I like this article a lot, but I do disagree on your comparison. I actually found Hulu’s representation of the Handmaid’s tale quite apt as a metaphor for our current political climate. No, the US isn’t a theocratic regime, but neither was Gilead in the beginning. It showed women slowly having their rights eroded under the guise of national security and small political gains for the more religiously conservative, until by the time women were fighting back, it was too late. You mention Iran and how women lost their rights, virtually overnight (btw, by a US sponsored coup to depose the democratically elected leader and put in more American friendly interests) as a more fair comparison- and while I totally agree, often times women’s rights don’t just vanish they are taken piecemeal. Both are valid comparisons. Both are fair. And while a woman in Iran can read about Gilead and relate at a deeper level, it doesn’t mean those of us in the west can’t see it as an omen of things that can possibly happen if we are terribly unlucky, or woefully not vigilant. As a quick and last example since you mention Roe: Even though women won the right to a safe and legal abortion in 1973, due to chipping away at those rights women in certain states, like Missouri, have just one remaining clinic (not to mention a ridiculous amount of restrictions and loopholes) that make that right virtually inaccessible to many women. So even in the US, the way women (and everyones rights really) are distributed is already unequal.