Gender Balance-lots of various topics

[Scott]

No: HPFGUIDX 15146

I have found the gender balance discussions very interesting, and 
thought provoking. These are my thoughts gathered from reading LOTS 
of different posts.

WORD COUNT/PAGE TIME.

Someone (Amy?) said that for every few female characters in a story 
there seems to be an equal amount as with men (even though there 
aren't). I think this is true, and I'm not sure why, but in HP at 
least the females that we have are strong and that sort of equals it 
out. It DOESN'T equal it out, but there are a lot of weak male 
characters, as opposed to strong female one's.

That whole page/word count was really interesting. Kudos to the 
person who compiled it!

DEFINING RELATIONSHIPS

Susan and Rena(?) have argued that no characters are defined by their 
relationships to women. But I agree with Amanda(?) that defining 
relationships depend on the situation, and most importantly how one 
defines oneself.  However I have to argue that Harry is,if not 
completely, defined by relationships to women. He is both James 
Potter's son, and Lily Evans Potter's son. He is best friend of both 
Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. If you took out Hermione you'd also 
take out an important part of who Harry is becoming.

HARRY POV-AN EXCUSE?

Ok, someone Susan(?) said that it was a lame excuse to say everything 
is from Harry's POV (or third person limited with Harry guiding the 
stories). They aren't from his point of view entirely (I went to play 
Quidditch) but they would be totally different if it weren't for 
Harry being  the centre of the novels. I think the Harry POV is an 
important factor, but it's not an explain-all.

GINNY

The Weasley's youngest kid is, well lets face it, not that 
interesting. But that doesn't mean Ginny doesn't have potential, she 
does. Jo Rowling just hasn't picked up on it. I'm sure Ginny is an 
interesting person and I hope we get to see that.  

Have you ever known someone, worked with them, had class with them 
etc., and see them everyday, and yet not know them. I certainly have, 
and I hate to say it. Admitedly when it's your best friend's sister 
and someone who has major crush on you, it's a stretch to think that 
Harry never noticed her as a person in her own right, but it's 
possible.

I also agree with Penny that Ginny was pretty much nothing more than 
a victim in CoS, and because we don't see much more of her it can be 
hard get that image out of one's mind.

MOLLY

I think Molly is an extremely strong woman. She doesn't have to work 
for the MoM or hold some high ranking position to be a strong person. 
Life is about choices, and no matter what we choose to do with our 
lives, it's HOW we carry out that choice that makes us a strong 
person, not what the choice is. I'm not saying that I think women 
should stick to cooking or cleaning and men to positions of power. 

So yes we see Molly's strength. If it weren't for Molly Harry 
mightn't have even gotten to Hogwarts in PS/SS. She's a mother to 
both her own children and in a way to Harry as well. As someone 
pointed out she isn't afraid to make important decisions even when 
they're difficult. She commits her family to the fight against 
Voldemort without a second thought.

***

I could go on and on and on, but I wont. I think that the books are 
fine the way they are because this is the story JKR is writing.  It 
may be about a fictional world about Witches and Wizards, but it is 
also a very realistic world, that mirrors our own. There are a lot of 
injustices and this is one of them. Whether JKR is conciously or 
Subconciously trying to make the story more male oriented I don't 
know. It's funny because I always considered myself rather unlucky at 
being a white male. What's the glory in my achievements since like me 
have been ruling the world and making important decisions in some 
society for all of recording history. I'm not say that I'm not proud 
of who I am, but symbolically I've not accomplished nearly as much as 
someone who has in the past been oppressed. 

I've  always wondered why people can't just see that we are all 
equal. Of course there's no anwser to that, but it's never even 
crossed my mind that things could be any other way.

For the most part I think we should be happy with the story that Jo's 
writing. Someone said that Jo wont change things because she's got 
the whole story planned out. I don't think she will add new women for 
just for the sake of complaints, but I don't think it would be 
possible for her not to be influenced by the events that take place 
around her, and the things that have happened to her since the story 
was planned. The story, like JKR herself has evolved since it's 
"birth".

Scott