Why is the topic of rape so sensitive nowadays?

Because there's now like 1000 avenues one can take to complain about something their offended by in this day and age. It's odd, they don't get offended by the incest or killing, torture or slavery and whore houses, but rape nope, not cool to have on the show. WTF is wrong with people?

Being considerate is not the same thing as bowing, and not all triggers are equal.

@silkylove: Nobody is under goddamn obligation to take care to whatever triggers someone may have, never have and never will. Game Of Thrones has given plenty of goddamn indications up to this point that it's not a family friendly show (and you could most certainly argue, it's not the first time someone has been raped in that show i.e Cersei and Daenarys). Whining that it is only now crossing some personal border you have really says more about you than the show.

And who exactly is the arbiter of which triggers are more worthy of consideration, and which are not? People affected by murder (or witnesses/family members/survivors) and other forms of physical violence don't count? Military veterans with shell shock? There were a shit load of battle scenes in game thrones. What about women who lost their babies? Why is it just dandy to have Theon's dick cut off?

In fact, screw your triggers. Sansa didn't have it 1/10th as bad as Theon. Being raped is awful of course, but I'd take that any day over being systematically tortured, sexually mutilated, and psychologically decimated to the point of ending up a broken husk of a person any day.

These people want special treatment, that's the bottom line. I'm happy HBO has decided against limp-wristed placation :)

GoT is an adult orientated show that depicts a dark and violent world. If someone is too emotionally fragile to watch a show with these themes, they should watch something else.

It's about common sense and decency. For instance, triggering someone because they're a Seahawks fan and Pete Carroll choked away the Super Bowl is not the same as triggering someone because they were in the shower with Jerry Sandusky. Or making fun of Thomas Young because he couldn't use the bathroom by himself. Or making fun of Pat Tillman because he died of friendly fire.

As far as Game of Thrones is considered, it's a mature rated show with a disclaimer before every episode about graphic violence, nudity and sex. People who might be triggered by that have fair warning and can use their own common sense to decide if it's worth the risk. Common sense is the general theme here. Game of Thrones also doesn't make fun of rape just for laughs or glorify it. The vast majority of rapists on that show are considered to be the bad guy/girl. That's very different from Louis C.K. on network television making rape jokes in order to maintain his "edgy" persona and try to stay relevant when his show sucks now. It's also different from the comedians who are talented enough to make a rape joke that does not trivialize rape or marginalize its victims. A joke that instead targets rape culture, targets the rapists, or shows some understanding of the struggles and triumphs of a survivor. That's the sign of a great comedian.

By the way, plenty of rape victims are also sexually mutilated and tortured. As much as I feel bad for the fictional character of Theon, I know that the actor who plays him still has his sausage.

I never brought up Game of Thrones. My original post was about rape jokes. But I disagree with your statement that nobody is under an obligation to take care of what triggers others. If that's the case then what's to stop someone from showing a snuff film at a kindergarten? What's to stop someone from showing Trainspotting at a drug rehab facility? Or John Wayne movies on a Native-American reservation?

Because Facebook didn't exist until relatively recently. The thing about the internet is that you get to hear the thoughts of millions of people from different backgrounds. Without it you pretty much only hear stuff from your localised bubble.

I'm pretty sure rape has been a sensitive subject for a very long time. You just didn't hear much people complain about it because you had no means to hear those complaints.

sounds like we need some good ol' fashioned morality police up in here.

you volunteering?

@comp_atkins:

Morality police? No. Maturity Police? Maybe. I don't understand why people get so angry and defensive when something they enjoy bothers others. Instead of having a discourse they choose to make fun of the people who are affected, or simply say "it's not my problem."

In the context of this discussion, I'm not even sure what your main point is. This is outrage over this specific show, and Sansa wasn't actually raped either.

@Renevent42:

I was originally answering the question in the subject line of this thread. I talked about rape jokes as one of the reasons for increased sensitivity among certain members of the population. In my subsequent replies I discussed Game of Thrones. My basic point about Game of Thrones is that it shouldn't be censored because the show has a mature rating and rape on that show is not glorified or trivialized. But I also made the point that people who are fans of the show shouldn't automatically dismiss those who might take issue with depictions of rape on the show. Instead they should view it as an opportunity to engage with people with differing views.

Because the people who it bothers want it shut down, removed, and/or edited out for everyone else. These types also often tend to attack people who may make a joke they don't like or have a scene in a movie/book they don't like and tend to fling around insulting terms such as misogynist, racist, etc. I hope you can see how this would get on people's nerves, no?

As it pertains to GoT specifically, we have a dark and violent show that has plenty of warnings and there's no secret what's it's about. Many of these people sat by and watched dozens of men and women being killed and tortured while stuffing their faces with popcorn enjoying it thoroughly...now all the sudden there's a rape and they've gone too far...so as far as calling the show's producers misogynists and not being sensitive to people's "triggers"?

Sorry, not only is it hypocritical it's also ridiculous. If the show's producers had to be sensitive to everyone's triggers, even if they had some trigger rankings or something, basically the show would be nothing like it is now ruining it for everyone else. On top of that, it would be impossible to remove anything "triggering" from the show anyways as the list of triggers is endless.

The world can't be responsible for other people's triggers.

I think they did engage with these people and the reaction is how they feel about those differing views. Just because someone has a complaint doesn't mean it warrant consideration. I don't think it protects it from also being shown how it's highly hypocritical.

