Are you a Male Sansa fan? Please come and tell me why? and is your a female fan also come share the love.

[ghosts in winterfell]

Female Sansa fan here. I found myself a little irritated by her in AGOT, but it really wasn't all that hard to keep in mind that she was just a child. She has to be my 2nd or 3rd favorite Stark.

[E-Ro]

ETA

Yea yea, I know brah. you and Sansa both know why the gilded caged bird sings.

Yeah, I think this unique perspective of mine gives me far more insight on sansas character and her arc then any other poster.

I truly know and understand exactly what it is that she feels. And I can both relate and sympathize with her. In fact, I'm the closest thing to Sansa you will find on these forums.

[barmyscouser]

If there's a gender gap in Sansa's fan base, it might be because Men aren't always drawn to the hyper-feminine. Just as some women long for a boyfriend who's sensitive and romantic, some guys wish they had a girlfriend they could watch sports and drink beer with. In this respect, Dany and Arya are partly male fantasies. Don't think GRRM is above pandering.

But neither should you think he's that shallow. Sansa, Cat, Margaery and Olenna are all students or masters of soft power. Charm, persuasion, building coalitions, making friends, playing enemies against each other. None of these things require a sword.

[OutlawSarge]

I am a male Sansa fan. I would just like people to think back when they are 10 or 11 or 12. I didn't know my ass from both hands. You can not hold a grudge on a child that is learning how to be a human being. At first, I will admit on first read I was not a fan of Sansa till the end of SoS. However, after applying the logic from my first to sentences, how can you hold her accountable for mistakes at an age so young.

[eggs]

I like how normal she is, she is not some badass ass kicking "convention defying" stereotype of the fantasy genre. she carries no weapon instead she wears pretty gowns and speaks politely, no convention defying hi jinx with this lass.

Well she's about 100x more realistic and interesting then her sister Arya, that's for sure. I never really enjoyed Arya much.

This, basically. She also has some of the most interesting chapters in the book.

[Facebookless Man]

what about the women who do want a husband and children, but also feel that they wish to be considered equal and granted autonomy as a matter of course?

That's not Sansa.

That's Arianne Martell. Olenna Tyrell even... but definitely not Sansa.

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

Please don't quote me out of context;

"We've had the female who is a fighter characters for decades now and yes that was and is needed but what does that say about all the women who don't want to take on male traits in order to be seen as valued? what about the women who do want a husband and children, but also feel that they wish to be considered equal and granted autonomy as a matter of course? "

I was referring to how the characters writers choose to portray in their writing can often be used as weapons to fight real world stereotyping, the need for people to begin writing female heroes sprung up due to a desire to stop portraying women as Only interested in hearth & home. Writing women who fight and kick ass and don't need or want to be saved has been a huge leap in the right direction for equality, we read these characters and they break out of the little box we have been told women fit in. But there is a need to recognise that while this is welcome there is also a need to show respect for the women who don't wish to emulate masculinity and that these women also deserve respect.

I feel that Sansa with her traditionally feminine traits yet who is striving for autonomy fits that role. I was not talking directly about her character in story as striving to be considered equal in universe, but that portraying a character who is traditionally feminine yet strives for autonomy (which Sansa is doing) helps those women in real life who would choose a traditionally female lifestyle yet wish to still be granted equality, as opposed to the disdain many quarters give them.

I work with new mothers and they constantly struggle to justify their choices to others. Too often they timidly describe themselves as Just a mum. And feel that leaving work has caused them to loose their identity and that they have become irrelevant and invisible in a world that focusses only on career and paid work.

[OldGimletEye]

I am a straight male, and I like Sansa very much.

When I first started reading ASIOAF, I couldn't stand Sansa. I thought she was just some little naive and class- conscious snob.

But, as I continued to read her chapters, I started liking her a lot, even feeling protective of her. I think she has learned a lot since her story began.

I find her to be a very relatable character because she doesn't haven't any "super ninja abilities" like many of the other characters (having dragons, super assassin skills, awesome sword fighting abilities, etc). Also, I think she is just fundamentally a good person who has made some mistakes.

I also think she is a lot smarter and tougher than many people give her credit for.

[ab aeterno]

Yeah, I think this unique perspective of mine gives me far more insight on sansas character and her arc then any other poster.

I truly know and understand exactly what it is that she feels. And I can both relate and sympathize with her. In fact, I'm the closest thing to Sansa you will find on these forums.

I think your love for Joffrey and Cersei made that clear, brah.

[Mrs.Grumpy]

I'm a male fan of her and it's because I can discern good and bad people from each other and she's a good girl.

[littleRickon]

male Sansa appreciator

I liked her a lot on rereads, and after reflecting about her from what I read here on the forums (the non-hate part of it)

Two things really stand out about her: she is incredibly strong and kind.

