Women in Sci-Fi and Fantasy/Game of Thrones

[Irulan]

{may contain spoilers}
I've been working my way through Game of Thrones, and finally am slogging my way through vol 5 Dances with Dragons. I read a section last night that made me uncomfortable in a subtle way and was discussing it with a friend who had commented that she didn't like how women overall were presented in the series, and had quit after #3.

She then pointed me to this analysis,

George RR Martin is Creepy....
Which I am pretty much inclined to agree with. This blog entry brings to light the unspoken that was making me uncomfortable. Scroll down to the female character score card if you want to skip some snarky but spot-on analysis. Imsho.


What really got to me was a scene presented as a rape, then it turns out that it's Asha's "lover" threatening her with a knife, tearing her clothes off, roughing her up and raping her, but since he's the lover, it's really just rough sex that turns passionate, and not real rape. The fact that this man doing the violence is her lover is almost an endnote to the whole thing. Please insert sarcasm here.

I'm not sure that many female authors do any better. From female authors we get wonder women like Ayla ( Earth's Children**. Jeam M Auel) or Phedre` Delauney (Kushiel's Avatar etc, Jaqueline Carey). These authors present strong female characters who do a lot of cool things, but the "amazingness" of these women is hard to take seriously.

I really like the balanced female and male characters in much of Juliet Marillier's book (Sevenwaters, Breidie Chronicles etc) I think she's one of the few fantasy authors who gives equal respect to male and females. Still, in the world of fantasy stories, it's really hard to escape stereotypes of one sort or another.

That blog just kind of blew my mind, and I thought I'd share it here.
There's another blog entry ( different blog) I read that likened Jondalar and Ayla to Ken and Barbie that was pretty funny. I did like that series, for entertainment, aside from the last one which was truly terrible.



** never mind the last one, it was beyond horrible.