Sorry for the repost, editing for spelling/typos/general analness ><
Ok I don’t want to have a big argument or make this a personal thing. For the most part I’m going to let this go and chalk it up to personal differences, I suspect we could argue about Catelyn or Lysa forever and not agree anyway. But the one thing I just can’t not comment on is this;
Naturally the way in which Cersei was punished was sexist, but she brought it on herself
It wasn't just sexist it was sexualised, what Cersei experienced was absolutely a form of sexual violence.
So please. Just no. No woman (or any person) ever deserves sexual violence or brings sexual violence on themselves. That’s called victim blaming, and it’s a problematic thing to do, and despite that it’s something very entrenched in our culture, which is why I feel I have to say this.
Plain and simple freedom from sexual violence is a human right. It’s not a right you can waive, or something a person can ask for or ever deserve.
Despite that we live in a society where survivors of sexual violence, women in particular, are often blamed for the violence that was done to them (i.e. told they were asking for it because of something they did, or didn’t do, or wore or whatever else), which is just garbage. So I really have to object to hearing that any woman deserved sexual violence, because no, she didn’t, and it doesn’t matter what she did that doesn’t change. Did Cersei do shitty things and deserve some form of punishment? Yes, but sexual violence isn’t any way appropriate for that.
And before you tell me it’s just a book, it, and opinions about it, don't exist in isolation from the rest of society and social norms, and comments like these reflect some really problematic real world mentalities that should be challenged when they come up.
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timeasmymeasure
trigger warning: discussion of sexual violence
Date: 2012-02-17 04:58 am (UTC)Ok I don’t want to have a big argument or make this a personal thing. For the most part I’m going to let this go and chalk it up to personal differences, I suspect we could argue about Catelyn or Lysa forever and not agree anyway. But the one thing I just can’t not comment on is this;
Naturally the way in which Cersei was punished was sexist, but she brought it on herself
It wasn't just sexist it was sexualised, what Cersei experienced was absolutely a form of sexual violence.
So please. Just no. No woman (or any person) ever deserves sexual violence or brings sexual violence on themselves. That’s called victim blaming, and it’s a problematic thing to do, and despite that it’s something very entrenched in our culture, which is why I feel I have to say this.
Plain and simple freedom from sexual violence is a human right. It’s not a right you can waive, or something a person can ask for or ever deserve.
Despite that we live in a society where survivors of sexual violence, women in particular, are often blamed for the violence that was done to them (i.e. told they were asking for it because of something they did, or didn’t do, or wore or whatever else), which is just garbage. So I really have to object to hearing that any woman deserved sexual violence, because no, she didn’t, and it doesn’t matter what she did that doesn’t change. Did Cersei do shitty things and deserve some form of punishment? Yes, but sexual violence isn’t any way appropriate for that.
And before you tell me it’s just a book, it, and opinions about it, don't exist in isolation from the rest of society and social norms, and comments like these reflect some really problematic real world mentalities that should be challenged when they come up.