George R.R. Martin addresses the sexual violence on Game Of Thrones
Though we’ve all been temporarily distracted by the most recent episode’s awesome zombie battle (how awesome was that battle?), this current season of Game Of Thrones has been turning a lot of viewers off of the show due to its excessive depiction of sexual violence. We’d say “arguably excessive,” but come on. It’s not like a little bit of rape is okay.
George R.R. Martin, the guy who has been diligently writing the books that Game Of Thrones is based on for the last 100 years, has now spoken with Entertainment Weekly about the show’s use of sexual violence and its treatment of women in general. His point, essentially, is that a little bit of rape is not okay, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be included in the stories that he and HBO are trying to tell. He brings up Game Of Thrones’ connection to medieval Europe, and the fact that a more sanitized world (like the ones seen in similar stories like The Lord Of The Rings) would be a disingenuous presentation of that setting—even if his take on that setting is shown through a lens that also involves dragons and ice zombies.
It seems like a strong case, but if anyone’s going to be able to defend these stories it’s the guy who created them—although a lot of the actual rapes that have occurred on the show happened differently in the books. At the very least, it shows that Martin has definitely thought about all of this stuff. However, it remains to be seen if any of those aforementioned people who have given up on Game Of Thrones will actually buy his argument. You can read Martin’s entire response to Entertainment Weekly below:
The books reflect a patriarchal society based on the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages were not a time of sexual egalitarianism. It was very classist, dividing people into three classes. And they had strong ideas about the roles of women. One of the charges against Joan of Arc that got her burned at the stake was that she wore men’s clothing—that was not a small thing. There were, of course, some strong and competent women. It still doesn’t change the nature of the society. And if you look at the books, my heroes and viewpoint characters are all misfits. They’re outliers. They don’t fit the roles society has for them. They’re ‘cripples, bastards, and broken things‘—a dwarf, a fat guy who can’t fight, a bastard, and women who don’t fit comfortably into the roles society has for them (though there are also those who do—like Sansa and Catelyn).