Handmaids, anyone?

I have been trying to keep historical perspective and an inquiring mind when it comes to the so-called culture wars over the past few years. In particular, I'm curious about what seems to be a significant noose-tightening for women. I have a stake in that one!

Does anybody remember Margaret Atwood's book, The Handmaid's Tale? It made quite an impression on me when I first read it 25 years ago. (Could it be that long already?) It was a shivery piece of speculative fiction about the theocratic takeover of the country. It was sobering, but seemed unlikely. If you missed it, give it a read. Not the movie, the book.

Now I have to wonder how just unlikely it is.

Why ARE these self-proclaimed conservatives so hellbent on controlling women's reproductive lives? Rest assured, it's not just abortion. Contraception and even regular gynecological services are on the chopping block as well. If Planned Parenthood were to divest itself of all abortion related activities this minute, I hardly think there would be a change of rhetoric from their opponents. Control of women's lives?

For awhile I thought that men, who are often put off by the ick-factor of women's reproductive health, were simply putting it into the category of "woman problems" that didn't concern them. Sooner or later, I thought, they'd wake up to the fact that it was their wives, girlfriends, daughters and mothers who were affected. Sometime, it would have to occur to them that unwanted pregnancies didn't really begin in the cabbage patch, and would certainly have an effect on their own life plans. Then they would join the women in their lives and rise up to tell the politicos to knock it off. But that hasn't happened. Why not?

I'm not saying all men --- heavens no. I know men personally who are concerned and outspoken. But where are the rest of them? Which makes me wonder more.

Those other famous books about men being from Mars and women from Venus provided popular commentary about the age-old "battle of the sexes" --- grist for the talk shows and loud rhetoric, but how many people, even those who never read them, nodded sagely and agreed that men and women do seem to come from different planets? 

Historical perspective: Among the class of people in the US who spoke for public opinion and set cultural norms during the mid-to-late 19th Century, separation of the sexes became paramount. The "Cult of Domesticity" defined the sphere of women to be the home, while men populated the public sphere. By no means was this universal, especially among the class of people who, by necessity, occupied tenements and isolated farms. But it was the ideal, and it was justified by "Nature" and by the Bible. God proclaimed it, with all the verses trotted out to support that structure. 

Female modesty decreed that while motherhood was the highest attainment for any woman, the means of achieving it were taboo in public and often private discourse. Pregnancy was to be hidden and unmentionable. Women died of childbirth related conditions, but often also of undiagnosed gynelogical diseases because of the shame of seeing a physician about anything so immodest. It was better to suffer and die than endure the shame of a physical examination. Where were the men? Their husbands and fathers? Working. At the club. Fighting in wars. Hunting. Manly pursuits, all, far from the mysterious, somewhat sinister chambers occupied by women and their leaky, messy, unclean bodies. 

It took nearly a century for actively engaged women to achieve the vote. Today, we think that is such a bedrock freedom, guaranteed by the Constitution and innumerable laws, that it cannot be altered. But really? Could not a coordinated effort by determined lawmakers overturn those rights? Laws that are made by man can be unmade as well. Prohibition went away. How about women's rights? Minority rights? Is that the ultimate aim, the hidden agenda of those who now flail away at abortions and healthcare, unions and voting rights, education of the next generation? 

I hope I'm not falling into some sort of conspiracy haze. Anybody got another explanation?