Serious Sex

"It has nothing to do with passion or love or romance or any of those other notions we used to titillate ourselves with. It has nothing to do with sexual desire, at least for me, and certainly not for Serena. Arousal and orgasm are no longer thought necessary; they would be a symptom of frivolity merely, like jazz garters or beauty spots: superfluous distractions for the light-minded... This is not recreation, even for the Commander. This is serious business. The Commander, too, is doing his duty."

The sex scene in this text, on pages 94-95, gives us a glimpse into the nonexistence of love in Gilead. Instead, love is traded for procreation, as there is a significant part of the population that infertile. How Offred processes the words to use surrounding the sex scene allows us to see how administrative it has become, which lowers the worth and significance of not only the women, but the men as well. There is a power differential between the Commander, his Wife, and the Handmaid. All three of them are in the room for this, which leads us to see the emphasis on procreation as one of the most vital encounters in the entire society. The phrase, "It has nothing to do with sexual desire," stuck with me, as usually there is some level of attraction between a couple. If it doesn't, then it is assault. So, the very act of this unwilling submission to the Commander could qualify as assault. If this entire society is formed around the dismissal of repeated assault... HOW scary is it that our current society may be taking us down that exact same road?

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