Friends,

I was reading Handmaid's tale earlier and I wanted to show this particular passage that really intrigued me.

       "The sidewalks here are cement. Like a child, I avoid stepping on the cracks.  I'm remembering my feet on these sidewalks, in the time before, and what I used to wear on them.  Sometimes it was shoes for running, with cushioned soles and breathing holes, and stars of fluorscent fabric that reflected light in the darkness.  Though I never ran at night; and in the daytime, only beside well-frequented roads.
       Women were not protected then.
       I remember the rules, rules that were never spelled out but that every woman knew: Don't open your door to a stranger, even if he says he is the police.  Make him slide his ID under the door.  Don't stop on the road to help a motorist pretending to be in trouble.  Keep the locks on and keep going.  If anyone whistles, don't turn to look.  Don't go into a laundromats, by yourself, at night.
       I think about laundromats.  What I wore into them: my own clothes, my own soap, my own money, money that I had earned myself.  I think about having such control (24)".

This is the debate really that most people bring up when discussing women and their role in society.  Woman have to protect themselves from the predators of the world.  They lurk in the shadows to take advantage of your weaknesses and women should watch out.  Alright I know this has been stated before by many people before but I am going to say it anyway:  Woman should not have to learn how not to get raped, men should learn not to rape.  Considering all the complications and emotional consequences thet rape victims face there aren't as many convictions as there should be.  I see what Atwood is trying to do here.  She present such a controversial and true point, yet she also puts the narator's desperations and joy in haviing such a freedom, when the society sees a lack of freedom as the only solution.  It is very clever in its own way.

I