

Sophie Turner Learned a Lot About Sex on the Game of Thrones Set

"I said, 'Wow! People do that?'"

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In its six seasons on the air, Game of Thrones has set records for the number of people who watch it, the number of people who get set on fire in it, and the amount of nudity it portrays. (Almost all of the nudity was for sex-related purposes, and not torture or fire rebirth.) In an interview with The Times about growing up on Game of Thrones, Sophie Turner, who was just 12 when she auditioned for the role of Sansa Stark, and 15 when the show aired on HBO, described growing up on a set that doubled as a sex-ed classroom: "I'd be doing a read-through and we'd be talking about very graphic stuff. The first time I found out about oral sex was reading the Game of Thrones script," Turner said. "I was 13. I said, 'Wow! People do that? That's fascinating.' I guess that was my sex education. Being on Game of Thrones."

Turner also defended the rape scene she filmed for Season 5, although admitted at the time she didn't foresee the intense backlash. "Sexual assault wasn't something that had affected me or anybody I knew, so I was pretty blasé about the whole thing—naively so," she said. But upon reflection, she stood by the show's graphic depiction of sexual assault. Per The Times:

The more we talk about sexual assault the better, and screw the people who are saying we shouldn't be putting this on TV and screw the people who are saying they're going to boycott the show because of it. This sort of thing used to happen and it continues to happen now, and if we treat it as such a taboo and precious subject, then how are people going to have the strength to come out and feel comfortable saying that this has happened to them?

We have two more seasons of Game of Thrones controversy to go. The hit series returns Sunday, July 16 on at 9 p.m. EST on HBO.

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