Sexism in ASOIF

            In Saladin Ahmed’s article on Salon.com “Is Game of Thrones too White?” he examines racial representation in ASOIF in order to get at the bigger question: is today’s fantasy literature too white? While Ahmed agrees fantasy literature is in a better place today than it was in Tolkien’s time, he believes it still isn’t in the best place. This is primarily because although fantasy literature is more racially inclusive today, people of color are not always represented in the best light. While these are important questions, I think it is equally important to ask: is fantasy literature less sexist today than it was in Tolkien’s time? This question, like Ahmed’s has a complicated answer.
            It is undeniable that ASOIF does show improvement over fantasy literature during Tolkien’s time. The presence of characters like Ayra Stark and Brienne of Tarth reflects a more open-minded approach to character development than normally expected in medievalism. Although it is a common misconception that warrior women didn’t live during medieval times, it does not stop a large majority of people from believing it to be inaccurate for characters such as Ayra and Brienne to be present in ASOIF and similar works. Many would say they are simply present in the franchise to satisfy feminist readers/viewers, but as we have discussed in class this simply is not the case.
Ayra and Brienne are not the only examples of strong women in ASOIF, however. Women certainly don’t have to be well trained with a sword to be powerful in Martin’s word. While there is no shortage of examples of empowered women of nobility (Cersei, Daenerys, older Sansa, Lyanna Mormont, Olenna Tyrell, etc.), there are even a few examples of hard working businesswomen. For example Chataya, a prostitute from the summer isles, owns an upscale brothel in King’s Landing. While owning a whorehouse definitely isn’t the best business Martin could have placed his female entrepreneur in, at least Chataya exists and a man doesn’t own the whorehouse.

            However, at the same time, I wouldn’t go so far as to say Martin is the most enlightened person when it comes to women. Nearly every female in ASOIF is sexualized at some point including young girls like fourteen-year-old Daenerys. Additionally, HBO has taken great liberty in showing frequent nudity. This begs the question: how female positive can ASOIF be when it is drowning in boobs? I, like Ahmed, basically believe that fantasy literature has made improvements when it comes to being inclusive. At least here women are main characters and serve more than to act as damsels in distress. In Martin’s world they can be knights, faceless men, sole rulers of kingdoms, or even just own their own business, and at least that’s more than women got in Arda. Of course Martin is sex obsessed and we have to read a description of every woman in ASOIF’s breasts but at the end of the day Martin has written an outstanding story. Unfortunately that story was written during a time that was/is still sexist, racist, and xenophobic and will inevitably reflect that.

Comments

  1. Caroline OgdenApril 23, 2018 at 12:43 PM

    The answer to your initial question, as you've reviewed, is indeed very complicated. While fantasy is in a better place than it once was, are we going to be content with where it is, or continue striving to improve upon its representation further? While the morality and perspective of novels are usually influenced by the real world they originate from, do authors have to wait for the world to change for their representation of women and PoC to change? Or can we use novels to reflect how the world could more positively portray women and PoC?

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