Oppressed women?

Who is Serena Joy? She is the wife of the commander. She strikes the fear of God into Offred's body. She is an oppressed women. In this society there are a lot of women that are wronged. The handmaids are forced to have sex with the commanders, and the wives are forced to watch the ceremony and oblige to their husbands. But what is oppression? It is the prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control. There are a lot of things in this book that are more dystopian, but the oppression of women is not.

In marriages today women are oppressed. In countries like India women are not controlled. In India there are still arranged marriages. Marriage in India is more then two people that love each other finding each other. It is more of a way to attain "social adulthood" as the article says. If a women is lucky she will fall in love with her husband, but it takes time. In many cases it is a patrilocal marriage. This is when a women leaves her family and moves into the home of her husband. This may be where the oppression starts. A woman is living her home and family, where she has gotten nothing but unconditional love, to a new place with people she is unfamiliar with. She is chosen by her qualities, but not qualities we are used to. The families are interested in issues of virginity, chastity, protection of the girls, and other things that are more behavioral or physical in a girl. They care not about how the girl will adjust after she is married. In the 2001 Census in India, the records showed that 1.5 millions girls were married under the age of fifteen. Dystopian books have started to become more predictive. What does this mean about a book like this? Back in the 16th century royals only got married to reproduce for heirs to the throne. Since then the world has tried to change. But will we end up back in the 16th century?