Wednesday, April 10, 2019
The Handmaid's Tale and the Second Sex
The Handmaid's Tale is a popular show on the streaming service Hulu. It is set in the future where another civil war breaks out. The United States then becomes a new country and changes many of the laws and the structure of the new country. In this new country women basically have no rights especially the handmaids. The main character in the show, Offred, is a handmaid. In this new society reproduction rates are very low. Handmaids are assigned to important officials ,who are men, and their wives to try and have a baby. The handmaid is named after whoever the man of the household is. The household Offred is a handmaid for Fred, therefore she is named Offred. These women are definitely reliant on the men they are handmaids for otherwise they will have nowhere to live and no food to eat. If they misbehave they are sent somewhere else where everyone is scared to go. So they are stuck. They aren't allowed to read or write or watch tv or play any games. They are basically sex slaves. I thought of this show when we are talking about The Second Sex. These women are not their own person. They don't have opportunities to grow or learn or fend for themselves. They are looked as the inferior compared to men. They are seen as the "other".
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As I was reading this one thought kept coming up in my mind that Simone De Beauvoir had discussed in the interview that we had to watch for one of our assignments. She had made a point that one of the roles of a woman is to have a child and raise it and how the women who had children but also wanted to work were basically accused of neglecting their children. However, this might not be how it is for everyone but in todays society I have witnessed on numerous occasions, women actually being praised for having a kid AND also having a full-time job. Now it seems like people are impressed about they are taking on that much responsibility with their lives. I just think it is interesting how society changes over the years.
ReplyDeleteFrom my experience women receive mixed messages about this kind of thing. On the one hand people will talk about how amazing it is for you to have a career and kids at the same time. But then you will also receive guilt for putting your kids in daycare and not spending time at home. Your boss might think less of you for not devoting yourself wholly to your job. And quite often, the woman still has to do more of the work around the house.
DeleteThere was a study of this recently, and men who have children tend to do better in their careers than childless men, but women who have children do worse than women who do not.
On the subject of women being thought of less for not devoting themselves to work, it is programed in most people's heads that the woman is always the one who is supposed to take the kids to school and pick them up, so they might have to leave work early to do so. While the women are getting looks and judged by their co-workers and bosses for trying to do multiple things the men are not getting any ridicule. After all, the man is the father of the child, but so often they believe it is a only woman's job and responsibility to take off of work early to get the kids. In a sense they are setting women up for those looks and judgement because they rarely take off work to pick up their kids.
DeleteI have yet to watch the show because it sounds hard to watch and I have to be in the right mood to watch dark stuff.Even though the show takes place in a dystopian future where women are horribly oppressed it does not sound as far off from recent history as we think. Back in the day (early to mid 20th century) women didn't have much of an identity; they got there identity from their husbands, even their names. Women were housewives and caregivers; they played a supporting role.
ReplyDeleteI know the show focuses on the handmaids and their struggles, but the lives of the wives doesn't sound much better either. If the men treat the handmaidens poorly, I doubt they have much respect for their wives. I guess I will have to watch the show now to find out.