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An under-researched theme within dystopian futures and science fiction is motherhood, above all what this implies for women when they are commodified and turned into machines providers of newborns. Therefore, this chapter examines the similarities in the process of motherhood between women and nonhuman animals in the novels The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood and Tender Is the Flesh (Cadáver Exquisito, 2017) by Agustina María Bazterrica by applying the interdisciplinary fields of Animal Studies and Ecofeminism. Through the theory of the absent referent, coined by Carol J. Adams in her book The Sexual Politics of Meat (1990), this chapter studies how the writers explore the objectification of the female body as a provider of children and the parallels that exist with the exploitation of nonhuman animals. Both Atwood and Bazterrica express their concerns regarding the lack of bodily autonomy, especially of women, in the not-too-distant future.

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Domination and Silence: Motherhood in The Handmaid’s Tale and Cadáver Exquisito

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Sofía Duarte

摘要

An under-researched theme within dystopian futures and science fiction is motherhood, above all what this implies for women when they are commodified and turned into machines providers of newborns. Therefore, this chapter examines the similarities in the process of motherhood between women and nonhuman animals in the novels The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) by Margaret Atwood and Tender Is the Flesh (Cadáver Exquisito, 2017) by Agustina María Bazterrica by applying the interdisciplinary fields of Animal Studies and Ecofeminism. Through the theory of the absent referent, coined by Carol J. Adams in her book The Sexual Politics of Meat (1990), this chapter studies how the writers explore the objectification of the female body as a provider of children and the parallels that exist with the exploitation of nonhuman animals. Both Atwood and Bazterrica express their concerns regarding the lack of bodily autonomy, especially of women, in the not-too-distant future.