For a novel that was originally published in 1985 but takes place in the dystopic near future, The Handmaid’s Tale could not be any more relevant to today’s society. When the book was turned into a Hulu Original last year with just one season premiered so far, it didn’t take long to captivate a large following and eventually even win a Golden Globe. With season two premiering Thursday, April 25, I think it’s an appropriate time to discuss how the show is extremely applicable to society right now and why everyone should get pumped for season two.

1. Badass women!!

If the past two years have taught you anything, it should be that women are done being silent. They’ve felt done for decades now of course, but the Women’s March of 2017 was a major turning point in the fight for equality for all. Women are just fed up with being told what to do, how to act, and what to wear, and that was clearly shown during this global protest as well as during the #MeToo movement as well.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, a badass group of women form in secret to hopefully overthrow the dictatorship they are now forced to live in. Though they don’t openly protest because they know they would be killed on the spot, they do secretly communicate about overthrowing the new sexist government that now has complete control over them.

2. Civil unrest.

People fighting for equality for all was not the only protest we’ve seen since the show premiered. Frankly, watching innocent people die because of guns is a tragedy that should never happen in the first place, and with the recent Parkland shooting massacre that left 17 dead, something certainly needs to change. This is not the first massacre to occur because of guns, but I think this one was the trigger for more and more people to realize that gun laws need to step it up. In the show, people are shown protesting the new government that is trying to come into power. Riots break out and people are unfortunately killed, but it reflects the same dedication activists show today for issues, like gun laws, that they believe need change.

3. LGBTQ+ rights.

In the show, people are forced to hide their sexuality out of fear of being hung in the theocratic military dictatorship that they live in. They are told that being gay is a sin and that they should be punished for it. Yes, the hanging part thankfully is not applicable to today, but there is still a long way to go when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights.

Let us not forget that gay marriage was only just legalized three years ago back in 2015, and even though it is legalized that has not stopped people from being openly hostile towards it. They don’t touch upon transgender rights or gender fluidity in the show, but we can only imagine how it would be portrayed. This is just a reminder of how society used to act towards the LGBTQ+ community and how it can happen again if we turn our backs on the progress we’ve made.

4. Declining fertility rates.

Now on to the main reason as to how this dictatorship, known as Gilead, came about in The Handmaid’s Tale. Basically, the fertility rate was rapidly declining to the point where only a small number of women were able to carry a child to full term. This is when the government gets overthrown and Gilead is formed, which is when everyone basically lives by the bible, dresses like puritans, and fertile women are solely alive just to bear the infertile upper class’ children. Though this doesn’t seem like a realistic possibility in the near future, the fertility rate in the U.S. is in fact declining. This is mostly because women are choosing to have children over the age 30 when the chances of getting pregnant begin to decrease. However, we luckily aren’t at the point where even young women can’t get pregnant, so a future mirroring Gilead’s holds slim potential.

5. Political Scandal.

So this could be applicable to any decade really, but in light of Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, I think it’s worth mentioning. In a society where sex is only allowed for reproductive rights and by no means for enjoyment, you can only imagine how many times that is broken throughout the show. It happens most between the main character, Offred, and the high-ranking official that she was assigned to known as “The Commander” (Fred). Though illegal, The Commander often arranges secret meetings in his office with Offred during late hours and she only went out of fear of what he would do to her if she didn’t. As for today, political scandals happen too often to have any sort of surprise factor left to them, but the aftermath is usually as messy as Offred’s scandal with The Commander.

At the end of the day, The Handmaid’s Tale is a fictional story and most likely will never happen, thankfully, but it is slightly unsettling to see how many parallels can be made between this made up society and ours. With all the activists uniting and fighting for what’s right recently, we shouldn’t have to worry about this ever becoming a reality. That being said, there is still a lot of work to be done, and Gilead is just an exaggerated possibility of what could come if people ever stop fighting that good fight.