Hogwarts: "We don't drown in sex appeal"

[Charmian]

No: HPFGUIDX 8621

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, Dave Hardenbrook <DaveH47 at m...> 
wrote:
> There seems to be a deficit of sexy females in Harry Potter.
> There's many more in the Oz books -- Glinda, Ozma, Polychrome,
> Jellia Jamb, etc. etc. -- for a guy like me to drool over.   (Ironic
> that many Oz scholars insist that Oz was always intended by
> its creators to be a land of immaculate chastity!) 
  
You read OZ for the babe factor? ^_~
Yes, but OZ is much more extensively illustrated than Harry Potter. 
Who was Polychrome? Was Jellia Jamb the womens' revolt leader?
I'd recommend Phillip Pullman's series then. Yes, I know the reviews 
are tedious with the HP comparisons. But I have a friend who refuses 
to to read HP because it's too popular. I believe judging the book 
itself and not who wrote it. 

More on the subject of comparisons...Pullman and Rowling's books have 
little in common other than they have magical children. HDM is a 
*very* different series in tone. Pullman, in general, is several 
orders darker than Rowling. Plus, the comparison is also perhaps a 
bit unfair because Pullman is a much more experienced, established 
author than JKR. He's actually written quite a bit of children's and 
young adult. I'd also recommend the Sally Lockhart series (which 
actually got an Edgar nomination, I believe), a Victorian non-fantasy 
mystery series. And the White Mercedes, if you want young adult, as 
it's definitely *not* for kids, if you want to see how dark Pullman 
can get. 

The book I've seen in topic that's actually closest to HP is Diana 
Wynne Jones's Witch Week, which also has kids, with magical powers, 
in a boarding school. 

But in
> the JKR universe there's just Madam Rosmerta, and some "offstage"
> ladies like Rowena Ravenclaw, Celestina Warbeck, and others
> whose sex appeal is totally in the assumptions of the reader.
> 
> Is the lack of sexy teachers at Hogwarts (male or female) part
> of JKR's stereotyping of school employees?
> 
> 

I don't think so, as there are a remarkably few amount of regular, 
non DADA teachers who get much characterization besides McGonagall 
and Snape. Heck, Filch gets more pagetime than Sprout or Flitwick. 
Plus it could be argued that Lockhart was sexy, based on all the 
cards he received. 

Charmian