The makers of the HBO show Game of Thrones still have a long way to go in terms of the treatment of female characters, says a study in Broadly.
The study, which examines all seven seasons, found 144 instances of female nudity making up for 83.7% of all nude characters. While season two’s nude characters were all women, the last season had equal numbers of nude men and women. As nude women and sexual violence against them decreased in subsequent seasons, storylines involving women decreased as well, the study said.
The study also showed that 18 of the 67 Game of Thrones episodes did not pass the Bechdel test.
As for scenes of sexual violence, there are 17 instances of rape and attempted rape in Game of Thrones. The last season featured 50% of men and women getting nude in sex scenes in addition to zero rapes or attempted rapes in seasons six and seven, which could be attributed to the criticism of the depiction of sexual violence against women, particularly, Cersei’s rape by Jaime in season four and Sansa’s rape by Ramsay Bolton in season five.
The last season was filled with battle scenes that left little room for debauchery. A staggering 94.2% of characters killed in the show are men.
