Body Image and Sex

In my English class we are reading this books called "The Handmaid's Tale". A very large portion of the book is about sex and the entire point of the society in the book is about sexual reproduction and having babies. However, it is not a very romantic book and despite the amount of pleasure you would think all the characters have for being in this kind of society, the lack of pleasure, love, and companionship is abysmal. Sex has lost the aura that it has today, and has become an act of living and sustaining the human race rather than showing an amount of intimacy between people. In the book, they don't exactly go about sex in the same way as today either. It is an embarrassing and emotionless act between two people who have absolutely no feelings for each other, they both do their "duty" and leave. The main character in the novel Offred talks about her lack of self image, and how she doesn't even like looking at her naked body when she is bathing anymore because it has become shameful and taboo. She doesn't understand how in her previous life she was able to wear bikinis and actually show some skin. It reminds me of many girls today and how they are embarrassed of their bodies and develop eating disorders to achieve their idea of their "perfect" body. I have known so many people that have done many terrible things to themselves and have risked their health just to be able to fit in with society. Although, in the book they are not entirely trying to fit in with society rather being forced, they definitely have the aspect of being the best they can be and trying to be happy with who they are in some form.