d control access to food, another valuable resource that is rationed by a token system. This is another way they secure their power.
             The Commanders control the satisfaction of desire by regulating sexual activity. There are harsh punishments for the incorrect satisfaction of sexual desire such as homosexuality, masturbation and pornography. By this, low status men have the threat of punishment if they disobey the system, but the prospect of rewards if they conform to it. If men conform to the Gileadean regime they can obtain status, which can eventually lead to the issue of a Wife and perhaps even a Handmaid. Such issuing of random wives takes place at group gatherings called Prayvaganzas. Offred, a Handmaid, while attending one of these gatherings, comments "take a good look, because it's too late now. The Angels [(who are lower than the Commanders)] will qualify for Handmaid's later, especially if their new wives can't produce. But you girls are stuck." (page 233)
             The Commanders divide society to make sure that they can secure power over everyone. By assigning people to unequal levels of power and using severe punishment for wrongdoings and rewards for conformity, there is no tendency for effective activist opposition groups. In the broadest sense, there is a huge social and status segregation between men and women. A woman's most important trait is her gender. The general attitude of Gileadean society is "let the woman learn in silence with all subjection." (page 233) Women are defined only through what their body can produce. Offred comments: "I am a blank, here, between parentheses. Between other people." (page 240) Offred feels different now in the new regime, because she is defined not by ingenuity, intelligence or personality, but by her biological functions. She says, "now the flesh arranges itself differently. I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the sh...