Women and property have always been interchangeable. There is hardly a time in history when a woman was not used as a bargaining chip. In The Handmaid's Tale it is a given that the women in the story are nothing more than property and used and treated as such. Offred was pulled from her husband and daughter and forced into sexual slavery and reproduction. Once she is barren her life will be worth even less. Right now she has some value, however small it is, but after she has "dried up" she will be worth almost nothing. The only thing she will then be good for is some cooking and cleaning, maybe.
It's hard to shake the idea that even today women are still viewed as someone's property and this isn't just a societal mindset this is a religious mindset. Across the world societies that are different on every level, but have religion have found it necessary to view women as property. Property of their father/family, property of their husband, property of their "God". It is amazing. If you're not with one you're with the other and if you have neither you still have your "God". How can we change the way society views women if religion still prevails and enforces this concept?
This issue was brought up in the last reading asking if the women of the middle east needed saving. When is culture just culture and when is it a serious issue of oppression? Where is that line in the sand? What side do I stand on to make my choice? There isn't one that I can see. I have to say. So how then do we distinguish oppression and culture?
I agree with you aboutwomen being seen as "property". This also ties into the "trophy wife" image as well.
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