Reporter Emily Peck writing in The Huffington Post takes a turn making some pointed on-target comments presented in this piece
Women In The U.S. Don’t Live In A Dystopian Hellscape. Yet. “The Handmaid’s Tale” resonates, but there’s reason for hope
What is happening now in the United States is actually real progress for women. Despite progress, women in the U.S. still have a frighteningly long way to go.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” came out in 1985, a perfect comment for those times, when Reagan-era conservatives were working feverishly to restore “traditional” values, i.e., restricting women’s reproductive rights, demonizing single mothers (particularly ones of color) and generally making it harder for women to choose to work outside the home. Progress does not happen in a straight line. Setbacks are inevitable. What’s critical is what comes next.
Based on Margaret Atwood’s bestselling novel, the show debuted Wednesday after weeks of politically fueled anticipation. The timing is apt. The action takes place in Gilead, a fictional future America that has been taken over by a fundamentalist group of men who systematically strip away women’s rights.
That description might remind viewers of President Donald Trump’s first Monday in office when, surrounded by other men, he signed off on the global gag rule ― an anti-abortion order that restricts women’s reproductive rights around the world. Or, perhaps it also brings to mind Vice President Mike Pence, who chooses not to socialize alone with women who are not his wife.
But there’s plenty of reason to believe American women are not headed toward the extreme fate faced by their fictional counterparts, whose highest purpose is to serve their husbands and bear children ― and if they can’t do the latter, so-called handmaids are forced to serve as surrogates.
That’s not us. The resistance in the U.S. is very much alive and well. . . "
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