Feminist Issues in The Handmaid's TaleThe Handmaids Tale, by Margaret Atwood, can be classified as a dystopian novel. The Republic of Gilead in The Handmaids Tale is characteristic of a dystopia in that it is not intended as a prediction of the future of our society, but rather as a commentary on current social trends. Atwood created this nation by isolating what he might consider the disturbing aspects of two diametrically opposed factions of our society (i.e. the religious right and radical feminism) as a theory of what would happen if these ideals were taken to the extreme. Because it highlights similarities in the thoughts and actions of the religious far right and some parts of the feminist movement, some critics have labeled The Handmaid's Tale as anti-feminist. I would like to discuss the specific parts of the novel that lead to this opinion, and then discuss whether I believe this novel was intended or can be seen as an attack on feminism. The issue of pornography is one of the most significant in the Republic of Gilead world. Pornography has become illegal and is used as a generalized illustration of the many perceived social problems before the theocracy took power. While receiving training from their aunts, the handmaids are repeatedly shown violent pornographic videos to demonstrate how much better off women are these days than before. Offred's experience of watching these videos is intertwined with her memories of her mother and her participation in anti-pornography riots and magazine burnings. By placing these cases side by side, Atwood shows that pornography is a point where two extremes of society (here feminist and feminist) religio...... middle of paper ......feminism. From this perspective we can see that Offred could be considered a feminist and that people involved in women's rights movements over the course of changing times may come to represent completely different values ​​than they originally did (which explains the overlap occasional of feminist and religious movements, assuming that religious ideals are static) Freedom from subjugation is at the heart of all feminist movements, regardless of the form they take. References Leavitt, JW, Brought to Bed). : Childbearing in America, 1750-1950 New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1986.Moore, Pamela, Atwood, Margaret: The Handmaid's Tale Boston, MS: Houghton Mifflin, 1986.Wertz RW, Wertz DC, Lying-In. : A history of childbirth in America. New York, NY: Free Press, 1977.www.wsu.edu:8000/~brains/science_fiction/handmaid.htmlwww.med.upenn.edu