On one hand it makes sense that medieval european social relations imply, well, medieval european social relations and it makes sense to use your novel (or your show) to examine those.
On the other I can relate to many people wanting to see women in medieval fantasy to be represented in some other way than constant misery porn.
Justifying it as "just realism" is a lazy copout for hack writers, at least have the decency to come up with a more elaborate justification and show that you're putting thought and work into it.
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