
The choice to depend on the rape trope is totally gendered, Snowden says. Other than a choose few exhibits (just like the sexual assault of James Fraser in season one in every of Outlander), numerous sexual violence depicted on display screen is towards girls, particularly, Snowden emphasizes, “girls with energy.” The violence is used as one thing to each diminish their authority after which act as a personality flaw that they’ve to beat. Within the 5 seasons after Jamie’s sexual assault in Outlander, his spouse Claire and daughter Brianna — each strong-willed girls — have been repeatedly raped, with the encounters used to immediate Jamie to enact revenge or train every girl some kind of lesson. That is one thing that we noticed constantly all through Sport of Thrones. Each Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) have been sexually assaulted and punished by way of acts of sexual violence. Their vulnerability and powerlessness in these moments are supposed to juxtapose their rise to energy later within the collection. The message right here is that they may solely come into their energy after conquering and transferring previous their trauma.