Yes, The Handmaid's Tale Is Banned!

The Handmaid’s Tale imagines a near-future America overthrown by a theocratic regime called Gilead, where women are stripped of all rights and fertile women are assigned to powerful men as “handmaids,” forced to bear children. Offred narrates her life under this regime: the rituals of state-sanctioned rape, the surveillance, the public executions, and the small acts of resistance that keep her sane. Published in 1985, Atwood’s novel drew on historical precedents for every element of its dystopia, and the Hulu adaptation reignited public interest beginning in 2017.

With 67 bans in the 2023-24 school year, The Handmaid’s Tale has been challenged from both ends of the political spectrum. Some object to its sexual content and anti-religious themes; others have called it offensive to Christianity. The novel’s sharp political commentary has made it a flashpoint in the culture wars, particularly as real-world debates about reproductive rights have intensified. School districts in Florida, Texas, Virginia, Tennessee, and elsewhere have removed it from library shelves, a development Atwood herself has called deeply ironic given the book’s central theme of censorship and control.