So she starts out as an entitled teenager daydreaming about fairy tales, and then she gets all that bad luck heaped upon her. Contributes to some of it unknowingly. Is being manipulated by everybody. But it doesn't break her! Her story is so relatable, her choices, although cringe-worthy in the books, are so like some of the bad choices that we make ourselves, and that we talk over with our friends. It would be so easy for her to go down a very dark path of self-loathing, compliance and hatefulness.

But it doesn't break her. She actually finds her own center in all that mess, and starts to grow up, and grow stronger through it. She finds some space for gestures of defiance, and learns how to watch out for herself more and more.

Her story could so easily be the build up for a bad character, for someone who turned evil because of what happened to her. Her direwolf got killed, her father got killed, she was abused and threatened and shamed. Seeing how often other characters bad traits are excused by whatever bad luck befell them (I am looking at you, dwarf), I think her story could easily be an excuse for a second Cersei-type character. But it doesn't break her. Over all the troubles, she stays a genuinely nice person, capable of empathy and altruism. She, who has a right like no one else to only look out for herself, still feels for those who are more (and sometimes less) unlucky than her. She even cares for Sweetrobin a good bit, and he would make almost anyone want to throw him on a wall in less than a week.

What makes her story so fascinating is that she is a realistic, flawed character that finds strength and kindness in herself despite all that has happened to her.

[( Bloodraven )]

Because she's very interesting and surprisingly relatable... I love watching Sansa learn and grow, plus her resilience is amazing. She's my favorite female character next to Cat.

[Alayne's Shadow.]

Male Sansa fan... Pretty much everyone has made my points.

[Prince of the North]

Yeah, I don't have much to add to all the great points about Sansa that have already been posted. I've always liked Sansa. I think she's just another great character in a story chock-full of great characters.

[UVA]

Writing women who fight and kick ass and don't need or want to be saved has been a huge leap in the right direction for equality, we read these characters and they break out of the little box we have been told women fit in. But there is a need to recognise that while this is welcome there is also a need to show respect for the women who don't wish to emulate masculinity and that these women also deserve respect

I agree and this comprises so much of the debate of how to portray the feminine experience, making that experience heroic. In this way, I very much enjoy Sansa's story. It's almost as if GRRM drew an Austen heroine with the Sansa character insofar as what is ostensibly so ordinarily feminine is made extraordinary and dramatic. The 11 yr-old Sansa's coping and subtle acts of defiance under extremely anxious circumstances are more compelling to me than if she were to wave a sword screaming hellfire.

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

Why thank you. Its really nice when some one else gets what I am saying.

[barmyscouser]

How about the elephant in the room? GRRM has left us hanging for better than 1,000 pages. When last we heard from Sansa, LF was actvely trying to seduce her. I haven't been through all 800+ boards but I can't find anyone speculating on what happens next. I'm reluctant to go first because I don't like what my instincts tell me.

Sansa isn't sure if she can trust him, but she definitely looks up to him. The more she understands how he operates, the more she admires his style, especially in his dealings with the Lords Declerant. In the last Sansa scene it seems like he just conquered 2 kingdoms without drawing a sword.

I think it would be poor judgement for Sansa to give herself to LF. But Sansa has a problem with boy-crazy. And in my experience, many girls and women are drawn to guys they respect and admire, especially young women who are missing a strong father figure.

Whatever morality she learned as a girl was wrapped up with a world view of chivalrous knights rescuing damsels in distress. But LF and KL disabused her of those myths. Now Sansa is learning a new paradigm at the feet of LF. In her old world view the only glorious thing she could ever do is breed. But in the new way of seeing things she can play too. In this new world view things aren't right or wrong, just expedient or unproductive. So IMO Sansa will be Lord Baelish's creature in all things. At least for a time.

[The Weirwoods Eyes]

I don't agree at all, I really don't see Sansa looking up to Baelish at all. I wish I hadn't loaned my books out but there is a quote where she defies him in her internal monologue that he is not her father that she is Sansa Stark THE BLOOD OF WINTERFELL. I think she is intelligent enough to nod and smile and bide her time. LF is the one being deceived.

[Miss Carnahan]

Female Sansa fan here

On my first read, Sansa immediately became my favorite POV, maybe because I could relate to her the most. Like many have already said, her character shows us that you can be strong without lifting a sword. I love that after everything she has seen and everything she's been through, she's still kind. Unlike Cersei, who bathes in self-pity and bitterness, she hasn't become bitter or indifferent to cruelty and injustice.

[The Holy Goat]

I'm male and I consider Sansa's character and arc to be among my favorites, especially after she reached the Eyrie.