I hope you don't mind my jumping in, but I think part of the appeal is that it's a terrible world where men are sometimes men and sometimes have their heads chopped off for no good reason and women are expected to be passive, but the majority of the female characters are women who are not passive. There are many strong female characters, and they present a number of different ways of gaining power in a world that tries not to allow them to have it. Some, like Catelyn or The Queen of Thorns (though you don't meet her until the third book) do it within the constraints of traditional feminine roles, but most of them do it. Then there are characters like Cersei, Arya, or Brienne who just don't fit in as well as more accepted warrior characters like Asha or Ygritte.
The sexism in the world is not appealing, but the various ways in which female characters subvert that is.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-04-20 02:39 am (UTC)The sexism in the world is not appealing, but the various ways in which female characters subvert that is.