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Last night onGame of Thrones, Arya Starklost her virginityand everyone on Twitter went absolutely insane.
Putting the moves on Gendry?
Its difficult for grown women to be treated fairly and given power inGame of Thrones.
(For that matter, its difficult in real life, too.)
But young girls are often not even taken seriously in Westeros.
They are seen as fragile, even when they demonstrate that they have guts made ofValyrian steel.
ConsiderLyanna Mormont, a Lady with a capitalL, who has proved she aint nothin to mess with.
Thats not out of a lack of respect, exactly, so much as a matter of practicality.
He says shes the future of their people and he wants to ensure she survives.
But the implication is that Lyanna doesnt have the capability to fight because shes a young girl.
To her credit, she ignores him and insists on going to battle alongside everyone else.
The message she sends: Nobody puts Lyanna in an underground crypt corner.
Dany also notes that Jon is only the second man in her life whom she has trusted so completely.
When Daenerys first met Drogo, she had no sense of agency and no power.
Martins books, but its reasonable to assume that she was in her teen years.
Sansas transformation from girl to woman has been even more startling.
When we first met Sansa in season one, she was essentially Winterfells own Regina George.
Both of them proved everyone who ever doubted them wrong.
Her encounter with Gendry confirms that she contains multitudes.
As we know, Arya loves her lists.
Sansa has proved that she contains multitudes, too.
She values decency in people, as she demonstrates in Sundays episode by speaking highly of Tyrion and Brienne.
Sansa, more than any other woman in the series, has risen above and beyond such descriptors.
At one point, a young girl asks Davos where she should report to help with the forthcoming battle.
I want to fight, too, she says, noting that her brothers were soldiers.
They give her another job, but make it clear that shes strong and capable.
She is pleased with this.
Imagine if Arya or Daenerys or Sansa had been treated this way, consistently, throughout their childhoods.
