caused by an environmental chaos. To do this, the

totalitarian government designed a protection protocol against sexual violence by eliminating all

sexual triggers as it will be explored in the next chapter.

Chapter 2: Triggers for sexual violence

To start with, Atwood describes how Gilead intends to eliminate symbols that trigger

sexual violence against women. Ironically, these elements are the same the radical feminist

movements opposed to during their riots. To fully analyze these triggers, it is crucial to define

sexual violence:

Any sexual act, attempt to obtain a sexual act, unwanted sexual comments or advances,

or acts to traffic, or otherwise directed, against a person’s sexuality using coercion, by

any person regardless of their relationship to the victim, in any setting, including but not

limited to home and work. (WHO, 2002, p.149).

According to the definition, any sexual encounter without consent of one or more parties

is considered sexual violence. However, these unwanted encounters often happen in an

environment that promotes them through visual or written messages. These messages will be

called triggers. Through Offred’s narration, it is visible how Gilead identifies these triggers and

tries to eliminate them. Trying to achieve the same purpose, Offred narrates how the radical

feminist movement, before Gilead, had identified several symbols of oppression and patriarchy

and wanted them gone completely from society as they sexualized women and promoted sexual

violence. These elements include clothes, makeup, pornography and magazines depicting

women.

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 Makeup, clothes and other female oriented items are heavily criticized by the radical

feminist movement in the 60s. These radical groups are against the beauty standards they

promote. Guided by this resentment, the protests using “freedom trash can” appear. The trashcan

becomes a symbol of women’s oppression, as they throw physical manifestations of it into the

fire such as brassieres, fake eyelashes and magazines like Cosmopolitan that target women and

promote the long-lasting beauty standards. Atwood uses anti-utopia to connect these events to

the novel when The Republic of Gilead decides to banish all kinds of beauty items and clothes

that are not state issued. Offred explains that, under the new government beauty products such as

skin lotion are forbidden, to the extent that she is forced to steal butter and rub it on her skin as a

moisturizer. In addition, Offred also explains how makeup seems bizarre to her when she is

expected to use it, she thinks she will not be able to remember how to apply it, as it had been

destroyed and banned along with the clothes (Atwood, 2017, p. 231). In this new society, each

role women have is color-coded, and includes a very conservative wardrobe that covers almost

the entire body including the face. The restriction is so severe that when Offred goes with her

Commander to the brothel, she narrates how the new government burned, in all cities, clothes

that had belonged to the previous society. She also mentions that women were caught on camera

acting thankful for these burnings (Atwood, 2017, p.230). This emphasizes the fact that these

decisions were approved by women themselves, because they believed it would contribute to

protect them in the ideal society or utopia Gilead pretends to create.

Other sexual violence triggers, attacked by radical feminists and Gilead’s government,

are pornography and magazines. Radical feminism has objected pornography since its origin,

they think of it as the source of sexual inequality and women’s objectification. According to

them, men who watch pornography, and create their fantasies based on it, are generating a desire

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in them to dominate women and abuse them. Andrea Dworkin, one of the most important

exponents of the radical feminist movement, explains this quite strongly in her book

Pornography: Men Possessing Women:

“From the perspective of the political activist, pornography is the blueprint of male supremacy;

it shows how male supremacy is built...Its absolutism on women and sexuality, its dogma, is

merciless” (Dworkin, 1981). In other words, Dworkin believes, as many radical feminists do,

that pornography makes men want to oppress and hurt women. In the novel, this belief is

depicted by Offred’s mother, as she is portrayed by memories Offred has of her pre-Gilead life.

The first one is when she recalls being with her mother in a magazine-burning event where

several women made a bonfire and threw magazines depicting women into the fire (Atwood,

2017 p.38). At this event, even Offred’s mother encourages her to throw one of the magazines

into the fire. Another memory related to this, happens when Offred remembers her mother

coming into the house bruised after a riot with her feminist friends, explaining that her mother

went to different riots, including anti-pornography protest (Atwood, 2017, p.180). Atwood

illustrated the beliefs of the pre-Gilead society to introduce anti-utopia through the new anti-

pornography policy in Gilead where the new government bans magazines and pornography.

