Let’s say it together: Gratuitous rape
scenes do not compelling plot developments make.
What Game of Thrones fans have been dreading ever since Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) was
betrothed to Westeros’ sadistic psychopath-in-chief, Ramsay Bolton, has
happened. The dread brewing in my gut as she said “I take this man” in the
weirwood, and Bolton broke into a smarmy, cruel smile — I’ll hand it to actor Iwan Rheon,
he’s good — turned into full-on nausea when Bolton raped her. I was far from the only one.
Mostly it's just boring. "Oh dear. We need to show a woman's vulnerability. How do we do it? I know! Rape her!"
— roxane gay (@rgay) May 18, 2015Sansa Stark has grown into a smart, courageous and strong female character. Why did the #GOT show runners need to invent that rape scene?
— Jennifer Gasbarro (@JenGasbarro) May 18, 2015#GoT's major flaw is a lazy reliance on Who Will Rape Sansa as a narrative engine. (Joffrey? Peasants? The Hound? Tyrion? Littlefinger? Etc)
— Spencer Ackerman (@attackerman) May 18, 2015Sansa is only one of several characters on the series constantly threatened with sexual violence, and this season gave fans hope that she would gather the strength to strike back. Hands
up if you were hoping she had a butcher's knife hidden in the sleeve of her wedding gown.
For much of the show's fifth season, young Stark has been presented as a survivor clawing her way toward agency. She got a goth-girl makeover, has taken lessons from Petyr Baelish (Aiden Gillen) on playing the cut-throat game of politics, and has grown tougher and more self-assured in her quest to save herself — and possibly avenge her
family.
When Baelish convinced her to accept a marriage proposal from Ramsay Bolton, he said: “You’ve been a bystander to tragedy from the day they
executed your father. Stop being a bystander, do you hear
me? Stop running. There’s no justice in the world. Not unless we make it. You
loved your family. Avenge them.”
Baelish’s words, combined with the fact that the show has already put Sansa through four seasons of abuse at the hands of men, made me hopeful that this would finally be the season that we witness her
triumph.
The camera then cuts to Reek (another of Ramsay's victims). He weeps as he is forced to watch — an indication that Theon Greyjoy is still alive in there and may break free from Ramsay’s
control. Still, in resting the camera on Reek for the remainder of the scene, the showrunners chose to focus on the impact that Sansa's violation has on someone else. She is robbed of her own point of view.
Some have taken misguided comfort in pointing out that at least Sansa’s rape scene wasn’t as brutal as what happens in the book (to another character; Sansa inherits her storyline in the series). However, the show has a long history of departing from its source material, so that’s not a legitimate excuse for Sansa's wanton victimization. It
is possible to write fantasy without falling back on the harmful cliché that an old-timey setting offers a free pass to show women getting raped all the time.