Game of Thrones

Good morning and happy Friday! Here's all the feminist news on our radar today...

• This week, Avril Danica Haines was tapped to be deupty director of the CIA. Naturally, the Daily Beast took that as a cue to point out that Haines used to own a Baltimore bookstore that hosted weekly erotica readings. You know, since women should be ashamed of anything tying them to having a human sex drive. Way to crack that story wide open, assholes. [The Daily Beast]

• Microsoft responded to the rape joke made earlier this week during the company's Killer Instinct Xbox press demonstration at the E3 conference, saying "We remain committed to make gaming fun for everyone, and in that effort, we must lead by example.” [The Mary Sue]

• Maine Republican Ken Fredette took to the state's House floor Wednesday to oppose accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid coverage, invoking the classic sexist text Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus to buttress his claim that his "man's brain" can tell when free stuff isn't really free. You know, as opposed to female brains, which are full of lipstick and shoes and stuff.  [ThinkProgress]

• Why the last scene of the Game of Thrones season finale—you know, where Daenerys gets to play White Savior, complete with exalted crowd-surfing—was simply a continuation of a problematic characterization. [io9]

• As Sofia Coppola's new film The Bling Ring opens in selected cities this weekend, Indiewire takes note of the sexism that pervades its early reviews. [Indiewire]

• Like some of you, probably, BuzzFeed's Justine Sharrock wondered about the people who create Tumblrs devoted to chronicling their self-harm and advising others on self-harm. Here's her interview with one of them. (Obviously, trigger warning for cutting and other self-harming) [BuzzFeed]

• Are wedding presents a scourge of American culture? Yes indeedy, says Matthew Yglesias. (So if you're planning to stiff your friends at their weddings this summer, pin it on him.) [Slate]

• What happens when colleges and universities handle rape as an administrative matter, rather than a criminal one? Well, for starters, serial offenders are welcomed back on campus to rape again. [Bloomberg]

With every season of Game of Thrones, one question has become more insistent among in the blogosphere: "Is Game of Thrones feminist?" 

Here's the feminist news on our radar this morning!

• On Tuesday, The National Women' Law Center filed groundbreaking complaints against five health care institutions for sex discrimination. [NWCL]

• In other health care news, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York decided that the FDA must provide a two-pill variant of emergency contraception over the counter. [Reuters]

• Amanda Marcotte argues that the latest "Game of Thrones" episode is one example of the show's nuanced critique of patriarchy. [Raw Story]

• If you were upset by the choice of Zoe Saldana to play Nina Simone in the film "Nina," you'll be happy to know that Issa Rae, creator of "Awkward Black Girl," will be playing the singer in a biopic about Lorraine Hansberry. [Atlantic Black Star]

• What would the women from fashion sketches look like in real life? A Brazilian modeling agency problematizes the ultra-thin body ideals of the fashion industry by pairing sketches with images of real women. *Trigger Warning* [Sociological Images]

• The world's largest study on the children of sam-sex couples concludes that these children are doing just as well -- if not better -- than the rest of the population. [The Age]

• The British House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in England and Wales. [Pam's House of Blend] 

Share what you're reading in the comments.

 

Knights and queens, high-walled castles, brothels full of exquisite lady companions, more wine than anyone can drink—this is the world of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Though the show is set in a medieval land of chivalry where men hold most of the legal power, women find ways to pull the strings in Game of Thrones’ tales of conquest and copulation.

As Queen Cersei Lanister advises one young lady, “Tears aren’t the only woman’s weapon. The best one’s between your legs.”

 

A book about us? Could I get the audio version? I'm a bit busy at the moment...

The book Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (SmartPop/BenBella Books) was something I could not resist, despite the very real possibility that it would not only not answer my lingering Season Two questions, but also offer spoilers for things I didn’t even know I didn’t want to know about yet. Beyond the Wall, compiled by fantasy writer and editor James Lowder, is a collection of 14 essays on both the books and the show. It covers textual elements like their take on time and chronology (“An Unreliable World: History and Timekeeping in Westeros”), as well as ruminations on their place within literary and fantasy categories (“Beyond the Ghetto: How George R.R. Martin Fights the Genre Wars”)—a close read, in other words, on the Song of Ice and Fire phenomenon itself, and on the themes and images that pervade it.

Welcome back to another episode of Bitch Popaganda! Tune in as Andi, Brian, and Kelsey recap the season finales of AMC's The Killing and HBO's Game of Thrones. Also in this episode: Mary McNamara's recent LA Times article and the burning question, Why do we care about these shows so much?

Transcript available here (.doc).

It's time for another episode of Bitch Popaganda! Tune in as Julie, Brian, and Kelsey discuss HBO's new George R.R. Martin series Game of Thrones and "Funny Like a Guy: Anna Faris and Hollywood's woman problem," a profile by Tad Friend in this week's New Yorker.