‘Game Of Thrones’ Are Angry That Writers Portrayed Sexual Assault As A Tool For Female Empowerment

**This post is dark and full of spoilers**

This week’s Game of Thrones was jam-packed with a lot of callbacks to earlier seasons. After the North and all of their allies defeated the Night King and his army, many people were thinking back on their lives and how they got to where they are today.

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One of thepeople doing this was Lady Sansa Stark, the Lady of Winterfell. We’ve seen Sansa grow over the seasons from a timid young girl into a powerful and strong woman. She went through absolute hell to make her way back to Winterfell and regain her family’s home. She was not only Cersei Lannister’s captive, but she had to watch her father decapitated by Joffrey—by far the evilest King to rule the Seven Kingdoms on her watch. Additionally, she lost her mother and brother at the hands of the Lannister’s war. She was raped by Ramsay Bolton, who later killed her other brother. And, she had to stand by while everyone referred to her as a weak, simple little girl.

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Now, being back home and taking back her power, Sansa is stronger and smarter than ever. She has survived by keeping her mouth shut and abiding by whoever held her’s rules—but always had a plan in the back of her mind to get back home. She survived just like her sister, Arya, did—but, with less killing.

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In a conversation during Episode 4, Sansa sits with The Hound, and the two look back on the times they had spent together in King’s Landing. The Hound wanted to rescue Sansa and take her out of the city—away from Cersei and theLannisters, but, Sansa didn’t go. Instead, she ended up escaping with Littlefinger.

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The Hound pointed out that if she had left with him when he said, she wouldn’t have been raped and abused. But, her response was one that took many fans by surprise—she was almost grateful for her sexual assault and abuse, stating it made her a stronger, “more empowered woman.”

Many people online were quick to point out that this is a huge misogynistic decision of the show’s writers—who, are all males. Making a woman a strong character is one thing, but having a woman “appreciate” her rape and assault as a catalyst for being strong? That’s a slap in the face to women everywhere.

Hopefully the in the remaining episodes, DB and David went and asked somewomen their advice on the lines they give their female characters.