A common charge leveled against the fantasy genre, particularly “High fantasy”, is one of misogyny. There are readers who believe that merely setting a story in a milieu reflective of Medieval Europe is in itself misogynistic.
This is the 5th entry in a limited series about the George R. R. Martin series, A Song of Ice and Fire.
Those who argue that the genre is inherently misogynistic usually believe that it is a simple matter to simply insert into the story a caste of warrior women or something similar, while others believe such constructs to be anachronistic, and how women are treated in a fantasy tale should arise from the setting itself – what conditions exist in the fictional setting that would have allowed these women to exist? In a recent tweet to RLMiller, when she was seeking input for her diary on the women of the ASOIAF series, Robert Cruickshank responded: “anachronism never helps anything. By showing structural limitations on women b/c of gender values, it can be inherently feminist.”
If you Google misogyny in the fantasy genre, “A Song of Ice and Fire” is frequently mentioned, along with Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of Time” series, and other obvious ones, like John Norman’s “Gor” series. Before going into spoiler territory and discussing the books, I’d like to first go over the HBO series, which has only covered the first book, “Game of Thrones.”
“Game of Thrones” is as much an HBO Production as it is a George R. R. Martin one. Certainly there was plenty of sex in the book, but as always, HBO likes to take it to extremes, and their primary way to fill in bits of backstory is using “sexposition”, wherein characters engage in idle chatter about events past and present while having sex (assuming the viewer is paying close attention to the words and not just the jiggling flesh). It has not gone unnoticed that most of the time, the sex (male on female, anyway) is “doggie style”, with the woman being entered from behind. There is Jaime and Cersei, Drogo and Dany, Ros and Theon… Why did the producers decide to depict most sex in the show in that manner? With Jaime and Cersei it made some narrative sense, so both of them could see Bran in the window at the same time, but why the others? There are also charges of misogyny, along with racism, about the Dothraki wedding scene. Did you find any of these scenes to be misogynistic, or do you think they were justified to get the story across in the best manner? Do you think these scenes were misogynistic on the show but not in the book? Discuss.
Spoilers Ahead!
One of the criticisms I found while researching this topic was the idea that for any author writing this sort of book it is an exercise in wish fulfillment. Therefore, if GRRM wrote books that feature rape and degradation of very young women, he must wish himself in that setting.
It is true that GRRM puts his female characters through several kinds of hell. He also shows the effect those events have on them, and the characters grow and change considerably as the story proceeds.
One discussion forum I peeked into had several posters who thought that Martin showed far too much glee in his punishment of Cersei as she was forced to do her “walk of shame”. Detractors stated that they did not feel any “glee” and that she could not have been that badly affected by it, since it has been hinted that she is still largely unrepentant. Cersei is the least sympathetic female character in the books, so it was interesting to find as many readers as I did express discomfort regarding that scene.
Cersei Lannister seems to be irredeemably evil as a character. Even with her POVs she does not prove to be very sympathetic. Her love for her children is commendable, but her casual way of throwing people who annoy her or who are no longer useful into the hands of her pet torturer wipes out much of the humanity she derives from motherhood. She has sexual relations with some pretty ugly characters to keep them under her control and have them perform her dirty work and spying for her. While most of the other women in the series have grown as characters, Cersei does not seem to have grown at all.
Danaerys Targaryen is a character who has been through multiple travails, beginning as a rather timid young girl who has grown up with an abusive brother and the knowledge that her main importance is as an exchange on the royal marriage market. She convinces her new "barbarian" husband that actually having face to face sex is better than the degrading and impersonalized rape she has been enduring, and finds that the marriage becomes one of love (a conceit some readers may find hard to accept). She experiences all too brief happiness, loses it, then finally gains autonomy and a sense of self determination when she hatches her dragons. In Dance With Dragons, she appears to lose ground, seeming unable or unwilling to rule. She imagines herself in love, but it reads more like teenage obsession (which it could very well be, she is still a teenager) and she dismisses aid from Dorne because it comes in the form of a not very handsome prince. She seems unable to be objective, which is a helpful quality in a ruler.
Both Cersei and Dany as rulers make one bad decision after another. Is this because they are women? Not all of the men in the series are good rulers. Robert obviously has no interest in it, Ned is politically naïve, but Tyrion does show some ability, when allowed to. Cersei thinks the way to gain power by using her sexuality in exchange for loyalty and obedience. Are there no other avenues open to her? What happens as she ages and loses her looks? Dany is attempting to rule someplace where sexuality is open, and as such it is not the same kind of currency it is in Westeros. She has dragons, though. Are the dragons the only thing allowing her to hang on to her power? Can a woman in such a time and place achieve power by other means?
The Stark girls both go off on adventures rather well suited to the personalities they displayed in the opening chapters. Both seem to be getting punished for being what they are. Sansa suffers for hanging on to her unraveling dreams of romance, and Arya suffers because she refuses to conform to the expectations of the culture. Would things have been different if Sansa had been more clear-eyed about the world around her, or if Arya had played the part of the good little girl?
Do you see many instances of misogyny in the book or the television show? Which characters have I left out above that you feel have been viewed through such a lens? Discuss.