[HPforGrownups] Re: JKR's sex bias

[Neil Ward]

No: HPFGUIDX 3571

Susan said:

<<<Neil, I'm afraid you have made my whole point here, 
that girls are relegated to second class....JKR is in control and she 
could have made it possible for girls to be NOT extras or side plots..
She could have made the Snape, Lupin, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Malfoy,
Black character a woman....>>>

I accept that, although I think you are being a little strong with the
phrase "relegated to second class," in this context.  Without going in
circles, I posted some possible reasons for this state of affairs earlier
and there seems to be a consensus that Harry's POV gives the female
characters in these books less emphasis.  

JKR does not strike me as someone who would want to convey the idea that
women are second class citizens; she is a socialist and seems well aware of
gender inequality in the real world.  On the other hand, she is an author,
who has a right to tell this story as she sees it. If every writer felt they
had to put the world to rights in every story they wrote, wouldn't their
creativity be compromised?       

Susan also said:

<<<You know, I'm almost sorry I started this, because it becomes clear-er
and clear-er that women/girls are second class citizens still, 
although better than 1940..and I don't want to dwell on it. I'd rather
have mostly ignored that fact.>>>

Your concerns about sexual inequality in the REAL world are valid. I share
them, but I think and hope that things are changing for the better.  On the
other hand, JKR is writing fiction which, for many of us, represents an
escape from the real world. Agreed, she has given her male characters a
disproportiate share of the limelight, but has that made them better than
the female characters? I don't think it has. 

Neil

            Flying-Ford-Anglia

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   "Then, dented, scratched and steaming, 
   the car rumbled off into the darkness, 
   its rear lights blazing angrily"

 [Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]

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