1) why are we obsessed with Potterverse? 2) stupid me to touch this topic

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

Sarah Glaubman wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/33793>:

<< I'm writing this post because I can't concentrate on my work
because all I can think about is Harry Potter. >>

Oh, Sarah, I know the feeling! I don't know WHY this series had this
effect on me; if I knew, I would have answered the question of The New
Carol in <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/33728>
of << Why do people treat them like real people, take the books so
seriously, and talk about JKR like she's the devil instead of just a
writer that wrote a few books.>>

I was almost as obsessed with The Lord of the Rings for a short time
when I was 11, and then I was a Trekkie when I was 12 (all the girls
in my class that year became Trekkies because the most popular girl
was one), and only like 10 years ago, I got so into my frp character
in the Viking campaign that I wrote her entire biography and started
on the biographies of her ancestors. This shows that I had the ability
to obsess over a fictional world and fictional people before I
encountered the Potter oeuvre.

I play frpg once a month since 1985 with the same people and the same
GM and a number of different campaigns, so I don't know why I'm
passionately into our Viking campaign and would be perfectly content
if the Japan and Space campaigns just vanished away. If I knew, that
MIGHT be relevant to Carol Cinders's question.
 
As it is, all I can offer Cinders (Cinderella?) is that the Potter
oeuvre is narrated by a friendly, humorous tone of voice, takes place
in a world where whimsy is part of the natural order (such as punny
names like Diagon Alley), and there are a lot of sexy men.

Susan wrote in
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPFGU-OTChatter/message/33787>:

<< Personally, I do NOT consider it acceptable or normal for grown men
to be interested in or attracted to young girls, or teenaged girls.
I think it's all about the eroticization of girls in our culture, and
I think it is sick and morally wrong. It's about seeing women and
girls as property -- it's no coincidence that most sex crimes ARE
committed against young girls. It's no coincidence that most of the
international sex trafficking is in women and girls. Girls cannot be
independent or think for themselves as well as older adult independent
women, so some men like them better. >>

In the first place, people can't control to whom they are attracted.
All people can control is their behavior. If people are unacceptable
because of what goes on inside their minds regardless of how they
behave, what is the motivation to behave well?

In the second place, if a man is visually attracted to a female human
who is 5-foot-5 in bare feet and wears 36DD bra size with a thin waist
and a round ass and long, muscular but shapely legs, and he thinks
from her appearance that she's over 18, and then maybe he sees her
driver's license and she's 17, at which he is horrified and starts
being very mean and unfriendly to her so no one will think he was
attracted, I can't believe that's a perversion. A sexual orientation
that puts too much importance on visual appearance, but lots of people
have that, including me. That's why pin-up pictures and centerfold
magazines are profitable.

In the third place, I think it's ridiculous to say that the above man
sought out an underaged girl because underaged people are more
vulnerable. He was attracted to big tits and no wrinkles, not to
underage.  

And it's not about the status of females. My bus home from work every
day goes right past Loyola High School's football field, and I stare
out the bus window at the pretty *boys* as we pass. (The rest of the
trip I scan sidewalks and front lawns in hope of seeing a cat.)

<< Not all men. I reject that analysis because I think there are a ton
of moral and upright men who prefer women their own age, and do NOT
find little girls or teenaged girls attractive. >>

I know there are a ton of men who are 40 and 50 and 60 years old who
marry women who are 25 and 30 years old, which is not underaged, but
is not 'their own age' either.