Do you think Cersei's Walk of Shame was misogynistic?

[Red Raven]

Misogyny is the hatred of women, usually characterized by distrust, suspicion, and prejudice of the sex, or denigrating or outright dismissal of their worth as human beings. I don't see much evidence of that in Westeros.

It certainly is misogynistic, Westeros is dripping with it. "Having or showing a hatred and distrust of women" certainly applies to this society at all levels. With very few exceptions, women are not trusted to have true power to rule in their own right, when men misbehave women are blamed as seducers and temptresses (the High Septon said as much and Cersei was compelled to testify as such) not to mention the Maidenvault. There is a horrendous amount of prejudice against women.

Rape is a horror that hangs over every woman's head, when they "get out of line" or happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they're targets to be used in such a way that dehumanizes and demonstrates they have no inherent worth as human beings. Considering a woman's worth is not due to her accomplishments (which it would be for a man) but the integrity of a tiny piece of skin in her vagina, women are little more than livestock.

Life sucks for almost everyone on Planetos but women is one of the groups that have it especially hard and that is the case because they're viewed with additional suspicion, lack of trust and as being worth less than males.

As for Cersei's walk of shame, of course it was misogynistic. It was designed to be. It would be rough for a man as well but in this society it's especially shameful and dehumanizing for a woman.

[Psyren]

Brother****er!

It couldn't have happened to a nicer gal. How many hundreds, thousands of people died because of her and Jaime's deception? No sympathy here.

[TheButcherCrow]

It's actually a fairly apropos punishment for the crime she is being punished for. The fact that what she did admitted to is a crime & that no dude in the history of Westeros would ever be charged with it, THAT is misogynistic. I mean, when the High Septon is all "the wantonness of widows is well known" (ok, he probs wasn't that alliterative) didn't you just want to crack his fecking jaw? The new Faith Militant dudes do seem a bit Taliban-y.

[GCabot]

It certainly is misogynistic, Westeros is dripping with it. "Having or showing a hatred and distrust of women" certainly applies to this society at all levels. With very few exceptions, women are not trusted to have true power to rule in their own right, when men misbehave women are blamed as seducers and temptresses (the High Septon said as much and Cersei was compelled to testify as such) not to mention the Maidenvault. There is a horrendous amount of prejudice against women.

I don't think Cersei's treatment illustrates a misogynistic society, because frankly, Cersei was a seductress. I'm pretty sure she stated somewhere in the books that she believes sex is a weapon for women and she certainly wasn't shy about using it. She seduces Jaime, Lancel, the Kettleblacks, etc. Granted, these were consensual relationships, but Cersei was clearly both the instigator and the manipulator in the relationships. For example, she convinces Jaime to join the Kingsguard and forsake his inheritance in order to go along with her plan for them to be together in King's Landing. She uses Lancel to ply Robert with strongwine so that he'd have his little "accident." She gets Osney to lie and claim he had sex with Margaery to the High Septon, getting him tortured and possibly executed.

As for Maidenvault, that was the work of the clearly misogynistic Baelor the Blessed. I don't think he's reflective of Westerosi society, however. In fact, he's generally viewed as one of the very worst Targaryen kings due to his behavior.

I also don't see any evidence that "women are not trusted to have true power to rule in their own right." Two examples that come to mind immediately are Lady Dustin of Barrowton and Lady Maege Mormont of Bear Island, who both control their respective lands without any male consort. Chella controls the Black Ears mountain clan. Asha is given precedence over Theon by their father and commands great respect among the Ironborn. And these aren't even taking into account Dorne. Now, obviously, the laws of inheritance/succession are still generally quite sexist, but that seems to be more a reflection of ingrained tradition. If this was a truly misogynistic society, men would revolt at the notion of a house governed by a women, for example. Since these situations seem to be considered unusual, but not offensive or shocking, I don't believe that misogyny is a real driving force in Westeros.

Rape is a horror that hangs over every woman's head, when they "get out of line" or happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, they're targets to be used in such a way that dehumanizes and demonstrates they have no inherent worth as human beings. Considering a woman's worth is not due to her accomplishments (which it would be for a man) but the integrity of a tiny piece of skin in her vagina, women are little more than livestock.

You're going to have to provide textual evidence for this assertion. I don't remember anything that gave me the impression that rape was some kind of common widespread tool used to put women in their place and reduce them to subhuman status. Certainly, there is rape that occurs, but that is within the context of war, and seems to only illustrate how predatory and unscrupulous some soldiers were, rather than any kind of widespread acceptance of rape. Indeed, if I recall correctly, rapists are either castrated or sent to the Wall, so I'm not sure where you got the notion that it's something that's a societal norm.

Again, I don't want to come off as saying Westeros is some sort of feminine paradise; it's clearly a society with rigid expectations for each sex, and where women generally don't have the same kinds of opportunities to gain power, wealth, etc. that men do. That makes it sexist and unfair, but it doesn't necessarily make it misogynistic.

[Targed&Feathered]

Basically being an entirely boring person, I read hordes of history (and also because truth is not only stranger than fiction, but much more thrilling as well). So I don't even bat an eye at things like Cersei's walk anymore, having read extensively about medieval social mores. The event this Walk is based upon, the Walk of Shame performed by Mistress Jane Shore, upon her lover King Edward IV's death, differed in a couple significant ways from Cersei's... first, Jane was a commoner, NOT a noble lady who was required to protect her womb for the good of the succession, and Jane got to wear her shift during her Walk... admittedly not a great deal of protection, as shifts were made of very light gauzy linen or cotton lawn generally, and pretty sheer. But it would have, I think, afforded her some privacy. GRRM chose to make his Shame-Walker a queen and very naked, but I don't think that alters the event much. I tend to relish, more than any of Cersei's crimimal behavior, the IRONY of Cersei strolling into the Septon's presence so sure of her power over him, misunderstanding that she herself reversed that power base, and then paying for her misunderstanding with her eventual critically-humbled and nude exit. And yet... she still doesn't get it.