One reporter reacts to JKR's revelations

[susanmcgee48176]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Carol" <justcarol67 at ...> 
wrote:
>
> Carol:
> > > 
> > > Obviously, we can't hide the existence of sexual attraction 
from 
> kids. They know about it already. But most kids fourteen and under 
(I
> wish I could say sixteen and under) aren't ready for sexual
> relationships of their own and really don't want to read about it, 
in
> my experience. They may wonder when Ron is going to figure out that 
he
> loves Hermione and when they're going to kiss, but they're mostly
> worried about other things--like whether Harry's going to survive 
(or,
> in the earlier books, what kind of detention Harry is going to get
> from Snape) and most of all, in what happens next. Sexual innuendoes
> (including the sly reference to "Equus" in "King's Cross" and the
> possibility of a romantic relationship between DD and GG) go right
> over their heads. Or, at least, that's my experience with regard to
> young readers (fourteen and under).
> > 
> Magpie:
> > Wait. I'm following you about how kids don't want to read about 
> sexual relationships, but can wonder when Ron is going to figure 
out 
> that he loves Hermione, or when they're going to kiss. But then 
> Dumbledore being in love with Grindelwald--which is *exactly* the 
> same as Ron being in love with Hermione or, perhaps more accurately 
> since it was in the past, exactly the same as Merope in love with 
Tom
> or the Bloody Baron in love with the Grey Lady--must be sexual
> innuendo that goes over their heads (as people missed a lot signs 
for
> H/G and R/Hr anyway) or an explicit sexual relationship they're not
> interested in reading about? 
> > 
> > There still seems to be a premise here that Dumbledore/Grindelwald
> is about the mechanics of sex or dirtier or more graphic instead of
> just being the same but with two men. If sexuality=having sex on 
page,
> then Dumbledore and Grindelwald still aren't more about sexuality 
than
> any other people in canon. 
> > 
> Carol responds:
> 
> DD's infatuation with GG or love for him or whatever it was is 
sexual
> innuendo because it's not on the page (or, actually, just innuendo
> because love doesn't necessarily imply sex and GG's feelings may 
have
> been different from Albus's) and kids, unlike politically oriented
> adults, aren't going to pick up any hints of a sexual or romantic
> attraction between two teenage boys, one of them underage. >>>

Unless of course, the kid in question is 15 and gay. Not all youth 
are heterosexual.

Susan