The Red Light Rules: Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones is one of my favorite shows of all time. It wasn't until watching it through the lens of The Red Light Rules that I realized how shitty each sex workers' story ends. Literally every single sex worker with a bigger part in the show ends up dead/killed (or just fades into obscurity). On the positive side though, each sex worker character does get a large part and are quite integral to the plot– they bring down great houses, the serve as spies, they are sought out by lords, princes, kings, and queens alike. I will only focus on a handful of the sex workers in the show: Ros, Shae, Doreah, and Olyvar.

The first whore we meet in the show is Ros. She starts off working in a brothel in the North and after the Starks & Lannisters begin their conflict she believes it is time to leave the North to get steadier, more reliable income in King's Landing. She proceeds to work in Little Finger's (Lord Baelish) brothel where she quickly rises through the ranks and ends up becoming his assistant (but closer to business partner/proprietor). This does not mean Ros no longer sees clients; in fact, she still sees clients daily and is sent to see the king (Joffrey) who makes her kill the girl she brought with her to the session. In the end, Ros ends up betraying Little Finger and selling his secrets to Varys the spymaster. As soon as Little Finger realizes this he sends Ros to see Joffrey again, this time for the last time. Thus ends the story of the first sex worker we meet in the series.

Next is one of my favorite characters, Shae. Shae ends up coming into Tyrion Lannister's service in a battle camp where she is acquired by Tyrion's sworn sword, Bronn. Their relationship begins as transactional and regular; Tyrion is a good man and treats her gently. As they spend more time together real feelings begin to develop. Their relationship dynamic (in my opinion which diverges from Raquel's opinion below) changes after they arrive in King's Landing. It no longer becomes transactional and is no longer the same as when they first met. Shae and Tyrion fall in love and his primary aim is to protect her and keep her safe from harm, specifically the harm that would come from members of his own family, namely his sister Cersei and his father Tywin. In my opinion, I think Shae completely sheds her sex worker role in the relationship once they fall in love. Unfortunately, things go horribly wrong and Tyrion is forced to send her away and in doing so he needs to make sure she won't want to stay. He says hurtful things and says she is unfit to be in his life saying "You're a whore!" and making Bronn take her to a ship bound for Pentos, across the narrow sea. However, Shae doesn't actually leave and is stopped by either Cersei, Tywin, or someone in their service (we don't actually see how it happens). Shae is called on to testify against Tyrion in the murder of Joffrey and she lies to make sure he is sentenced to death. As as I was telling Raquel, love makes us do crazy things; and it makes us crazier when that person we loved rejects us and sends us away (even if they believed it was for our own good). In the end, Tyion finds Shae in his father's bed and proceeds to strangle her with the golden chains he had previously given to her as a gift.

Doreah is a sex worker we meet in the service of Daenerys Targaryen while she is Khaleesi of the Dothraki. Doeah is acquired by Daenerys' brother Viserys as both his personal "bed slave" and as a handmaiden for Daenerys (Daeny). She teaches Daeny how to be a proper lover to Khal Drogo so that she can more easily get what she wants from him. She stays with Daeny even after the death of Khal Drogo and accompanies her to Qarth where Daeny asks her to get close to Xaro Xhoan Daxos so that she can know more about what she can expect from her time in Qarth. Unfortunately, Doreah ends up betraying Daeny to be "Queen of Qarth" alongside Xaro and Daeny kills them both by locking them inside the empty safe inside Xaro's palace.

Finally, we have Olyvar who belongs to Lord Petyr Baelish (Little Finger). We don't get to know too much about him but what we see is that Little Finger sends him to service Loras Tyrell to learn more about the plots the Tyrell's are hatching. Olyvar also services the Prince of Dorne, Oberyn and his partner Ellaria Sand. Similarly to the other sex workers Olyvar's story does not end pleasantly. He is called in to testify against Loras by the Faith Militant. Notably though, we don't actually see if Olyvar dies, his story just ends. It is interesting to me though that the only sex worker's death we do not see is that of a man!

Overall, the inclusion of sex workers in the story that is Game of Thrones is truly amazing. I have never seen sex workers play such an integral part of the plot without it being a story about sex workers specifically. Even though the portrayal of the workers is heavily based on sex slavery/trafficking, the sex workers in the world of Game of Thrones still make choices and grasp for power within their positions.

– Mel

Game of Thrones is iconic in so many ways, including the many MANY sex worker characters featured in the show. Overall, I don’t think Game of Thrones has a good understanding of choice, circumstance and coercion because the general vibe is that prostitutes are inferior and mostly portrayed as “trafficked.”

However, I do think that specific sex workers have stories that are a bit more nuanced, although I don’t think it was done intentionally to humanize sex workers, rather to make the plot more interesting or advance the stories of the men they’re involved with. 

When Mel and I discussed this, we had differing thoughts (hence, the .5 for question #1). In my perspective, while Shae’s relationship with Tyrion shifts from a traditional, transactional (FSSW) relationship into a romantic relationship, it still resembles a GFE or sugar-baby style dynamic, wherein part of the entry point for Shae is that Tyrion can provide for her. In this way, I don’t think that love/romance is mutually exclusive with sex work and I see her relationship with Tyrion still being "work" (lowercase w) or on the periphery. Which means her character does portray choice, circumstance and coercion because she chooses over and over again to stay in King’s Landing with Tyrion.

I love this discussion because it brings up questions like “are sex workers still sex workers in romantic relationships?” As in, can *we* as sex workers separate those identities. And in what ways do we sometimes struggle to do so. For ex. so many sex workers struggle to imagine partnering with someone who cannot in some way provide for them financially, to the point where that mindset becomes a barrier to dating because... *I could get paid for this* So interesting!

– Raquel

Game of Thrones scored 2.5/4 on The Red Light Rules™ test that assesses portrayals of sex work in film. We created 4 questions to determine this:

1. Does the film show an understanding of choice, circumstance, and/or coercion? kinda
2. Does the SWer interact with another person in a positive manner unrelated to SW? yes
3. Does the SWer have a storyline, hobby, or interest outside of SW? yes
4. Does the film have a happy and/or non-traumatic ending for the SWer?