I've heard about the Game of Thrones for years but only now my mum decided to watch it and gave up on S2 because of all the violence and sex and sexual violence. Sure, there's great acting and all but I don't get how people watch this stuff. But then people watch horror I guess.
My sister adores GoT and she violently disagreed with any criticism saying "Well, that's Middle Ages, that's how it was back then". Back fucking when? When dragons thrived? When women were born without body hair? That's a bullshit excuse. It's the same with video games. At least be honest about it and call it what it is - some straight dude's fantasy, no need to hide behind excuses of realism. Making women powerless sexual objects is not a requirement.
Now it's just one more thing that separates us. I am now not as bad with violence as I used to be but now that I fell out of the loop, I realized this is something I absolutely do not need. And people who enjoy media with gore and violence scare me in a way.
Update: Mum dropped Game of Thrones and now watching Handmaid's Tale. She likes it more, as expected. I half-watch it. It's a good story but far too bleak. It's pretty amazing how different these two shows are but, at the same time, not really if, say, someone attempted to write Handmaid's tale from a man's perspective.