Ratings Explanation

Language: The use of Diety in some form at least 15 times. The F word used 8 times. The s*** word nearly 20 times. Every other profane word imaginable used multiple times each. Also many crude terms used like slut, whore, dick, tits, etc…

Violence: There are many hangings described, some as they happen and in great detail, others are just a mention that there has been a hanging. Bodies are on display on The Wall as a warning to others.

Many instances in which women kill themselves in different ways. A woman is said to have been stabbed with a knitting needle. The Guardians shoot a woman who they think has a bomb.Someone tried to shoot Serena Joy, but her secretary was killed instead.

Moira is beaten for attempting to escape. “If you go too far away, they take you…and shoot you. Then they burn you up with the garbage.”

Many times mention is made about the violence that happens today in our society to women – rape, murder, abuse, bodies found in ditches, forests, refrigerators. Again, some in detail and others just  mentioned.

The Holocaust is also referenced and the Jews being killed and burned in ovens. Luke kills the family cat. The President is shot and the Congress “machine-gunned.”

A man, who has already been beaten very badly, is brought into a circle of women. Aunt Lydia blows a whistle and says “What you do is up to you, until I blow the whistle again.” The man is then kicked in the head several times by one of the women and then the rest of the women surround him with the intention of hurting and killing. No more is described other than screaming coming from the crowd.

Sexual Content: The entire plot of the book is about the role of sex in the lives of the characters, so nearly every page has a reference of some sort to sexual things. Many references to sex are described in a very poetic or wordy way, almost to disguise what’s really being talked about. Most are very crude and straightforward.

Because there are so many of them, it would be difficult to list every small reference to sex that the book makes. Below are some of the more straightforward things:

Offred hopes that a few of the men “get hard” while looking at her and have to “rub themselves on the barricade.”

The doctor has his hands between Offred’s legs and offers himself to her, to help her get pregnant.

Offred participates in the Ceremony in which the Commander’s Wife holds her from behind while the Commander has sex with her and tries to impregnate her. It’s mentioned that this Ceremony happens each month.

The Commander tells Offred to put on lingerie and takes her to a place that they call The Club. Many women are here and are dressed in different lingerie or revealing costumes. Other men talk to the women and take them away. The Commander take Offred to a room and she tells herself she must fake it.

Nick kisses Offred.

The Commander asks Offred to kiss him each night as she leaves his room. He asks her to do it like she really means it.

Moira says she is gay and likes women.

Men are said to be sex machines and that they need variety to stay satisfied.

Offred sneaks to Nick’s apartment almost every night to have sex. It is described a few times.

Porn films and magazines are described, some in very vivid detail, mentioning whips, chains and mutilation.

Phrases like “getting laid”, “on all fours”, “spread your legs”, “woman on woman” etc.. are used many times.

Mention is made a number of times about date rape, orgies and kinky sex but nothing is ever described or put into detail about these things.

Adult Themes: Women’s roles: the physical, social, economical and sexual status of women.
Oppression of women: using women only for sex, women being made to wear certain clothing to cover them from head to toe.

Women are taught to believe that being raped is their fault, that they make the men want to have sex with them and the men just can’t control themselves. They are also taught that they are a failure if they can’t get or stay pregnant. Women are not allowed to read or become friends with each other.

Social and political unrest. Male-dominated society. Some men are “allowed” to marry, others haven’t been “issued” a woman yet.

Death. Miscarriage. Suicide. Kidnapping. Book burning. Prostitution.

Details given about going to the doctor and what the doctor does to perform the check-up.
Women having their tubes tied, abortion, gang and date rape. Many characters smoke cigarettes. 

Synopsis

Offred lives in a society where the idea of sex as romantic, intimate and an act of love has been all but eliminated. In the Republic of Gilead, where Offred the Handmaid lives, sex is purely for procreation. Those who are fertile and are able to bear children — the Handmaids — are used simply for their bodies. Offred is viewed as nothing more than a functionality because she has viable ovaries and has been assigned to a Commander’s house to be impregnated by the Commander himself. Offred remembers her life before things became the way they are now, and tells how her life changed from a peaceful existence with her husband and daughter to being a Handmaid. Now her only reason for living is to become pregnant and bear a child for the Commander’s wife.