The banning of magazines and pornography by the government, materializes one of the

ideals of the radical feminist movement. Nevertheless, this strategy proves useless when people

rebel against the authority and risk their lives by secretly keeping these forbidden magazines. For

example, Offred’s describes how the commander shares with her part of his forbidden

magazine’s collection and tells her he knows the risk they represent (Atwood, 2017, pp.156-

158).

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 The connection between these events in the book and the radical feminist movement

ideals evidences that the utopia or “social dreaming” of radical feminist was achieved in the

Gilead society of The Handmaid’s Tale as a result of banning everything they wanted to be

prohibited in the 1960s. However, Atwood portrays this new society as an anti-utopia, since it

restricted people’s freedom and they soon found themselves acting against this system

demonstrating disagreement with their lack of liberty. An example of this happens when,

theoretically, interacting with the handmaids with sexual intentions is not allowed, the

Commander and Nick still demonstrate their sexual desire and have sexual encounters with

Offred, she explains that her role is far from being a sexual partner but a breeding machine

(Atwood, 2017, p.136).

Even though, the totalitarian government achieves the goal of radical feminist groups by

eliminating triggers of sexual violence and liberating women from having to wear high heels,

makeup and other accessories, this comes at the cost of their freedom and individuality, as they

become objects. Women can no longer choose what to wear or even decide what they want to do

with their body as a whole. As anti-utopia is a criticism of utopia, it can be seen how Atwood

materializes a society that has the radical feminist ideals of women’s image, but developed into

something unintended, because banning certain types of clothes or makeup or even magazines

produces a loss of liberty and individuality. This causes women to feel diminished and long for

the sexual attention they once had, even the one from strangers which was unwanted before

Gilead. An example of this contradiction is described when Offred feels empowered as she

passes by some guardians and wants them to gaze at her to feel desired (Atwood, 2017, p.22).

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 After analyzing the triggers of sexual violence in Gilead and how anti-utopia is used to

portray these new society full of restrictions, it is now pertinent to examine how anti-utopia can

be evidenced in the control of sexual violence present in Gilead.

Chapter 3: Sexual Violence

The following quote is another extract of the Redstockings’ manifesto, which explains

how male supremacy and all men are the reason women are sexually abused and become sex

objects.

“Women are an oppressed class. Our oppression is total, affecting every facet of our

lives. We are exploited as sex objects, breeders, domestic servants, and cheap labor. We

are considered inferior beings; whose only purpose is to enhance men's lives. Our

humanity is denied. Our prescribed behavior is enforced by the threat of physical

violence.” (Redstockings, 1969)

Based on these beliefs, radical feminism intends to dismantle patriarchy, and wants

women to be free of oppression and blame every man for it. They state that men have to give up

their male privilege and positions of power, and they want women to be free of violence. For

these radical groups, it is not enough to make adjustments to the actual legal system or society,

they demand a complete change in the society. These radical groups believe that the sexual

violence triggers in chapter two cause and shape how sexual violence works in societies.

Firstly, Gilead, illustrates this fight against sexual violence, as they create rules that

protect women from rape. The handmaids, who are the ones the book revolves around, cannot be

touched by any man in a sexual way, and they cannot be in a room alone with them, including

the Commanders. Offred explains it in the following quote when she is told to go see the

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commander alone: “My presence here is illegal. It’s forbidden for us to be alone with the

commanders. We are for breeding purposes: we aren’t concubines, geisha girls, courtesans”

(Atwood, 2017, p.136). Another example of men not being allowed to be alone with these

women includes the guardians; these men, who are training to become Angels, cannot marry or

be with a woman until they have ascended to Angels.

Nevertheless, institutionalized systematic rape becomes a way to deal with the fertility

crisis. Even though, women like Offred are protected from being raped or even approached by

any man; the government encourages the Commanders to rape them each month for procreation

purposes. If women are not able to procreate, or defy the government, like Moira did, they are

forced to live in the brothel, where their role in the society changes and they become sexual

workers or jezebels (Atwood, 2017, p.249). These women can use the clothes, makeup and

accessories that were banned as to indicate they are no longer protected by the government from

sexual violence.

