Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault and Rape Survivors
When I worked as a reporter for a local paper in East Tenn some years back, a story arose about a young woman who had been sexually assaulted at her high school.
When the issue was brought to the school board’s attention, they moved heaven and earth to shame the young woman and to vilify her and her family.
No one denied the attack happened but nothing was done about it because the attacker was a star athlete and the school’s administration was beyond corrupt.
When I tried to follow up and get the family’s side of events, the story was buried due to local politics and my publisher’s wish to stay in good with the Powers That Be in the county.
The young woman’s mother contacted me later and informed me that she and their family moved to another county, they were doing much better and thanked me for doing what I could. I apologized I couldn’t do more.
As I would come to learn in the years to follow, this is why rape culture is so prevalent.
I’m often asked why I tackled rape culture in Hollowstone and it’s for that very reason, to bring awareness to how pervasive and serious this issue is.
Needless to say I have serious problem with writers who use it as a trope or filler or a plot point for female characters.
Needless to say this is one of the main reasons I quit watching Game of Thrones years ago.
DENNIS R. UPKINS 
I never started watching Game of Thrones, despite my friends trying to get me to like it. I watched a handful of episodes, and while I enjoyed the dialogue, the violence was just a little too real world for me. I like my Fantasy to have some element of meaning and hope. GoT has none of that.
As a general rule, I don’t like political shows and I don’t like High Fantasy. I’m certainly going to hate the combination of both those evils.