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Abstract

Feminists fought for the sake of justice and equality, paving the way for so many women to believe in their inner strength and ability to create change, but with the turn of the twenty-first century, many women who are victims of rape and sexual harassment still prefer to remain silent. The only possible way to move on and heal is to seek one’s truth, yet the voices of the victims are overlooked in the face of extreme oppressive patriarchal societies. The entertainment industry and social media are two powerful tools women can use to make their voices heard, and celebrities have taken the podium to address the horrifying terrors women face locally and internationally. Unfortunately, the rise in the number of women who believe that beauty and wealth is all what a woman should strive for nowadays, entrapping them once again in an era where Feminists like Betty Friedan and Jo Freeman feared once in the beginning of the second wave movement. Change is a must, and with hashtags like Time’s Up and Me Too, generating movements in social media and influencing the world, The Handmaid’s Tale has been revived, adapted, and expanded on t.v., with a gnawing sense of reality and injustice no woman of any cultural background can ignore. This paper explores the theories and ideas of second wave feminism in relation to twenty-first century women and analyzes the powerful impact The Handmaid’s Tale revival has had on shaking the silence of women who have been silent for so long.

Author Biography

Bassmah B. AlTaher is a Lecturer at the German Jordanian University, School of Basic Sciences and Humanities, with hands on experience in academia. Her passion is teaching, researching, and reading. She has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Jordan and specializes in African American Literature and the Modern Novel. Her main interests in the field of research are Feminism, Post-colonialism, Education, Intercultural Communications, and popular culture.

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