Claire McCaskil and SJW rage on Game of thrones. (spoilers mentioned)

[Deleted]

So this keeps raising its ugly ass head on my timelines.

There seems to be a vocal outrage at the rape scene of Sansa stark . Claire McCaskil (US Senator) has not said she will not watch the show anymore more.. mix of other blah blah.. then gratuitous rape scene.

Now whilst I accept there may be a line, I don't remember any outrage when the same character tortures Theon then cuts off his manhood, belittles and mentally destroys him; even pretends to eat his manhood in front of him

Now frankly, I find the issue regarding Theon a hell of a lot worse. not to mention the fact that he was forced to watch it

But ofc this is being turned into a "womens issue". Im also not sure why this specific rape scene is any worse than the multitude of other rape scenes in the show before hand

[Snowcharm]

Sansa might be her fave char and she hasn't read the books I bet,

[Veluren]

From what I understand (I'm only tangentally following the fallout myself) it's because it was a rape scene that either wasn't discussed or didn't happen at all in the books, and the trauma she suffered came from somewhere else?

So the outrage isn't so much "She got raped" as "The writers used rape as an excuse because we don't know what it was in the book"

I think it's just a re-ignition of the "We need a female character to suffer a trauma, I know, rape!" discussion in regards to media.

[Deleted]

Sansa might be her fave char and she hasn't read the books I bet,

In the book it isnt Sansa anyway. Using Sansa was a tv choice

- - - Updated - - -

From what I understand (I'm only tangentally following the fallout myself) it's because it was a rape scene that either wasn't discussed or didn't happen at all in the books, and the trauma she suffered came from somewhere else?

So the outrage isn't so much "She got raped" as "The writers used rape as an excuse because we don't know what it was in the book"

the scene was there. Just with a different person. the only real change is the change of person. the main shock is also meant to be about Theon too and what he sees, not so much the other characters.

[Stormdash]

I gotta admit, I chuckled a little -- not in amusement -- that the show has now officially gone out of its way to portray sexual assaults upon characters that even GRRM did not see fit to include in his novels. But that said, it still was completely consistent with both the unapologetic aesthetic of the show*, and completely justified in the plot.

*If anything, the showrunners made concessions to audience sensitivity they never had before, with the artful "we react to a forced observer's reaction" rather than showing us directly. Compare to Daenarys' wedding night in Season 1 -- no less rape than what happened Sunday, even if later she came to genuinely love Drogo. Are we to believe that it's less outrageous only because we barely knew Dany then and we have been with Sansa for years now? Lorewise (to the novels anyway), those characters are of an age with each other, even if Emilia Clarke is several years older than Sophie Turner.

[Chelly]

Sounds like the rape scene succeeded in doing what it intended to do - make the viewer feel disgusted/uncomfortable.
It's a pretty brutal medieval fantasy world anyways, of course there'll be rape.

[Sliske]

Rape doesn't happen in fiction

Oooooooooooooooooooooooookay

[Titan2k10]

Of course rape is disgusting but lets take a look at the setting of this book....it is set in a medieval fantasy land....what did people expect?

[Veluren]

I just went and read up a bit more, it's mostly if not all people angry at the "Traumatic experience + Female = she was raped" formula in media in general, as opposed to something else.

I guess something like that could fly under the radar in a book because it's only as visualized as your mind allows, but on TV, even if it's not overtly shown, it's easier to assign identities because they do it for you

[Vilendor]

Visually it wasn't even a hard scene. And it's not just a random rape to catch more viewer, if i have to guess it will start important character developments with both Theon and Sansa. And for the love of the god, this is what happened back in those days... the middle age was a real rape culture, not the present.

[Ragedaug]

Sansa might be her fave char and she hasn't read the books I bet,

If Sansa is her favorite character it's a pretty safe bet that she hasn't read the book. Not a lot of love from the pre-TV show, GoT book reading community for Sansa.

[Deleted]

Visually it wasn't even a hard scene. And it's not just a random rape to catch more viewer, if i have to guess it will start important character developments with both Theon and Sansa. And for the love of the god, this is what happened back in those days... the middle age was a real rape culture, not the present.

my big issue more than anything, is that there is such a foul cry over a rape scene. yet we can chop off a guys piece, then make jokes about eating it. and no-one bats an eyelid.

Have we really got to such a point where you cannot even write a work of fiction without people complaining about it?

[Titan2k10]

Visually it wasn't even a hard scene. And it's not just a random rape to catch more viewer, if i have to guess it will start important character developments with both Theon and Sansa. And for the love of the god, this is what happened back in those days... the middle age was a real rape culture, not the present.

This so much. I can't get over the people screaming foul and saying they won't watch it anymore. Sorry this is a cruel world that doesn't conform to your SJW standards....

[Elegiac]

Of course rape is disgusting but lets take a look at the setting of this book....it is set in a medieval fantasy land....what did people expect?

This scene actually is not in the book. Moreover, we've already established that Sansa has a shit life and that women in Westeros have it badly; the issue is that rape is being used as filler content rather than in meaningful fashion.

The difference between this and Theon's little adventure was the latter was meaningful to the plot in terms of Theon's development as a character. This was gratuitous in every sense of the word.

[Simulacrum]

It wasn't rape, though. She consented.

She isn't some little, powerless girl. She chose to be there, when she could've gone with brienne, could've defied littlefinger, could've escaped winterfell, but she went in there knowing that she'd have to marry and sleep with ramsay to consumate the marriage.

She didn't enjoy it, but she consented.

[Doctor Amadeus]

Good, rape isn't romantic, it shouldn't be a plot device constantly propped up as some sort of none event. Entertainment does have an influence, whether people want to admit that some times or not.

[Chelly]

Have we really got to such a point where you cannot even write a work of fiction without people complaining about it?

This isn't a new phenomenon. People have lost their shit over content in fiction for centuries.

[Independent voter]

That's the second wife to be raped on the show. Khaleesi was raped by Drogo.

I think in the US it was legal to rape your wife until recently. It just wasn't considered rape.

[zenkai]

*SPOILERS* (Of course if you're reading this then you should already know this)

The woman is an idiot and is just looking for publicity.

Pregnant woman gets stabbed in the stomach repeatedly - No problem!
Woman willingly wed on her wedding day has uncomfortable sex with her husband - That's just going to far!

Liberal Logic at it's finest

Not to mention the whole damn thing is just TV and does nothing but make Ramsey a better bad guy, a "good" bad guy makes for a better story!!

[Deleted]

This scene actually is not in the book. Moreover, we've already established that Sansa has a shit life and that women in Westeros have it badly; the issue is that rape is being used as filler content rather than in meaningful fashion.

The difference between this and Theon's little adventure was the latter was meaningful to the plot in terms of Theon's development as a character. This was gratuitous in every sense of the word.

thats the issue i have with it. the scene was in the book. Just not with sansa

Sansa has been swapped for Jeyne Poole in the show. More importantly people are forgetting that Ramsey's rape of Jeyne was the catalyst that prompted Reek's redemption narrative so it all actually has a purpose.
I would also make the gues that given the character swap, they mean to develop sansa character more based of the event