The normalization of pedophilia in Gillead
Aside from the obvious and blatant predation of the perverted dentist, these poor girls are in general being groomed to believe that grown men preying on young girls is the expected norm. They consistently refer to Commander Judd as "young", while in fact he has silver hairs in his beard and is clearly old enough to be the girls' father. Hearing them refer to him as "young" makes us aware that in comparison to him, the vast majority of perspective husbands for them are downright geriatric, old enough to be their grandfathers. The only actual young man eligible for marriage is Garth, and even he as a young adult has a clear advantage over young teenagers in terms of life experience.
It's no secret that there is an enormous power imbalance between men and women in Gillead, but the Testaments are shedding light on the astronomical age differences as well. It wasn't as evident in the HMT because so much else was going on, but it is definitely an underlying issue which the entire hierarchy is founded upon. Their bragging rights about having higher fertility rates than the norm become so sinister when the realization dawns that they are bringing children into the world just so they can traffic them. Tragic!
Any thoughts on this? Do you think this dynamic was their sick intention all along, or did it just end up that way because the society has its roots in evil and this is the form it eventually took?