It's like the first time the bodies on the wall are introduced. It's overt and, yes, those are men hanging there and you're narrated through. The next time, there's a gaggle of handmaids just kicking their heels, slightly to one side, chatting away as another body is put up to hang. It's very cleverly done to desensitise and then throw it back later (as in the hanging at the end of episode three) to make you question again.
As an aside, that still also captures how superbly this has been filmed.
The Atlantic's reviewer calls it part Vermeer and part Kubrick.
