" But if you happen to be a man some time in the future, and you've made it this far, please remember: you will never be subjected to the temptation of feeling you must forgive a man as a woman. It's difficult to resist, believe me. But remember that forgiveness, too, is a power; to beg for it is a power, and to withhold it or bestow it is a power, perhaps the greatest.

Maybe none of this is about control. Maybe it isn't really about who can own whom, who can do what to whom and get away with it even as far as death. Maybe it isn't about who can sit and who has to kneel or stand or lie down, legs spread open. Maybe it's about who can do what to whom, and be forgiven for it. Never tell me it amounts to the same thing. "

― Margaret Atwood , The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)