Historically Authentic Sexism in Fantasy. Let’s Unpack That.
(Looking over the comments and disagreements over GoT-- which as I said I have very not feminist reasons for not watching-- as far as brutal sex, I've read books probably a bit more accurate where either gender is brutalized but females then as now in most cases of course get the lions share.
One very interesting fantasy series equalized gender religious power during what would be considered medieval times. Either gender can be the equivalent to Bishop, say or any religious leadership.
The author-- who I cant remember right now took pains to say her books were not historically accurate, but she created a rich, intriguing world for all that. Edit: ha! I remember, the Crown of Stars series by Kate Elliot; and yes the main female protagonist gets raped, buts its relevant to the plot line only as she overcomes her trauma and fear, and escapes her tormentor--who wants her unrealized power far more than her wants her body. The rapes are neither detailed or graphic. Nor does she have legal recourse in this world. In this series, sexual assault is very much about power.
And let's not forget practices such as the historically accurate 'Castrato' in which untold thousands of young boys were castrated to maintain their singing voices. From what I'm reading, GoT probably took the actual content of the books and sexed it up. I remember a Machiavellian plot that took forever to come together. Blech. ANY way...)
History is actually a long series of centuries of men writing down what they thought was important and interesting, and FORGETTING TO WRITE ABOUT WOMEN. It’s also a long series of centuries of women’s work and women’s writing being actively denigrated by men. Writings were destroyed, contributions were downplayed, and women were actively oppressed against, absolutely.
But the forgetting part is vitally important. Most historians and other writers of what we now consider “primary sources” simply didn’t think about women and their contribution to society. They took it for granted, except when that contribution or its lack directly affected men.
This does not in any way mean that the female contribution to society was in fact less interesting or important, or complicated, simply that history—the process of writing down and preserving of the facts, not the facts/events themselves—was looking the other way.
In history, from primary sources through most of the 20th century (I will absolve our current century-in-progress out of kindness but let’s not kid ourselves here), the assumption has always been that men’s actions are more politically and historically significant to society, BECAUSE THEY ARE PERFORMED BY MEN.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/12/historically-authentic-sexism-in-fantasy-lets-unpack-that
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