Here's my direct engagement for those triggered by rape (or any other kind of graphic violence): Don't watch GoT it's not the show for you.

maturity / morality, no difference. I am neither angry nor defensive on the subject but I would agree that it is not my problem if something I enjoy bothers someone else. My jokes arise from the silliness ( imo ) of trying to find solutions to the "problem" other than the tried and true "if you do not like it, don't watch it". Hence the morality police comment. I understand that it may bother someone else and that is unfortunate for them but again, not my problem.

Also, sometimes I just want to watch a fucking show, not engage in an "understanding session" regarding it. :)

It won't be shut down because it makes too much money and is too well-reviewed. The people who are paranoid about that are the same type of people who stocked up on bullets and guns when Obama got elected. As far as war on the show goes, the fact that almost every character wears armor and has a sword should be a good indicator that there will be violence. The fact that violence is far more accepted in society than rape does not make violence any more acceptable. It just means that people are warped. Common sense dictates that if you are disturbed by violence because you have PTSD or something you can turn Game of Thrones off. Also the producers of the show made sure that the rape occurred off-camera because Sansa was a minor when the show began. They obviously knew that that scene might create a backlash. They are already sensitive to people's triggers. They are already tailoring their show because they know they can push boundaries but not break them when it's not necessary for artistic expression.

P.S.

There was a similar backlash when Drogo raped Daenerys in season one. Show is still going strong.

But many things have been shut down/edited/removed, so you have a natural backlash of the backlash. Hell, this has happened very recently even in video games. The fact GoT is successful and maybe more resilient to this type of thing is moot...it's a real possibility.

They aren't sensitive to people's triggers btw, hence this discussion. If they were, we wouldn't be having this conversation as obviously people were triggered. And that's the point, even if you believe they were being sensitive to people's triggers, they still triggered people and it goes to show that it is an utter impossibility to be sensitive to everyone's triggers.

Triggers are a personal problem, not something the world needs to (or frankly ever reasonably manage to do anyways) save other other people from themselves.

There is exactly one reason this backlash happened and one alone...hypocritical feminists wailing about "triggers" yet blissfully ignoring all the other possible triggers in the show because it doesn't involve rape. Worst than that really, because it was rape and it happened to a woman. What happened to Theon is sexual violence too, he even was taken advantaged by women brought in the psychologically humiliate him sexually, why no outrage or trigger nonsense then?

didn't know that. I'm glad I'm not up on the backlash culture

can I be triggered by someone else being triggered? is that allowed?

There's a backlash to everything. There was a backlash to the Red Wedding. There was a backlash to the emasculation of Theon by men's rights groups (probably the same ones who are boycotting Fury Road). Theon's castration wasn't explicitly shown in the book. There was a backlash to Strong Belwas getting written out of the TV show thus eliminating one of the more interesting minority characters from the book. There was a backlash to Bran getting shoved out the window on the very first episode. Some people wrote the show off right then and there. In my opinion, if your show can't survive a little backlash then it probably shouldn't be on the air anyway.

As I said before, not all triggers are created equal and if you are in the business of entertainment then you have to be cognizant of that fact. Boiling down this particular backlash to "hypocritical feminism" is an oversimplification. Firstly, because part of the backlash has to do with the fact that Sansa wasn't raped in the book. This scene was included to add drama at the end of an episode in what some fans of the book consider a cheap and lazy ploy. Which leads people to ask, why was it included? To show that Ramsay is a psycho? We already know that. To show that Theon/Reek has been rendered powerless by fear and Stockholm Syndrome? We know that too since he didn't go with his sister on the rescue attempt. So what a lot of people are left with is that the show's producers added it for shock value alone as a way to move the ratings meter and get people talking about GoT again. Which understandably rubs some people the wrong way, because it reduces rape trauma to a cheap ploy. I don't consider myself a feminist and it rubbed me the wrong way.

They are not the same in my understanding. Joseph Stalin was mature, but I wouldn't exactly call him moral. Most children are not bigots, because that's a learned behavior, and as a result most children are morally superior to their parents while simultaneously being immature. Morality is too nebulous. Maturity is more easily quantified and rectified, at least in my opinion.

As far as it not being your problem, we'll agree to disagree. Although you seem to have some level of empathy since you called it "unfortunate" as opposed to "inconvenient" that someone may be bothered by something that doesn't bother you. If you truly didn't care then you would not find it fortunate or unfortunate. I personally chose to embrace a global consciousness, if you don't then maybe it won't be your problem until an individual you care about is affected.

We're watching a show that depicts ruthlessness, incest, blood and gore, murder, promiscuity, immorality, nudity, prejudices, and genital mutilation in a fantasy medieval setting where the concept of morality was skewered and left to rot and written by an author that likes to play God.

But yeah, the rape scene went too far.

jk, rape is bad but it's a tv show.

So I have to ask then where do you draw your line? It seems you are offended on behalf of ( or at least sympathetic to ) rape victims when sexual assaults are depicted in entertainment, do you feel the same when a character on a television show is murdered? How about merely beaten? What about if they just lost their keys? Perhaps there are those out there for whom lost keys is a terrifyingly traumatic experience and depictions on that in tv/movies affects them. Should we remove all of the above to be mature and rectify things?

The point being you don't know what another person's sensitivities are and as such it is nearly impossible to walk that line around them. It's not being callous or mean or not choosing to "embrace a global consciousness", it's just reality.

Well that's assuming I haven't been a victim of rape or sexual assault. As for where I draw the line, I thought I made that clear. Seahawks fans;)

It's so fucking annoying when people get triggered by pieces of fiction. Like, holy shit...

^ this

fucking people man

@lonewolf604:

Seasons 3, 4, and 5 of GoT have been amazing so far IMO. The books are better of course but the show has come into its own.