Sansa Stark, the benevolent white woman fantasy
For years, I theorized to myself that many of Sansa’s stans justified and vehemently defended her behavior because they saw themselves in her, specifically white girls and women. Sansa is beautiful, delicate, polite, and well meaning. Every once in a while she has a well placed zinger, but she is unoffensive and doesn’t challenge the system–she embraces it.
Either the second or third episode of the 8th season, after many posters, including myself, criticized Sansa’s behavior towards Dany, a woman (presumably white) wrote a heartfelt comment that got many love reactions. She literally talked about how she related to Sansa (she wasn’t referring to the abuse), especially because there was nothing special or magical about her. I can’t remember everything she said minus thinking that comment had nothing to do with anything and that, of course, all of Sansa’s bullshit is justified because someone related to her.
There isn’t anything wrong with relating to Sansa, the issue lies in the inability to criticize her actions and narrative function. It’s how everything she does is excused and she’s framed as the only person who ever had anything bad happen to her. It’s the constantly demonizing/shitting on other female characters and claiming misogyny is the ONLY reason she’s hated.
It’s the fucking audacity of fans to say shit like, “Sansa doesn’t want another white woman ruling over her” as if Sansa isn’t a fucking privileged white woman. It’s accusing Dany of white feminism when Sansa and her stans are peak white feminism. It’s calling Dany a colonist and imperialist as if Sansa wasn’t and isn’t reaping the benefits of those things by the end of the show. It’s trying to frame Dany as a racist when Sansa expresses contempt for foreigners (brown people) and wants to maintain a land of whiteness.
Constantly, I read about how much Sansa has suffered as if no one else in the fucking series has suffered. I don’t want to fucking debate who’s suffered more because that shit doesn’t matter, but apparently, the more you suffered, the more your shit is excused and the more you “deserve.”
But, let’s get one thing clear: as tragic as Sansa’s abuse and trauma is, she’s far more privileged than Dany. Which is why focusing solely on Sansa’s abuse and trauma is bullshit IN THAT CONTEXT.
Sansa grew up in a loving two parent home surrounding by siblings and never wanted for anything. Sansa’s parents were protective over her. Sansa never worried about food or being harmed. Sansa had servants. Her life was stable.
Dany grew up on the streets begging for food and always moving from home to home because there was a target on her head. Dany’s parents were dead. Dany was abused by her own brother. Her life was unstable.
So, please, keep explaining how Dany is a privileged white woman. Her major privilege was her last name, but this was a double edged sword because people either wanted to kill her or claim she was mad.
Regardless, Sansa had everything that Dany did not. Sansa dreamed of being a queen, Dany did not. Sansa grew up in a loving home; Dany was ripped from her home, brought to a foreign land, and was homeless. Sansa legitimately has a place to call home and what does Dany have–or had?
Sansa has a family–people who are literally willing to kill for her. And Dany had herself. Everything she fucking had she got on her own. Not because of her brother fighting a battle she guilted him into or a creepy “uncle” who is in with her or a king brother granting her independence.
No, Dany had three dragon eggs that were dormant for over 200 years that she walked through the fire to hatch herself. She inspired people from various lands and kingdoms to follow her. Although she was a Targaryen, most didn’t follow her because of her name, but because of who she was as a person. She challenged the status quo. She cared for others who came from different backgrounds and didn’t look like herself. She learned their languages and customs–they had a place in the new kingdom she was trying to build.
And Sansa…”fuck you if you ain’t us.” Sansa didn’t just want Dany out of the North, she wanted the Dothraki and the Unsullied out of there too. The brown people. Just like Dany, they didn’t do anything for her, except protect their North and lose their lives in the process. Sansa only cared for the North and, if you’re a decent person, that’s not how you do things. Hell, that’s not how her parents did things.
But, like I said, Sansa is the benevolent white woman fantasy. She’s supposedly more caring and understanding, so her actions, no matter how dubious, automatically means it’s for the greater good of others, right??
It’s okay that she didn’t tell Jon that the Vale may be coming, despite his clear and obvious feelings of anxiety and desperation. I mean, what if he messed it all up even though Sansa never gave him the opportunity to make an informed decision.
It’s okay to lob insults about Jon being sexist, despite her being in the battle war planning and having an opportunity to speak, but chose not to. And then, when she did, she gave vague warnings.
It’s okay that she baited Jon into fighting her battle for Winterfell by mentioning Rickon only to tell Jon not to fight for him because “he’s dead anyways”, which is another example of her withholding information.
It’s okay that she almost killed her sister, despite knowing the man who has helped her is a master manipulator and is on a quest for power. The man she saw kill her aunt, and then lie about why. The same man who kissed her and told her that he was in love with her mom.
It’s okay that she made a promise to Jon in front of the weirwood, and then broke it because she didn’t want Dany to have power.
These same people pretend they are pro woman, but don’t hesitate to shit on other women when given a chance. In addition to dragging Dany–even before the BBQ’d KL–they also hated Arya for a long time and some still do to an extent. Some of them only came around because Arya and Sansa made up and Arya has killed for and defended Sansa. Oh, but before that, they were calling her a psychopath and heartless–yet, Arya has some of the most meaningful relationships between the two of them. Okay…
Dany is rejected because she’s trying to dismantle the system.
Arya is rejected because she doesn’t and refuses to fit inside of the system.
But, Sansa…oh, Sansa, the only change that she wants to make is to rule a kingdom of her own. She’s beautiful, gentle, and her anger is pretty–it isn’t ugly like Dany and Arya’s. She’s incredibility feminine and wants to protect her home and people even if that means putting others in harms way or being hostile to people who helped her–it was for the North’s wellbeing, you have to excuse her!
Sansa is a projection and to admit that she’s flawed, backstabbing and underhanded, and for herself means to admit that they, her fans, are as well and that their feminism is performative. It means that they are mediocre and won’t ascend to the heights they want to.
Granted, there a WOC who are stans of Sansa and vehemently defend her, but there is a cognitive dissonance there as well. I’m not saying that WOC cannot or should not like Sansa, I’m saying there is no way you can lob criticism at Dany that doesn’t apply to Sansa and, at times, tenfold. It’s okay to like Sansa and it’s okay to defend her at times, but there is an inherent hypocrisy to hating Dany for the same reasons they love Sansa. Or how they’re critical of Arya for breathing, but are “pro woman.”
Because, no matter how much white women fuck over other people–including their fellow white women, they see themselves as good and kind and that’s why it’s a fantasy. Since they see themselves in Sansa, she cannot be bad or flawed. They can list all of the shit that happened to Sansa, like themselves, and what she’s doing for others, yet, conveniently, they either don’t know what the others did or downplay their acts of kindness and goodness.
I just need her stans to quit the fucking crap.
Sansa is one of the worst “good people” in GOT and that’s based off of character alone.
origamiaround
ellievsbear
tangentwithtanner
vaporwave
