Examples Of Rape Culture In The Handmaid's Tale

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Rape culture is certainly tied into The Handmaid’s Tale. The women had everything stripped away from them. They had normalized rape in The Handmaid’s Tale. The definition of “Rape culture” is “A social or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse”. That’s exactly what they did in the book. The women were nothing more than objects. The women who had become handmaids were stripped away of everything they knew and/or loved. They were also sripped of their freedom. The Commander had made a point that, yes, they were stripped of their freedom, but at least they got to keep their dignity. What dignity!?? They got held down by the wives of the Commanders while they raped the women! That sure sounds like dignity to me. …show more content…

The women and everyone had blamed her and said it was “her fault” that she had “led them on”. They said that “God had allowed this to happen to teach her a lesson”. Most women are shamed for rape. They are often blamed for it. They were “asking for it” or “Not saying no, means yes”. Sometimes, they are blamed because of what they are wearing. So, the handmaids were covered from head to toe when they are in front of anyone, so no one can sexualize them. Janine was definitely shamed for the fact that she was raped and had testified about it. Everyone there had made fun of her, calling her a “crybaby”, repeating it over and over again. Yelling at her and telling her that it was all her fault. The sad part is, people do that in real life. They shame women and make it out to be their fault that they were raped. Women hardly ever get justice for rape. They get to have the man put in prison for, what?? Six months!? MAYBE, if they are lucky. The bastards don’t always get what they deserve. And it’s a damn

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