Women, Fantasy, and the New York Times: A Response to Bellafante

You may have heard of the now-infamous New York Times review of HBO's Game of Thrones, based on the fantasy series by George R.R. Martin.  If you haven't, here's the part that has been causing most of the righteous rage at reviewer Ginia Bellafante:

The true perversion, though, is the sense you get that all of this illicitness has been tossed in as a little something for the ladies, out of a justifiable fear, perhaps, that no woman alive would watch otherwise. While I do not doubt that there are women in the world who read books like Mr. Martin’s, I can honestly say that I have never met a single woman who has stood up in indignation at her book club and refused to read the latest from Lorrie Moore unless everyone agreed to “The Hobbit” first. “Game of Thrones” is boy fiction patronizingly turned out to reach the population’s other half.

 I was going to add italics to emphasize the extremely offensive bits, but that would be the entire paragraph.

There's not a lot I can add to the responses of Amy Ratcliffe of Geeks With Curves, Alina Pete of Weregeek, and George R. R. Martin himself, so let me just share my personal response:

Dear Ms. Bellafante,

No.

Sincerely,
A Woman Who Adores Fantasy