Margaret Atwood

Mary Webster, a colonial woman who was hanged in Hadley, Massachusetts in 1685, is the witch who inspired The Handmaid's Tale.

Mary Webster, a colonial woman who was hanged in Hadley, Massachusetts in 1685, is the witch who inspired The Handmaid's Tale.

Given that the only requirement to be forced into handmaiden-hood is fertility, I find it quite strange that I have seen not one handmaid who looks to be the size of the average American woman; all of them conform to the normative body requirements of Hollywood.

While Atwood's feminist dystopia remains our favorite nightmarish future, Marge Piercy's Woman On The Edge Of Time is far superior.