I really dislike the fangirl feminists who dismiss any criticism towards a female character by simply stating "it's misogyny lol". No, there are genuine reasons as to why somebody would dislike a female character. SJWs act like it's a crime to not like EVERY FEMALE CHARACTER EVER.

I do find it funny though that these people claim to like "all the ladiesss" and "fight" the sexism in the fandom, but oftentimes look at their favorites- Black Widow, Mulan, Asha, Arya...They only like the "strong female characters" who have no personality outside of being a tough chick. (or they like Mary Sues like Maria from the book of life and Gwen Stacy) They never talk about the feminine ladies who don't fight much (because their characters aren't supposed to be figthers, duh), and in my opinion that is still sexism.

^same here. it's hard to be a Sansa fan sometimes because the really feminist ones who accuse all her detractors of misogyny make all of us look bad, like we all can't handle criticism. then nobody listens to those of us who aren't like that.

but that said, it annoys me how Sansa and Cat and characters like them get much more criticism for mistakes and bad attitudes than the more tomboyish girls who always get excused. even Dany and Brienne, big fan favorites, get more hate than Arya and Asha do, they can't do anything wrong. I don't think it's ONLY men who have this attitude too, I see tons of women defend and excuse them. People act like Sansa is a mini-Cersei to Arya and like Arya never did anything mean to anyone. both of them did mean stuff to each other.

also, it really, really bothers me every time I read through GoT how much George really pushes you to like Arya and Tyrion, his favorites, and portrays them with so much sympathy, and seems to want you to hate Sansa and Cat right away. I get he wanted Sansa to develop as a person but he could've done it without making her such a cartoonish bully sometimes. at times it doesn't even sound like something Sansa or Cat would say to me (like telling Jon it should've been him... I know she dislikes him but that much?).

After what I experienced Sansa was hated in the beginning because of the following: 1: She was a stupid teenager who couldn't even see what kind of person Joffrey was she was just calling him the perfect king! and 2: Because she always spoke against Arya. I have to say I didn't like Sansa much in the beginning myself but I started to love her since 1x10... So I've loved her for a while... And I haven't seen much Sansa hate in years... Actually the opposite, Sansa have become one of the most beloved and popular character in the fandom based on fans added to spot and based on polls in this club!... In my experience it's WAY worse with Catelyn... I can hardly make a poll without anyone saying: "I hate her"... "I don't like her"... or even "Bitch". Catelyn has close to no fans around the internet! It is really really hard to be such a huge fan of her as I am! She is without a doubt one of my favourites! and I've been so overwhelmed by how the fandom hated her so much since I first joined this site! I just couldn't understand why she was hated so much!... And when I learned of the reasons I could actually understand them but still... I thought they were kind of "meh" reasons. So many hate her for being mean to Jon.. Sure I don't like that either... But to me it just seems like no one is allowed to be mean to the perfect Jon Snow who everyone loves... And that is very true since Jon have always been a fan favourite and Cat have always been one of the most hated!. the 2nd reason is that most blame her for the war. I can actually understand that one but this is still the way I see it; First of all she did it all for love, and she thought Tyrion was the one who tried to murder her son... Every mother loving mother would have done the same in that situation! But I will personally NEVER hate characters because they made mistakes! Making mistakes is being human, and besides I think more of the positive things about the characters! And Catelyn have so many of those... Yet so many doesn't see it for some reason.

I'm really tired of how popular Tyrion, Arya, Jon and Dany is to be honest! I like or love them all at times... But just like any other character they can be annoying sometimes or boring! To me they are not SO much better than everyone else... And that's how the fandom judge it! Since they are all 10 times more popular than any other character!

Oh yeah and: People seem to forget that EVERYONE basically made huge mistakes. Arya could have ended the war and by that probably even preventing the red wedding! If only she had named Tywin earlier... Then there is Dany; Who made many mistakes by now and she actually only seem to make more and more... Jon: First of all Jon knew what the night watch meant (That he couldn't see his old family again). But he went there all the same and without really thinking it through, at least that was what it seemed like! also: when he was commander his first command is to kill a man, because he doesn't obey... And now he refuse to have any part in what happened to Westeros and his old family! Tyrion also made mistakes when he chose to kill Shae and Tywin.

For George, I case it's a case of Early Installment Weirdness. I heard originally he planned for the three books to each have one specific arc for book and end up being a trilogy instead of the seventh saga it's nowadays, so maybe that's why AGOT seems a little awkwardly written when compared to the later books.

Why would you think people hate them for being female? That sounds strange to me

I think it's a bit of a mixture, depending on the individual fan. There are some who choose specifically to hate on female characters, or have different standards for their opinions of male and female characters. But then there are others fans - more fans, I hope - whose opinion is just based on the characters' actions, their weaknesses and mistakes, without any consideration of gender. For example, I'm not a huge fan of Sansa because she spent too long being too passive, needing to be rescued by others and getting manipulated over and over again, and then in the show she developed to being manipulative herself. Both are character traits I generally dislike. I'd dislike a male character who had a similar story-line in the same way.