SUBJUGATED BODIES, VIOLATED TERRITORIES: Rape Culture in The Handmaid's Tale
Name: REGINA LÚCIA TRINDADE COSTA
Publication date: 12/08/2025
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ERLY MILTON VIEIRA JUNIOR | Examinador Interno |
| GABRIELA SANTOS ALVES | Presidente |
| VANESSA MAIA BARBOSA DE PAIVA | Examinador Externo |
Summary: This research aimed to identify and analyze the narrative, technical, and aesthetic strategies
present in the first season of the series The Handmaid’s Tale (2017) that give form to rape
culture and other forms of oppression against female bodies, such as torture, mutilation,
intellectual alienation, confinement, and physical and psychological abuse. In a context where
non-lethal violence against women continues to grow systematically, while hard-won
individual rights are being rolled back, this study is especially relevant. It contributes to the
ongoing global debate on gender-based violence and rape culture, which gains urgency in
parallel with the resurfacing of far-right political movements in contemporary society. To
examine these strategies and understand how they operate, a qualitative approach was adopted,
using film analysis and feminist critical theory as methodological tools.
