The HBO hit series 'Game of Thrones' has recently come under fire due to several netizens posting about the so-called "gratuitous" depiction of the rape of Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). Although the assault occurred offscreen, most people felt that the scene was unnecessarily drawn out.

The scene was featured in 'Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken,' the sixth episode in the show's fifth season. Right after the episode was aired, US Senator Claire McCaskill posted a tweet against the series.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, author George R. R. Martin finally responded to the negative criticism on the show. The writer explained that his books reflect a time in the Middle Ages when "sexual egalitarianism" did not exist. He also mentioned that he is writing about a war during this period, and that sexual violence is invariably connected to conflict.

"I'm writing about war, which what almost all epic fantasy is about," Martin said. "But if you're going to write about war, and you just want to include all the cool battles and heroes killing a lot of orcs and things like that and you don't portray [sexual violence], then there's something fundamentally dishonest about that."

The writer also acknowledged that violence against women still exists, whether people want to admit it or not. "Rape, unfortunately, is still a part of war today," Martin said. "It's not a strong testament to the human race, but I don't think we should pretend it doesn't exist."

Sansa is not the first rape victim in the show. Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) was also raped by her husband Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa) in the first season, although the sex was consensual in the book. Several minor characters were also assaulted during a Dothraki raid. In Season Four, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) was raped by her own brother Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau).

Miller stands by his decision to include violence in his books. "I want to portray struggle," he said. "Drama comes out of conflict. If you portray a utopia, then you probably wrote a pretty boring book."

The title of the next 'Game of Thrones' episode is 'The Dance of Dragons.' It will air on Sunday at 9PM on HBO.