I've been having a few thoughts about the use of "moon tea" in ASoIaF, and why I think Martin hasn't thought the concept through very well. Essentially, moon tea appears to be a reliable abortifacent which can be used at any time in pregnancy. If used early on - i.e., drunk when a woman might be pregnant - it appears to have few to no side effects ( Read more... )

Some or many of you may have noticed the revival of the cultural appreciation debate following a post at Elizabeth Bear's Lj.  It strikes me that the points of relevance to ASOIAF are several.

Gender
I have stated on several occasions that I believe Catelyn Stark to be the best-realized woman in any SFF book written by a man, and my ( Read more... )

Warning: mildly purposeless ranting ahead.

( Cut for NSFWishness )

We've had a few posts on the women of ASoIaF, but we haven't discussed the men as a whole, which is of itself telling. So, let's talk about masculinity and Westeros ( Read more... )

This isn’t designed as an academic article: I am in no degree intellectual enough for that.  I simply hope it spawns a worthwhile debate or interesting chat.

ASOIAF’s widely varied cast includes a large number of interesting and on the whole well-drawn female characters, in a setting that is vastly stacked against women.  Focusing on the ( Read more... )