Intersectionality and Handmaid's Tale (AKA: My fav book ever)

Argument #2. Absence of Women Of Colour

By sending w.o.c to colonies, it allows for Atwood to be "off the hook" regarding including people of colour in her story

Uses experiences of white women in the novel to represent the experiences of all women.

Argument #1. Topics Discussed

Atwood states that everything in her novel happened
in history at one point in time. Many of the things that happen in her novel happened to black and brown women during Jim Crow Era and Slavery.

1. Being named after Commanders

2. Public Lynchings

3. Rape

4. Birthing "owners" children

Themes discussed are issues w.o.c have faced yet they are left out of the narrative... once again.

http://www.ruthdesouza.com/2017/05/15/the-handmaids-tale-and-intersectionality/#:~:text=Margaret%20Atwood's%20The%20Handmaid's%20Tale,dystopian%2C%20pronatalist%20society%20called%20Gilead.&text=The%20women%20of%20color%20characters,assumes%20levels%20of%20social%20mobility.

"If Gilead is meant to imagine a possible future for America, how could deeply entrenched racial dynamics disappear?"

Thesis?

The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, establishes a context in which its readers are presented with issues pertaining to discrimination and extreme misogyny faced by the women in this pronatalist, white, totalitarian society. I argue the absence of women of colour in the narrative is a representation of the lack of intersectionality and due to this, the novel fails to represent the bona fide dystopian society.

NEEDS WORK!!

Recognize my social position, privilege, and bias. I am a white woman talking about issues regarding w.o.c .... this is important to recognize.

Intersectionality: Where different social categories overlap

Lack of intersectionality

"By ignoring racism, the book misses an opportunity to show how racism would manifest and evolve into a puritanical theocracy: