what really gets on my nerves is how much the green side holds this ‘where is duty? where is sacrifice?’ line at face value. because what of duty and sacrifice? those things exist solely to keep westerosi women exploited and downtrodden. this very duty and sacrifice is what made otto pimp out alicent and have her endure martial rape and pregnancy at a young age - because this is her duty and she has to do her sacrifice. you guys will not shut up about how terrible it is that alicent was a child bride forced to be married against her will, not looking at the fact that her position is not at all unique, this is what is expected of all women in that world. this is the duty and sacrifice you so much defend.
and you clearly want that oppression to continue in universe because else you wouldn’t be so outraged that rhaenyra fights for some small bits of agency within that duty and sacrifice. you think rhaenyra should have endured that too. you believe rhaenyra should have kept her mouth shut in the face of usurpation by aegon and give up the crown because this is what patriarchal duty and patriarchal sacrifice expects of her. you believe that women should do their patriarchal duty and their patriarchal sacrifice, else they’re incomplete as women. you think that women like rhaenyra deserve to be shunned because how dare she not suffer in the society sanctioned way? how dare she be given a choice who to marry? how dare she have sex with someone she’s actually attracted to rather than her gay husband? and that’s why you argue that rhaenyra does not deserve to rule - first, you think she does not deserve it because she is a woman (and don’t deny that, you think that). secondly, you think she doesn’t deserve it because she’s a woman in a way you don’t approve of.
to me alicent is such a frustrating character that i can’t ever like no matter how much you scream that i must because she uwu suffered and else i’m a misogynist is precisely because she has a worldview of a typical conservative woman. i suffered so everyone else should too. i was not allowed to pick whom to marry so rhaenyra cannot choose either. i was forced to be a baby factory to my husband and my husband alone, so rhaenyra should too. i paid my student loans so you should too. and you all swallow it up! you, with ‘she/her feminist blm’ in your bio think that it would’ve been better for this status quo to continue indefinitely rather for rhaenyra to wrestle some bits of agency and, as a woman ruling in her own right, slowly change the world so that there’s no more alicents. but no. i suffered so you should too.
