In a long post taking issue with my characterization of Asha, which has apparently been getting reblogged here and there with different people adding different things, either denzelishaymitch or tumblrofthrones (I can’t tell who did the gifs and who did the writing) writes:
Not really clear here on what makes Asha any different from every other male leader and warrior in Westeros. They are at war, so there is brutality for sure.
Nothing! Nothing makes Asha any different from every other male, or female, leader and warrior in Westeros. (Most of them, anyway — there are a few who aren’t crazy about going to war.) That’s my point. I hold virtually no one in this series — including Jon and Robb, two characters used by another person someone in that reblogging chain to put words in my mouth as to whom I view more favorably than Asha (again, I can’t tell who) — to be a moral paragon and chafe when Asha is brought to my attention in “Why don’t you see how awesome Asha is?” terms. This post was tagged with “the double standards here are charming”; please don’t impute a double standard where none exists. I hold her to the same standard as everyone, a standard they almost all fail. I guess what it comes down to is that I am just screechingly, almost neurotically antiwar, so I’ve got problems with the warriors who are really into fighting for the sake of adventure, conquest, or prowess-testing, even without getting into the real sociopaths and war criminals.
But gosh, she likes to fuck, so at least that part of her is super!
This is kind of a gross misrepresentation of what I was getting at, too. Faaarrrrrrr too few characters, of either gender but especially the women, get to take ownership of and pleasure in their sexuality, on more or less equal terms with their partners, the way Asha has been shown to do with Qarl the Maid. That seems commendable to me no matter what else she does or doesn’t have going for her as a person. Isn’t it?
