First off, I must make a full disclosure: I love this show. When it’s running I scramble to my TV on Sundays (*cough and by TV I mean computer Cough*) and, if you listened to me, you’d hear various grunts of “Oh snaaaaaap!” or “no way!” or “heck yes Khaleesi!” filtered, of course, by moans and the odd squeamish yelp when someone loses a limb (or other notable appendage).
I have not read the books (geeks please don’t hate me!) and I don’t plan to, for the sole reason that HBO has done such a fantastic job of writing out George R. R. Martin’s story. The politics - though less dense I’m told than the books - are brilliantly enacted, without treating the audience like they’re unable to follow. The characters are, for the most part, as nuanced as time allows in such a large cast. The pacing is set just perfectly to make me explode at the screen every time the credits pop up.
But here’s where I find myself at a bit of an impasse. I want to sing the praises of the show for all to hear, but I can’t seem to get beyond HBO’s obsession with, well, boobs. Now to be fair, it’s not like the source material doesn’t support this. However, there’s a big leap between a written sex scene between two or more participants and showing, repeatedly, naked female body after naked female body. By comparison, what little we see of their male counterparts is few and far between. For the most part, men are far more likely to remain entirely clothed.
Is this the biggest problem the show has? Decidedly not – that particular honour goes to the Stockholm syndrome Daenarys seems to have following her rape (and yes, it is rape) by Khal Drogo. Second place might go to the reduction of Cersei to the role of “crazy-mother” (although I actually think Lena Headey does an amazing job making Cersei a riveting character).
So the boobs are comparatively innocuous. But here’s why I bring up the issue. Lately there’s been this wonderful meme circulated of George R. R. Martin on the George Strombolopoulos show. Strombo, I’m assuming, had a very stupid question fed to him by his producers, and the exchange goes like this:
Bravo! Wonderful answer! Feminist-nerds rejoice! Except, wait a minute, what George (who is an Executive Producer on the show) and HBO are doing is, in fact, not treating the female characters like people at all. Not when a rite of passage for a new female character is stripping down, usually before we’ve even had a chance to get to know her character.
To avoid accusations of being a prude, I have to say I have zero issue with nudity in and of itself, and it can sometimes be used to great effect. In fact, one of the very first scenes with Daenarys and her creepy older brother uses her nakedness to show how helpless she is, and it works. But later, we get Margary Tyrell displaying everything, Melisandre (otherwise a very fascinating character) walking around in the buff, Robb Stark’s new wife stripping for him, and countless scenes in Littlefinger’s brothel which are wholly unnecessary.
So my question for you, reader, is do you agree that the overt sexualization of the women of GoT obfuscates any progress Martin/ HBO have made in depicting nuanced and varied female characters?
I get what you’re saying, but it never really bothered me that much, personally. And while there’s quite a bit of sex in the books, the tv series makes it seem like much more because of how scrunched together everything is in the timeline. As you read the books, everything’s much more spaced out and even the sex scenes in the books aren’t very descriptive (usually). One of the main reasons that I like Game of Thrones is that it’s so raw, and so real. In a setting like the one(s) in the series, it seems perfectly natural for people to behave that way, if you know your “history of sex,” so to speak. I’m sure by now you’re probably much more bothered by the scenes in the more recent seasons of the series anyway, ha.
As for women being used as props, unfortunately that’s just how society today is, really. These women are beautiful and have great bodies, to the point that it’s not always as much sexual as it is artistic. Also, it’s a show on HBO, which is known for this kinda thing. There are probably several reasons for the lack of male nudity, like the fact that a man’s naked body (especially the naughtybits) is not usually quite so pretty as a woman’s (anyone can agree with that). Besides, I’ve known plenty of men who don’t really like to be completely naked for very long, and would even prefer to have sex while still partially clothed. It’s probably pretty common. Women, however, are usually the more likely to walk around completely naked and comfortable, confident that their bodies are beautiful and that they are being admired.
I’m not saying that these views are decent or right, and maybe I’m wrong about some of it, but this is just how I see it and why it doesn’t bother me personally.
Hey! I’m glad this post is still garnering discussion! Thanks for the comment! I think the point I could have clarified was that there’s a difference between not being ok with “nudity” (which is silly) and finding the use of female nudity in a particular sexualized way troubling. I think a really good comparison is Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black”. By all accounts, there’s a ton of female nudity in the show, but it’s never presented with the idea that there’s a targeted demographic of men enjoying “booooooobs”. Now, I say this as a GoT fan, (and yes you’re right, the latest season has been more worrisome for its female characters!), but it’s worth noting that the way that women are seen - as you so correctly mention - as more beautiful, and more decorative, dehumanizes them. Gloria Steinem once said that men’s bodies are viewed as instruments, and women’s as ornaments. You don’t have to agree with everything Steinem says to see that there’s a strong element of that going on in Westeros.
The ridiculous objectification of women is the main reason I am put off my this show, which I would otherwise enjoy for the most part. In the last few seasons they have created plots out of nowhere for the point of showing women naked - the stupid Podrick brothel scenes and the Missandei/Grey Worm relationship.
They passed a line when they had rape occurring in the background of Craster’s Keep before showing close-ups of the women’s breasts bouncing, but not her face. That is using rape for gratuitous nudity and is quite disgusting.
The sex scenes are not the problem, for the most part, the big problem is the use of naked females everywhere that have no real point. That is when a woman is being used purely as an object or a prop. An object for men’s desire. Then there is the ridiculous sex scenes like the prostitute ‘training’ in Littlefinger’s office. His dialogue in that scene was actually very important and well done, but do people remember it? No, because the scene was dominated by sights and sounds of two women fucking in an hilariously fake-sounding scene. That’s where HBO insults their audience by assuming they don’t have the attention span for a few minutes of good dialogue and instead need porn scenes to keep watching.