My topic proposal of ‘The Handmaiden’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood is the short and long term effects of women being kept in slavery without amenities or freedoms and being forced into childbirth and subservience. I want to better understand the inner turmoil that these handmaidens would face and deal with daily. I am hoping to better understand why they did it and what kept them from going crazy and rebelling or if there was some sort of therapy in the rebellion that they did commit.
I plan on researching the psychological effects on women in the holocaust and also the effects on women in sex trafficking. The holocaust victims should be able to paint a picture of how the women reacted to being enslaved and treated as just another number. Sex trafficking effects should help me understand the abuse of being used and held without freedoms. I am hoping that by better understanding the effects that were caused we would better understand the reasons for underground reliefs and the simplicity of deciding to commit suicide.
I chose this topic not only to better help me understand what a women in this position would go through but also because it applies to the degree I am seeking. Although this is a fictional book there are many similarities to oppressed women and the subservient acts that take place.
picture: http://livesinlit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/handmaids-tale.jpg
link: http://books.google.com/books?id=z0aiWVfPiakC&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=PTSD+in+trafficked+women&source=bl&ots=iXosSBYzsC&sig=InTlR4aO9pRCeksaQl6QbyPJXE&hl=en&ei=O4_gTOqsMJO8sAPPlP2CCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=PTSD%20in%20trafficked%20women&f=false
This link is to a book on the trafficking of women and the effects that are caused.
