The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has denounced “Game of Thrones” for its “socially irresponsible” depictions of sexual violence.
“‘Game of Thrones’ has excelled in turning brutal sexual violence into mainstream entertainment,” Dawn Hawkins, the executive director of NCOSE, said at a press conference on Monday. “Since 2011, HBO has relentlessly brought the ambiance of torture pornography into American living rooms through ‘Game of Thrones’ explicit depictions of rape, incest, prostitution, and sexual violence. This cocktail of pornography and twisted plot lines must be denounced as socially irresponsible, especially in an age when American society is struggling to combat the crises of sexual assault and rape culture.”
The NCOSE has also placed “Game of Thrones” on its Dirty Dozen list for 2016, an annual publication that calls out all those the group feels are contributing to rape culture in the United States.
“While the 6th season premiere refrained from explicit sexually violent content due to backlash from the last season’s gratuitous rape scenes, one episode does not constitute a trend–the show runners must consistently work to prove that ‘Game of Thrones’ is no longer dedicated to normalizing sexual violence,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins went on to say cite claims by the cast and creators of the hit HBO series that any depictions of sexual violence are meant to add realism to the show’s historical context. She claimed, however, that the show is “fixated on producing unjustifiably sexually graphic scenes.”
“In stark contrast, films like ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘The Color Purple’ manage to convey the gravity of rape in a plotline without exploiting it in a way that is salacious or dehumanizing,” she said. “‘Game of Thrones,’ however, has consistently crossed the line of decency by grotesquely depicting rape, incest, prostitution, and sexual violence in a manner that turns viewers into vicarious participants. For its incessant themes of sexual violence, ‘Game of Thrones’ would be more aptly named ‘Shame of Thrones.’”
Founded in 1962, the NCOSE is dedicated to opposing pornography by highlighting the links to sex trafficking, violence against women, child abuse, and addiction.
Reps for the show have not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.