First and foremost, feminism is essential to human existence. Advocacy for women’s rights in the fight for equality of the sexes is the only way we are going to excel and reach our full potential as one half of our species. I, for one, get full-body goosebumps seeing a woman overcome obstacles and succeed, in film, science, music, technology and whichever field she may be in. We’re totally killing it and we deserve the recognition.
So, don’t get me wrong when I bode the question: are we taking our support a little bit too far?
I’ll be honest, this is a question that I usually respond to with a hard and passionate “no,” followed by a “stay-in-your-lane,” type comment, but I did not expect a TV show about dragons to sway me.
There has been an outpouring of fury regarding the latest Game of Thrones episode which triggered a number of viewers. Somewhere along the way, the storyline has turned from a battle between two houses to a battle of the sexes.
In the ring are Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen.
During the episode, we soon realize that Daenerys is possibly not in her right mind as she brutally incinerates tens of thousands of innocent people. Emotional, “do-the-right-thing” Jon, then seems to realize that he was backing a Queen with a pretty brutal streak.
The issue – the Queen is a woman.
In comes the online outrage.
Basically the issue that social media users are having is the fact that the writers are seemingly favoring Jon to sit on The Iron Throne rather than Daenerys. However, the fact that she’s a murdering psychopath seems to be somewhat of a non-detail in this situation.
Pre-barbecue, Lord Varys even literally said that a man should be on the throne, which could be what has so many people riled up.
Although many people are claiming her fiery slaughter is out of character, she has had a few run-ins with her mental state before, namely the Siege of Meereen where she crucified 163 people or when she put all those people in coffins and left them to die. Even actress Emilia Clarke and creator David Benioff have said that people should have seen this coming.
The argument is, Daenerys knows who her enemies are and makes sure they are wiped out. Not entirely sure innocent women and children should fall under that category.
The Unsullied didn’t. In fact, before liberating the Unsullied, Daenerys specifically commands the slaughter of just the Good Masters, soldiers, and slave overseers and spares the children, while freeing any slaves they found. (The guilty and not the innocent.)
I will not deny that our Mother of Dragons has been through a LOT over the past 8 seasons but that seems to be part of the job description if you’re a GOT character.
Sansa, Cersei, Arya and pretty much every female (and male) character have also had their fair share of trauma. No one is blaming Dany for acting emotionally. But, with “madness” running in the family and her latest debacle, it does seem that her impulsivity could make her a danger in a ruling position.
My qualm is, are we possibly supporting women so much that we’re actually turning a blind eye to when said woman is actually the wrong choice?
Devoting yourself to a cause is fantastic, but when the cause compromises your ability to determine right and wrong, it becomes dangerous. In the case of Daenerys and Jon, it’s clear that the smarter choice to rule to seven kingdoms is the less murderous, fire-breathing-dragon-less and less unhinged Jon Snow, but because he’s a man against a woman that seems to be all we’re taking note of.
Sometimes we need to just accept that a person’s gender is not the only thing we should be backing, but the person’s character.