Thoughts I have about the women of GOT as a first time watcher...
I am very very curious about their period/pregnancy situation especially with all the weird weather conditions, stressful situations (eminent death can be very stressful I’ve heard) diets and traveling (lots of horseback traveling in particular) :
1) Yes yes this is a fantasy setting, but seeing that they kept pointing out to the fact that ‘once the girl has had her blood, she is ready to be wed’ in most of the 1st season, and they seem to keep having kids, I can safety assume the women’s biology are very similar to a real woman’s... SO WHAT DID THESE WOMEN DO DURING AUNT FLO’S VISIT????
2) Since this looks to set sort in the European middle ages, and some studies suggest that women in that time might have either bled out into their dresses (EW!) coz they thought ‘ Washing and changing underclothing was regarded as unhealthy, because women feared it would block the bleeding or cause more intense bleeding." (link: http://www.mum.org/whatwore.htm)
3) Did they have cramps??? If not, WHY NOT!? (Don’t u dare say magic! I will burn u in wildfire) and how did they deal with it??? They wouldn’t even have know about cysts and thyroid problems! Which leads to....
4) How do these women keep getting pregnant!? Given the conditions they live in and the kind of unprotected sex they are having in some very dirty places, how have none of these women gotten an STD!? or died of infections!?
5) Better yet, how are the children normal!? Wouldn’t they be physically weaker? (isn’t that how biology works?? Please correct me if I am wrong) With Incest being a trademark of the Targaryn family, shouldn’t that family have died off even before reaching the MAD king?? Their immune system must have been shot to pieces! In that sense Daenerys must be one frail girl!
These might seem stupid thoughts, and they probably so are, but these are the thoughts I have when watching any adventure/fantasy/sifi show or movie! Like every time they instantly take off, i’m internally screaming ‘BUT U DON’T KNOW HOW LONG U’LL BE GONE!!! YOU DIDN’T TAKE UR PADS AND TAMPONS U DAFT WOMAN!!!’....... Not much has been written about menstruation in actual life history, so it makes me extra curious! Did these men also think of women as ‘unclean’ during that time of the month? or did they think of it as a magical thing? Or did they think it was a normal part of life and lend a helping hand to a woman?