I think she's misinterpreting Game of Thrones by describing it as an attractive, escapist fantasy world. I think that Martin's point is that we should feel ambi

I think she's misinterpreting Game of Thrones by describing it as an attractive, escapist fantasy world. I think that Martin's point is that we should feel ambivalent about this world because it is, in many ways, a brutal, horrible place. Martin is pretty clear that, in this system, the people who actually take the principles of honor and chivalry seriously are exploited by people who view those principles cynically. One way to look at the explicit sex (particularly with prostitutes) in Game of Thrones is that it shows that our conception about the men in this setting as chivalrous and protective of women is just a self-serving lie. What they say in their codes of honor is counterbalanced by what they do in Peter Baelish's brothels. This isn't just a society that sees women as "there for the taking", it's a society where everyone can be exploited and the honorability of your actions has very little connection to your fate. The fact that, in this environment, there are so many women who are powerful is an important statement and not one that we find in, say, Tolkien.