Once all the sexual violence triggers are destroyed in Gilead, they organize groups of

men to protect women. The Angels and Guardians are always watching them to make sure that

everything goes according to the regulations. Even though, this constant surveillance affects

women’s freedom, the anti-utopia is evident when Offred reveals that, although she knows her

liberty has been diminished, there is a feeling of safety she did not have before: “Now we walk

along the same street, in red pairs, and no man shouts obscenities at us, speaks to us, touches, us”

(Atwood, 2017, p.24). Another restriction that also changed women’s lives is that they are no

longer allowed to read or write, as it is a temptation for them. This rule may seem oppressive, but

it is created to protect women because according to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2002,

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p.158), there is a correlation between educational level and risk of sexual violence; the more

education a woman has, the higher the chances of being raped:

Women are at increased risk of sexual violence, as they are of physical violence by an intimate

partner, when they become more educated and thus more empowered” (WHO, 2002, p.158).

Adding to this, WHO explains that the possible cause of this is that when women become more

empowered and educated, they are less likely to obey patriarchal norms, making some men use

violence, specifically sexual violence as a mechanisms to regain power. This information from

WHO, explains more clearly the decision to prohibit the education of women as a way to guard

them, materializing their ideals of safety, but taking away their right to education. Another quote

that illustrates the new protection regime they have in Gilead is the following: “There is more

than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of

anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrated it.”

(Atwood, 2017, p.24). This is a line that Aunt Lydia, the caretaker of the handmaids at the Red

Center, said to them to show how the new society is meant to take care of them and shield them

from violence. Also, Offred ponders how it is true that women were unsafe in the pre-Gilead

society, and now people are not shouting obscenities at them or they do not have to worry about

a dangerous man entering their house (Atwood, 2017, p.24).

Consequently, the radical movement’s plea for safety is granted by the new government.

The movement blames every man for their oppression, but through anti-utopia, Atwood explores

how that if granted, these principles could create a society like Gilead. Women witnessed their

utopian ideals materialized, but at the cost of their freedom.

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Conclusions:

To answer the research question, How does Margaret Atwood use anti-utopia in The

Handmaid’s Tale to materialize the ideals of the Radical Feminist Movement from 1960s to

1980s? Margaret Atwood uses Anti-utopia to describe a new totalitarian government that seeks

to protect women from sexual violence, but ultimately creates a society that threatens personal

liberties. By adopting and recreating some of the pleas of the radical feminist movement,

Atwood criticizes it and projects the consequences through a society like Gilead.

Ironically, the most prominent exponents of the radical feminist groups such as Offred’s

mom and Moira are attacked by the new government policies. At the same time, women who had

been outraged by these radical ideals, such as the aunts, support the system and the new

restrictions.

Moreover, the rulings of the new government materialize the ideals of the radicalized

groups to end sexual violence. Norms such as making it impossible for handmaids, specifically,

to be alone with any man and forbidding non-state issued clothes, makeup, pornography,

magazines are designed to protect women in the streets. However, in the anti-utopian society,

women are now subject to a different kind of sexual violence, even more oppressive and

aggressive than the one before Gilead. Even though the banning of magazines, pornography,

clothes, makeup among other things supported radical feminist ideals, it happened at the cost of

their individuality and freedom. Additionally, even though, the new government in Gilead did

prevent sexual violence in public spaces and by any man that was not the handmaid’s

Commander, now women are victims of state-issued rape.

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 Furthermore, it is important to state that there are not many analyses of anti-utopia based

on The Handmaid’s Tale, so this investigation contributes to studying the book from a different

perspective. Because of this, it is believed a deeper analysis of anti-utopia in the story of the

Handmaid’s tale is necessary, such as focusing on the behaviors and symbols created with the

women who actually supported the new regime, as the aunts, or Handmaids as Offwarren who

were pregnant and pampered because of it. Also, it would be relevant to examine the

contradiction posed by the commanders’ wife, Serena Joy, who initially supported the new

regime, but now feels frustrated with the new life she must adopt.

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