Why Game of Thrones is Pissing Me Off!

SPOILERS!

I am a huge Game Of Thrones (GOT) fan. I watched the very first episode with glee, fell in love with Ned Stark, cried when his family was viciously torn apart by his good deeds, and wailed in horror when he literally lost his head to the evil King Joffrey. I've been disgusted by the behavior of many of the characters on the show, always finding reprieve from their depravity with scenes rich in retribution, or by the deeds of noble characters like Jon Snow and Brienne of Tarth. Yet, there has always been some discomfort that I've felt about certain aspects of the show; specifically the sexualization and brutalization of its female characters, not to mention female characters' inability to play the Game of Thrones without looking bitchy, callous and feeble minded.

I understand that I'm talking about a fantasy show here, dreamed from the brilliant mind of George R.R. Martin and birthed into existence by talented directors and screenwriters. I also understand that the books in which this show is based, is based on England's War of the Roses. It's essentially a medieval show where women, children, and old people, if it were to be historically accurate, would have been treated horribly. Yet, this is fantasy, a world that can do anything and everything. I mean, it has fucking dragons, White Walkers and underground living fairy folk! So, why is it so hard for the show's writers to create an episode where female full frontal is absent, a young woman isn't being violently raped, and the main female protagonists aren't displaying their breasts for show ratings, while GOT stars like, Kit Harington, are allowed butt doubles?

Almost all of the show's female characters have one time or another appeared nude, or in some sort of unbalanced sexual encounter, sometimes culminating in character rape.  Even Brienne of Tarth was almost raped until Jaimie Lannister saved her (which is interesting as she is supposed to be this badass warrior, even defeating The Hound at one point). I believe that I can count the number of women on the show, on one hand, that haven't been sexually brutalized or paraded naked in front of the camera. And guess what folks, almost all of them are really elderly, or are portrayed by actresses that have not yet reached the age of 18. 

Do GOT writers really believe that female characters require this treatment? Do they really think that its necessary to brutalize and humiliate every female character on the show?  I think so, especially with the recent rape and domestic abuse experienced by Sansa Stark.

Over the past five years, I've watched Sansa experience the emotional turmoil of losing her family, the threat of losing her life herself, and then blossoming into a wiser, savvier young woman, who, in my opinion, has been the only woman on the show to truly play the game of thrones. She has the potential to become a strong and empowered woman on the show,  a political force to be reckoned with, maybe even becoming the Wardeness of the North (which would be awesome).

I wanted to see one female character escape sexual abuse, and I even got my hopes up when Peter Baelish tells Sansa to take control of her life after her initial reaction to being betrothed to the sadistic Ramsey Bolton. Yet, on her wedding night, her marriage to Bolton is aggressively consummated in the presence of the mutilated and mind-fucked Theon Greyjoy. 

Sansa is being used just like one of Peter Baelish's prostitutes; essentially becoming an object to fuck in order to further, according to the show's writers, Sansa's storyline, and to strengthen her character on a whole. This form of logic troubles me, and I'm really starting to dislike the show's writers. Essentially, they are implying that rape has the ability to harden a woman's constitution, and that this is the only way to strengthen Sansa as a woman.

I don't know about you, but this was really the breaking point for me. The final little show detail that really got me yelling at the screen and wondering if the writers are just a group of misogynous pigs. I stewed on how the show has been making me feel recently, both as a fan and a woman, even taking a week off from writing to watch Mad Max-Fury Road (Yes to Furiosa!) and to question why the treatment of fictionalized female characters would even bother me. I read a few blogs pertaining to my concerns, devoured the comment sections on GOT recap pages, and started to articulate this article in my mind. This is what I found.

I found that quite a few fans are upset with the way women are depicted in this show, specifically the way they are used as sexual eye candy. Nudity, when done tastefully, doesn't bother me. Female nudity on the show is almost always done in a way that obviously says, "look at her beautiful tits, or youthful bottom, or flame tinged pubic hair and perve out on it if you must."  Nudity is used in an exploitive manner, and is a blatant way of garnering high ratings and delivering shock value to the GOT audience. Fine. This isn't unique to GOT, and television of late just seems to live for female full frontal. What I find unfair is that male actor's aren't  expected to let it all "hang" for the sake of their female audiences. They rarely have their nudity exploited. As there are probably an equal amount of men and women that view this show, some fans find it confounding that the show's hotties, namely Rob Stark, John Snow, Jaimie Lannister, Grey Worm, Ned Stark, etc., never had to share their goods with the lusty masses. Sure, there are scenes showcasing man on man love that provides some backside views, but full frontal is almost always withheld.

Some fans of the show think that anyone that feels uncomfortable with what happened to Sansa Stark, or any of the other women on the show for that matter, are crazy feminists who just want to play the victim card (check this article out by JUDGYBITCH). These "crazy feminists" are incapable of just enjoying this show for what it is; a fantasy. Other fans question why Theon Greyjoy's mutilation received little fan backlash, whilst the off-screen rape of Sansa Stark did.

I say, that there is a huge difference between characters like Theon Greyjoy and Sansa Stark being brutalized. For one, Theon was a horrible person prior to becoming Reek. He murdered innocent children (the farmer boys instead of Bran and Rickon), fingered his own sister, executed his former teacher, and back-stabbed the closest thing he had to a brother; Rob Stark. Sansa, on the other hand, did none of these things, with her experiences resulting from the bad decisions made by the men in her life. Just a side thought here, I thought it extremely disconcerting that when Sansa is victimized by Ramsey Bolton, the viewer experienced her suffering through the eyes of Theon, as if it impacted him more than her. That the viewer was somehow suppose to sympathize with him rather than with her.

Yes, there is brutalization of male characters on the show, yet its often of their own doing, implying that they are freer than their female counterparts. They are free to make their own decisions of betrayal (Tyrion Lannister), to march into battle (Stannis Baratheon), to disobey marriage arrangements (Rob Stark), to be noble when it could cost them everything (Ned Stark), to even have sex on their terms (Jon Snow). The men on the show are afforded the opportunity to also be wise (Aemon Targaryn), to be brilliant warriors (Bronn), to be not only be sharp of mind, but funny and likable (Tyrian Lannister), and loyal (Jorah Mormot). There's Brienne of Tarth and Arya Stark of course; two characters that have some freedoms and come off as intelligent women. Yet, the rest of female characters come off as bitchy and are terrible at playing the game of thrones. Take Cersei, for example, who makes terrible, unintelligent mistakes out of fear of losing power at King's Landing and who loves incestuous sexual relations with her brother and cousin (Lancel Lannister). Margery is no better, constantly scheming and using her sex to get her way, yet not smart enough to escape a prison cell. And of course there are the Sand Snakes, which come off as one dimensional characters, even using their sexuality on the show for no apparent reason. It's almost as if the show's writers are implying that women inherently suck at ruling! Oh, and Darnerys, well, she's trying to rule, but is really sucking at it (especially in the books). She also has to marry herself off in order to gain control of Mereen, which isn't a terrible idea, but does showcase how women on the show are often incomplete without some male influence.

As I said earlier, I recognize that every Sunday, as I enjoy a rich glass of red wine and homemade Sheppard's pie, I'm watching a fantasy. I love fantasy, and I love GOT, but I don't love the fact that the show's writer's find it too fantastical for a woman to exist on the show without being naked, raped or bitchy. All I want is a little less of this, to explore a storyline where women are defined by their character and not by the terrible things that have happened to them. I'll continue to watch the show in hopes that this will one day happen, but by God, if they make the actress that plays Arya Stark flaunt her breasts, or experience rape once she turns 18, I quit.