Rape culture within GOT

Game of thrones has a reputation for very brutal and very dark events that occur such as mass killings of innocents, savage actions to take the throne, and rape culture. Rape culture is a widely used concept that people assume the medieval era to be consisted of. GOT contains men in power, a destined dominance through barbaric nature. Women, though having more of a position in power within the novels, still undergo hard times by manipulation and being seen as sexual objects by men. They are clearly treated in such ways in the series as a few of the more evil characters stated their views on showing dominance through raping and abusing women. Ramsay, Lord Tyrell, Viserys, and Robert Baratheon are a few examples of powerful men who had bad intentions. Ramsay violated Sansa after marrying her; Lord Tyrell had his own sons first true love to sleep with and be payed by guards of his kingdom due to the thoughts of her being of little worth to his son; Viserys though not sexually abusing his sister- gave off a vibe that provoked possible intentions of violating her through events like undressing her; and lastly, Robert Baratheon was married to Cersei to unite houses however it seemed to be loveless since he put Cersei and Joffrey under abuse and was unfaithful. Of course their fates took a turn for the worst as the fiction of the current generation recognizes their actions as completely wrong and unwanted. Another instance is the Dothraki’s lifestyle for male warriors. After battle, they are to retrieve the prize of taking women sexually as well as their land after defeating their enemies leaders. Khal Drogo said in a battle speech within the dothraki language that he will continually kill their men and rape their women. He said this in such a barbaric and inhumane manner of pillaging their enemies land and mounting women would put those leaders into shame and despair. In times like this, authors write sexual violations as tools used by these characters to pinpoint evil and corrupt leadership. The treatment of prostitutes and whores is also recognized within the novels. Tyrion would continually fall in love with prostitutes which is shamed upon by his father. He constantly fights the opinions of the men around him who views prostitutes as nothing but a sex tool. Then, there’s Joffrey Baratheon. He was treated with two prostitutes to help him take a step into manhood and reserve his pleasures as a king. However, Joffrey played sick games and ended up killing the two women. They were just targets for his violent amusement. Robert was very unfaithful to Cersei as a husband but got around as a King. He slept with various prostitutes and even impregnated a few. One of which was killed along with her child by Cersei’s command. Overall, the culture in fiction for the medieval genre accepted events like sexual abuse to occur especially those in power with bad intentions to place them as antagonists.

-KW