[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Maturity of kids in the Potterverse (moved from main list)

[Bernadette M. Crumb]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Laura Ingalls Huntley" <huntleyl at mssm.org>

> Again, it's not that he's late in *acting*...it's that he's
late in feeling...
>
> Also..I don't think the "he's had other things on his mind"
argument holds much water at all.  There is always room for sex.
Always.
>
> ^_~ No, I'm serious.  And when his feelings for Cho come out,
his life is just as danger-ridden as ever, and he *still* has
time to fantasize about her -- to the point of distraction.  Esp.
at that age, attraction to the opposite sex (or, heck, the same
sex) isn't something that takes effort or time, IMO -- in fact,
it's something that you really can't avoid, whether you want to
or not.  I mean, think about.  The whole world could be coming to
an end and do you think that would change Harry's feelings about
Cho or his preoccupancy with them?  I don't think so.

I'm not saying that he's too busy for it.  I look at what Harry's
life has been up to the point that he came to Hogwart's and what
it's like when he's back there for the summer and I wonder just
how much exposure he got to the opposite sex as a child.
Seriously!  If he was really as isolated as Rowling implies, how
_could_ he develop positive sexual feelings toward females if the
only females he has much exposure to are either his Aunt Petunia
(urgh!) or Mrs. Figg (she's described as a cranky old woman with
cats--what young boy would find that attractive?).  His exposure
to males isn't much better, what with his uncle, his cousin and
his cousin's friends.  It would be kind of hard, I'd think, to
have positive sexual feelings when you've never met anyone who
could engender them in you.

So I don't have a problem that it took a year or two for him to
really start expressing sexuality.  Frankly, I didn't start
expressing sexual interest in anyone until I was well past 16
years old... but I was a late bloomer--and a lot of it had to do
with my body chemistry that needed to be brought into balance.
Once the hormones were flowing properly instead of being
sabotaged by near anorexia, I started reacting like a "normal"
teenage girl.  Until then, when it came to sexual
attracton--nada!

Harry is described as being scrawny and underfed, in the books it
is very clear that he has been fed poorly and in a few cases,
he's been literally starved.  We do know that sexual attraction
responses are triggered by brain chemicals.  If the body's
chemistry is messed up due to malnutrition and such, I can see
that the chemical triggers for Harry wouldn't work properly until
he'd gotten a better diet and got his body back in balance.  Once
that was sorted out, then it makes sense to me that he'd finally
be able to respond to sexual attraction.

Just something that crossed my mind during my reading of this
thread...

Bernadette/RowanRhys

"Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved."
- Victor Hugo, Les Miserables, 1862