Scott D. Pierce: ‘Game of Thrones’ episode did not minimize rape

A number of "Game of Thrones" fans came unglued over the most recent episode of the HBO series.

It wasn't easy to watch. Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) was married off to the sadistic, insane Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), who raped her on their wedding night.

Which led to an outcry in social media — everything from calling the show "disturbingly unfeminist" to calling the scene "gratuitous" to alleging that being raped undercut "all the agency that's been growing in Sansa." (That last one is a bit disturbing. Women don't become something less if they are the victims of sexual assault.)

Without in any way minimizing rape, where was the outcry earlier this season when Ramsay hunted an ex-lover, shot her with an arrow, taunted her and had his dogs to rip her to pieces?

If "Game of Thrones" had in any way depicted Sansa's rape as being acceptable, that would have been inexcusable. But the episode treated rape with the gravity it deserves — it was a horrific event, not just a relatively minor plot point.

Rape has been just that in past episodes. And there have been any number of murders, beheadings, tortures and, yes, rapes in the brutal, medieval world of "Game of Thrones."

In the series' premiere, teenage Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) was sold in marriage to the much-older Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) by her crazy brother, Vaserys (Harry Lloyd), who casually mentioned that he would allow her to be raped by all 40,000 of Drogo's men and their horses if it helped him ascend the Iron Throne.

In Season 4, Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) pressured — if not out-and-out forced — his sister/lover, Cersei (Lena Heady), to have sex with him next to the corpse of their son, Joffrey (Jack Gleeson).

"Game of Thrones" is that kind of show.

Clearly, some of the current reaction is because viewers have grown to like Sansa. But what happened to her is completely in keeping with the Stark family saga — young Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) was thrown from a tower; Ned (Sean Bean) was beheaded; and Robb (Richard Madden), Catelyn (Michelle Fairly) and Talisa (Oona Chaplin) were all murdered at the Red Wedding — along with a few thousand of their supporters.

Again, none of this minimizes Sansa's rape. It was a very difficult scene to watch, as much for the way Ramsay menaced Sansa before raping her as it was for the attack itself. Was it gratuitous? There was no nudity and no graphic sex — the cameras were focused on the faces of Sansa and Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen), who was forced to watch.

And it's too early to argue, as detractors have, that Sansa has been stripped of all her power and dignity. Let's wait and see if she gets her revenge on Ramsay and the Boltons.

Scott D. Pierce covers television for The Salt Lake Tribune . Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.