Gender balance/strong women

[Schlobin at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 14989

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Neil Ward" <neilward at d...> wrote:
> When it comes to strong girls/women, we definitely have Minerva, 
> Molly, Hermione and Angelina 


Angelina? Oh, come now, Neil, my friend, aren't we stretching things 
here? How many lines are devoted to her? (Now that would be 
interesting..someone do a text analysis about how many lines are 
devoted to men and women...)

Rita Skeeter is interesting but not someone who grips the 
imagination..she cannot equate to Lord Voldemort or even to Peter 
Pettigrew, she's more like Peeves, and I haven't listed him on my
"most fascinating men" list....


> 
> I guess we shouldn't conclude that sexism in the canon = sexism in 
> JKR.  I think she has more than a few surprises up her capacious 
> sleeves in relation to social inequalities.  
> 


But I was very careful not to conclude that, Neil....I, like everyone 
else, adore her and fantasize that one day, at work, I'll get a call 
that says "J. K. Rowlings is very interested in the work you do with 
battered women and would like to come visit your program." 
http://comnet.org/dvp (in case anyone is in touch with her).

Susan