--- title: Game of Thrones and Westworld Rape Scenes Criticized description: TV critics’ rising frustration with rape scenes in entertainment programming resulted in a clash with HBO’s new programming chief Saturday canonical: https://time.com/4432038/game-of-thrones-westworld-rape/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-30T19:43:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:40:27.634Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: HBO Spars With Critics Over Rape Scenes in 'Game of Thrones,' 'Westworld' og:description: "I don’t necessarily see it as specific to women" og:url: https://time.com/4432038/game-of-thrones-westworld-rape/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt072c41d29be3e621/6988a07d524fc0c6dadf8fb5/f463af006ab502775a1cc7ad63de65bcce9ec09a260bce8364bb4a8ec65969f4732ddeed8dab45e615961306f3d65334.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Game of Thrones og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: HBO Spars With Critics Over Rape Scenes in 'Game of Thrones,' 'Westworld' twitter:description: "I don’t necessarily see it as specific to women" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt072c41d29be3e621/6988a07d524fc0c6dadf8fb5/f463af006ab502775a1cc7ad63de65bcce9ec09a260bce8364bb4a8ec65969f4732ddeed8dab45e615961306f3d65334.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # HBO Chief Spars With Critics Over Rape Scenes in _Game of Thrones_, _Westworld_ > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Jul 30, 2016 7:43 PM UTC  HBO by [James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly Jul 30, 2016 7:43 PM UTC TV critics’ rising frustration with rape scenes in entertainment programming resulted in a clash with HBO’s new programming chief at the Television Critics Association’s press tour in Beverly Hills on Saturday. During a Q&A to discuss the network’s content, reporters pressed the network’s new top executive Casey Bloys on the issue after watching the pilot for upcoming sci-fi thriller _Westworld_ – which includes a scene (**spoiler ahead**) where a life-like female android “host” is raped off-camera by a human male guest inside the show’s ultra-realistic theme park. Acclaimed new crime drama _The Night Of_ also includes a storyline about a woman being victimized, and some critics have long taken issue with the sexual violence in fantasy hit _Game of Thrones_. “For the _Westworld_ pilot, the point in _Westworld_ is they’re robots,” said Bloys, who took over the network’s top programming job two months ago. “How you treat a robot with human-like qualities? Is that reflective of how you would treat a human? It’s a little bit different than_Game of Thrones,_ where it is human-on-human violence. But to your larger point: Is it something we think about? Yeah, I think the criticism is valid. I think it’s something that people take into account. It’s not something we’re wanting to highlight or trying to highlight, but I think the criticism is point taken on it.” Later in the afternoon, _Westworld_ showrunner Lisa Joy added: “It was definitely something that was heavily discussed. Westworld is an examination of human nature, the best parts of human nature, but also the basest parts of human nature, and that includes violence and sexual violence that have sadly been a fact of human history since the beginning. So when we were tackling a project about a park where you can come there and act out any desire you have, without impunity, it seems like an issue you have to address. Sexual violence for everybody on my team is something we take very seriously, it’s extraordinarily disturbing and horrifying.We really endeavored to not have it be about the fetishization of those acts, it’s about exploring and establishing the crime, and the torment of the characters.” Back in the executive session, Bloys was asked if the network – and premium cable in general – were relying heavily on sexualized violence as a way of scene-setting and world building. “I’d like to not think so,” he said. “Using _Game of Thrones_, violence is not just specific to women, it’s men and women. It’s indiscriminate, I would say, so I don’t think so. I think it’s violence in general. I don’t know that it’s specific to women. Men are killed as well.” Critics pressed: Why were women being assaulted more than men? “I don’t necessarily see it as specific to women,” Bloys pushed back. “The point of is there a lot of violence in _Westworld_ and _Game of Thrones_? Yes, but I don’t necessarily think that it’s specifically isolated to women.” Critics continued to ask about the issue, specifically making the point that shows don’t depict sexual violence on men. “No, you haven’t seen men being raped,” he agreed. “But the point I would make in _Game of Thrones_ for example is men are castrated, a guy is fed a cake made of his sons. The violence is pretty extreme on all fronts. I take your point that so far there have not been any male rapes, but my point is the violence is spread equally.” When asked if HBO shows would eventually depict that same type of violence toward men, Bloys quipped, “We’re going to kill everybody.” HBO also announced _Westworld_ would premiere its debut season on Oct. 2\. See the trailer below. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/30/hbo-westworld-rape) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4432038/game-of-thrones-westworld-rape/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4432038/game-of-thrones-westworld-rape/"},"headline":"HBO Chief Spars With Critics Over Rape Scenes in Game of Thrones, Westworld","datePublished":"2016-07-30T19:43:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:40:27.634Z","description":"\"I don’t necessarily see it as specific to women\"","url":"https://time.com/4432038/game-of-thrones-westworld-rape/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt072c41d29be3e621/6988a07d524fc0c6dadf8fb5/f463af006ab502775a1cc7ad63de65bcce9ec09a260bce8364bb4a8ec65969f4732ddeed8dab45e615961306f3d65334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Hibberd / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt072c41d29be3e621/6988a07d524fc0c6dadf8fb5/f463af006ab502775a1cc7ad63de65bcce9ec09a260bce8364bb4a8ec65969f4732ddeed8dab45e615961306f3d65334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Game of Thrones","caption":"","creditText":"HBO","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4432038/game-of-thrones-westworld-rape/","name":"HBO Chief Spars With Critics Over Rape Scenes in Game of Thrones, Westworld"}}]}] ```