“The Handmaid’s Tale: The Graphic Novel” by Margaret Atwood. Photo Courtesy of Charles S. Kahlenberg
How the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Book Club explores the haunting visual world of The Handmaid’s Tale.
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By Kawthar A. Ebrahim
TAMPA, Fla. — For the Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGS) Book Club at the University of Tampa, choosing a graphic novel enhances visual literacy and makes for an easy read. In the red pages of Renee Nault’s graphic novel adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopian world of The Republic of Gilead exceeds storytelling and enters the realm of visual warnings.
“It’s one thing to read about something horrible. It’s another thing to see it with your own eyes,” said Paige Horton, club attendee and WGS minor.
The club helps students see the haunting reality of propaganda, the way textbooks wouldn’t provide contextual understanding and visual representation of authorial choices.
The WGS Book Club is led by Dr. Sarah Fryett and Dr. Claire Class, who designed the club to bridge the gap between the classroom and communal connection. Since its initiation in the Fall 2024 semester, the club has explored Genderqueer, The Black Flamingo, and a collection of poetry.
These titles are intentionally picked to challenge students to think about marginalized identities.
“We found that the graphic novel really was a great text for students to speak about not only the story, but the images represented,” Dr. Fryett said.
These “haunting” visuals serve as a great introduction to start discussing heavy topics such as state control and reproductive rights, especially without the pressure of academic validation and graded environments.
The breakdown of academic and financial barriers really sets the WGS Book Club apart from other clubs on campus. On a campus where socioeconomic diversity is often assumed to be non-existent, the Department of English and Writing and the College of Arts and Letters have accounted for it, ensuring that the WGS Program can provide every student with a free copy of their book.
“There’s a general misconception that students can just afford anything,” Horton said. “Allowing us to reflect on the 90% of UT[ampa] students who attend thanks to financial aid and different scholarships.”
By removing the cost, no matter how small, the club turns out to be what students describe as a “support system,” where Zoom meetings feel like a “FaceTime with friends,” said Divya Parray, club attendee.
The meetings offer a rare glimpse into the personal lives of students and faculty, breaking the traditional hierarchy of the classroom and allowing heavy topics to be discussed in an intentionally light environment.
“It feels like you’re just on FaceTime with your friends and you can just say whatever you want to say,” Horton said.
The two students seemed particularly amused by the presence of Dr. Fryett’s cats on screen, reflecting how the virtual Zoom meetings create a “super casual” atmosphere for conversation to flow easily.
Parray described the space by emphasizing the “leisure reading” aspect, where students can “kick their feet up in bed” and read the material at their own pace without the stress of exams and finals.
For many, The Handmaid’s Tale is particularly important, like Horton, who runs the Planned Parenthood chapter on campus.
The graphic novel is a powerful tool for discussing reproductive rights, a topic she admits can be difficult to navigate in a wide campus climate.
“[UTampa] isn’t the safest space for people who are caring about women’s rights and reproductive rights,” she said, “so being part of this minor has allowed me to express the things that I’m passionate about and not worry about getting backlash.”
The visual representation of the regime from the novel serves as a mirror to modern political tensions around the world, even for those who have never read the story or watched the famous TV series.
Parray describes how seeing the propaganda and the “haunting” visuals makes these huge issues feel more urgent, and helps students empathize with marginalized groups, which the “media tries to hide from you.”
On a college campus that can sometimes feel isolating for international students and those in marginalized groups, the WGS Book Club is more than a club — it is a community that provides a rare sanctuary of comfort.
As Horton and Parray said, the support of professors like Dr. Fryett and Dr. Class provides students with the “motivation to keep working on my academic journey and to not give up hope.”
No matter what they are reading, the message is always the same: at the WGS Book Club, everyone has a right to be heard.