Now, you must be wondering why I specifically choose those two characters in my dedication. Well, that's because they are a perfect example of flawed female characters and how the fandom treats them.
Lady Catelyn Stark and her daughter Sansa Stark is not the first thing that most people had in mind when they hear the words "strong female character". They are non-combatants, their powers lay in their manners and words, and they have made mistakes before. In other words, a far cry from what most mainstream media outlets' description of "strong female character". But I disagree. As previously touched upon on the last Cherry Bomb, I think they are the perfect example of a strong female character; hell they are strong characters, period. They are not the untouchable, hard women that most people expect; they have flaws and dreams and motivation and that's what makes them strong as a character.
But I am not here to lists the endless reason why Lady Stark-Tully and Sansa is the true queens of Westeros. I am here to discuss the various way fandom respond to them. Spoiler alert: it ain't pretty.
Here in Cherry Bomb, we don't name names other than our own. But if you want to, you can easily open Google and type any recap of any episode that heavily features Lady Catelyn. I guarantee most of the comments will proclaim her as a "whiny bitch" and how She is The Worst (tm). Or, if you're a book-reader or someone who doesn't mind seeing spoilers, you can type in the url of several fansites for ASOIAF and search the forum. Any discussion regarding the storyline of all the current characters will have at least one person proclaiming Sansa to be "useless" and how She is The Worst (tm). A favorite thread of mine blames all the bad thing that happens in the series--I repeat, ALL THE BAD THINGS THAT HAPPENS IN THE SERIES--to Sansa and Lady Catelyn. Ned Stark's execution, the War of the Five Kings, the burning of Winterfell: all of them is the result of Sansa Stark and her mother's action.
The question is why? Why are they so hated? Why are they considered useless, compared to the many characters? Why is everyone focusing on their mistakes compared to the mistakes other characters made? (I'm looking at you, Ned Stark)
The answer lies in the patriarchal nature of our society. Because of the olden tendency to depict women as silly and incapable of making correct decisions, the writers of today feel they have to make their character flaw-less in order for it not to be sexist. As a result, female characters are often unattainable, horribly-written Mary Sues. Readers, used to this imbalanced characters, have a unrealistic high standards for female characters that they don't have for male characters. They expect female characters to be right, to get out of the way, to soothe the male characters' feelings and ego, to be perfect, to show and have no emotion.
Sansa and Lady Catelyn are not written as female characters. They are merely written as characters. GRRM didn't treat them any more or any less than any of his other characters. They have flaws, they have principles, and they have emotions. Neckbeards cannot deal with that. They are used to seeing "strong female characters" and are not used to strong characters who happens to be female.
It is amazing to see how fandom treats different characters based on their gender. For example, Jon Snow was like a textbook example of teenage wangst with all his complaining and angsting how he will ~never be a Stark~ and how he's conflicted of his allegiance to the Night Watch and new-found relationship with Ygritte. Yet I rarely see any hate for him. Sansa, meanwhile is a twelve-year old girl who had to see her father killed by the same people that she thought she could trust, who had the rest of her family killed brutally by the people they trusted, who had to suffer from abuse/sexual assault from the man who was technically her guardian. Yet everyone blasted her for every mistake she made. Yes, in the first book she was a little bit annoying and woefully naive, but she's a twelve year old. Twelve-year olds are meant to be annoying and woefully naive.
And Ned Stark was pretty stupid. Telling your best friend's wife that you're going to tell your best friend that the children you claim to be his is actually your brother's before you tell somebody else first is damn idiotic in any setting, much less Westeros, where people have been killed for showing more intelligence. Yet I don't see him being blamed or flamed for it. But the instance Catelyn freed the Kingslayer in hopes to get her daughters back somehow makes her the Worst Ever. I agree that the move is pretty fucking stupid, but why doesn't Ned Stark get the same vitriolic remarks about his intelligence?
Now, this doesn't mean that they don't deserve criticism. Like any good character, they deserved and must be critique. But the hate that they get is so intense you have to wonder if our patriarchal society has something to do with it.
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