gender balance/strong women

[Schlobin at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14904

This is an update of a post I wrote about a year ago.

Someone wrote that they didn't understand critics' suggestion that there were 
not very many strong female characters, after all,  there is Hermione.

 And, by the way, unlike some others who posted a year ago about this topic, 
I really like Hermione. She's absolutely smart. She has ethics. She's cool.

Now, remember, I love JKR. I adore these books. I talk about them constantly. 
But I must sugges(t that the books are male-identified. Hermione is the 
exception. Hermione is not like the other girls in the HP books. She  doesn't 
giggle, run in packs, or do a lot of the other traditionally girl behavior. 
She's brilliant, hard working, and takes things seriously. She is NOT just 
the girl who helps the boy slay the dragon (as someone suggested). 

By the way, being  male-identified does not mean that one is "less of a 
woman" or "not female". It doesn't mean weak.  It means that when you look at 
a movie you identify with the men (usually because they are the ones doing 
the brave resourceful things). YES, times have changed since 1955. But women 
are too often still the "supporting players". It means that you don't see 
other women as role models, allies, friends, mentors.....


Who helped save Sirius Black? Who tracked down and dealt with Rita Skeeter? 
Hermione is  adventurous; she's inventive. But she is the EXCEPTION. Just as 
many strong, intelligent women, she survives/flourishes by hanging out with 
men and bonding with men. She demonstrates that she can be feminine and 
attract men by attracting a GoF champion, and looking beautiful at the Yule 
Ball. She can do it all if she wants (and good for her), but she has nothing 
in common with the vast majority of women/girls.There are NO strong 
female/female bonds in the book. (we see a little Hermione/Minerva perhaps) 
No women supporting women to fight injustice. Just mostly male bonding (not 
as bad as it would have been 50 years ago) OR women identifying with men.

The vast majority of the cool, powerful, efficacious characters are men/boys. 
James Potter, Sirius Black, Lupin, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Snape, Malfoy, 
Barty Crouch, Senior, Barty Crouch, Junior, Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Bill, 
Percy, Hagrid, Wormtail. Quirrell. Arthur Weasley. The departments in the M 
of M are all headed by men. Even all of the Death Eaters (except Madame 
Lestrange) are men. Even the majority of the ghosts are men! 

Almost all of the women are defined as mothers/partners, yet few of the men 
are defined that way. Molly Weasley (I love her) is defined that way. (Let me 
be crystal clear. Mothering is essential; women who work in the home should 
be highly valued members of our community ) But there are no men in the HP 
books who are defined merely as fathers/partners. There are no men who work 
inside the home, but not outside the home.

 And in fact, Molly is one of the strongest female influences in the books. 
Yet someone on the list last year defined her as angry and menopausal, and 
obviously not the erotic partner of Arthur Weasley. I disagree.  She's 
terrific. She plays a key role. I like her. I like women like her.  If there 
were men in parallel nurturing roles, it would be fine, but there are not.

 Lily Potter is also defined as the mother who sacrificed all for her son. 
(another stereotypical role...which is not to say mothers should not protect 
their children Yet she is still an enigma.  We know a bunch about James and 
his friends, but almost nothing about Lily.  Let's see, she has green eyes, 
and tried to get Voldemort to kill her instead of Harry. Heroic.
Her sister resented her.
Harry has her green eyes.

We hear much more about James.
Moony, Prongs, Wormtail and Padfoot were the group that did adventurous 
things at Hogwarts. James was a Quidditch star. He was brilliant. He broke 
the rules. He had an invisibility cloak. We hear about how he saved Snape 
from Sirius while they were at Hogwarts. We hear NOTHING about Lily at 
Hogwarts. 

Cho is described as a strong girl, a Quidditch player, but her major role is 
as Cedric's date and Harry's crush. The Ravenclaw prefect (Penelope?) is 
there as Percy's amour. The three slimy Slytherins  (Malfoy, Crabbe and 
Goyle) are boys - the only female Slytherins are an enigma - Millicent who is 
large and unpleasant, and then we have the girl who accompanies Malfoy to the 
ball. 

Bertha Jorkins is a space cadet/ traditional female who wanders around 
Albania (of all places) and gets caught by Voldemort/Wormtail. Another 
stereotypical portrayal.

Mrs. Dursley doesn't work outside the home. Vernon makes the decisions and 
rules the roost. 

The Divination Professor is a parody. The healer is sweet but functions in 
the old female stereotype of nurse. Wasn't Neville's mother only tortured to 
see if she knew anything about what Neville's father was doing - he was the 
actor; she was the supporter....

Moaning Myrtle might be a well developed character, but she was an 
unpleasant, unpopular girl, who still is peeking at the Prefects in the bath. 
She whines. 

Then we have the Sirens ---- whoops the Veela - who enslave men with their 
erotic attraction only to turn into monsters (the old toothed vagina stuff).. 
Another negative stereotype about women --
..that women are fatally attractive....that women  entrap men only to 
castrate them.....

Then, we have the four houses. We know the most about Gryffindor, then 
Slytherin.   Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are the houses we know less about.  Is 
it any coincidence that Godric, the head of Gryffindor and Salazar, the head 
of Slytherin,  were men but Helga Hufflepluff and Rowena Ravenclaw are women? 
I applaud JKR's conscious decision to have "even" distribution among the 
genders, but the fact is that the HP universe is mostly male.

Now for the women with the most potential. I'm afraid Minerva McGonagall 
tends to function as an aide or administrative assistant to Albus Dumbledore. 
I myself was furious at her for not standing up to Cornelius Fudge and 
letting the Dementor give the kiss to BC, Jr. Otherwise, I really like her. I 
love the fact that she's an animaga (okay, my Latin is rusty but she wouldn't 
be an animagus would she?) and that Dumbledore has never seen a cat so 
severe. I love that she wants to win the Quidditch match and lets Harry have 
a broomstick first year. I love her Scottish accent, and how she changes her 
desk into a pig.  Hermione looks to her for help and some guidance. But I'm 
afraid that in the books she is not that strong a character, certainly not if 
you contrast her with Sirius or Lupin or Crouch. She is portrayed (again 
stereotypically) as the strict, not very pleasant, old maid school teacher. 
Maggie Smith will deal with that!

Ginny Weasley has potential. But Ginny is mostly seen as the girl who has the 
crush on Harry.  (In other words, a girl who is defined by her relationship 
to a boy. Please understand, that it's fine to be in relationships, it's fine 
for girls to be in relationships with boys, but not to be solely defined by 
that relationship).  She is taken over by Voldemort/Riddle in the CofS and 
then is rescued by Harry. (again a stereotype).

Madame Maxine has potential, and certainly Dumbledore sees her as a major 
ally. But she also, is seen in relationship to Hagrid. And, we don't hear 
much about her.

The issue of "gender balance" is about which gender gets the most "space", 
time, attention, focus.

Where is the female bonding in these books? It tends to be about giggling and 
hero worship of boys.

(With of course Hermione being the EXCEPTION).

Whereas we have all the magical, wonderful male bonding........

Once again, I brace myself for the deluge....
Susan