Jocelyn Woods
Aug 22, 2017 · 1 min read

I don’t view The Handmaid’s Tale as some sort of political advice tract for our times. But there are implicit condemnations of moral relativism in the Epilogue. Actually it reminded me more of how some people claim we can’t condemn certain cultural practices like Female Genital Mutilation because “it’s their culture and we have no right to impose our values on them” etc. etc. Or women in fundamentalist Islam countries who basically have no rights… It was based on some of those examples (current in 1985 and today), as well as on other cultures that subjugated women.

There was some reference to abortion rights when the book was written but nowhere near to the degree that it’s being interpreted that way now. In preparation for writing the book, Atwood compiled a notebook of atrocities against women in several different cultures throughout history.

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    Jocelyn Woods

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