teenage girls,

[raolin1 at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 29633

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tabouli" <tabouli at u...> wrote:
> Ahhh, not necessarily.  The teenage girl can be a very devious and 
self-conscious creature, and a touch of double bluff is more than 
possible.  OK, so I don't Hermione is this sort of character, but 
believe you me, if she was, it could well be a case of "I don't want 
to be too obvious that I like Ron, because he might not like me back 
and that would be totally embarrassing, but I'll test out whether he 
likes me by showing affection to *Harry*, because it doesn't matter 
whether Harry Likes me or not, and that way I can see by Ron's 
reaction whether he's jealous, and if he *is* that means it's 
probably safe to hint at him that I actually like him..."
> 
> And so on.  What teenage girls seem not to factor in is that most 
teenage boys are too straightforward for this sort of social 
manipulation (less focussed on the personal/emotional plane), and are 
apt to take the most obvious face-value interpretation.  Especially 
if they *do* like the girl in question, and are in agonies about how 
and whether to act on it, and throes of paranoia about her preferring 
someone else with bigger muscles or whatever.  And all too often in 
the girl's view she is going out of her way to dump armloads of clues 
that she likes him into his lap, which he never seems to pick up, 
leading to endless agonised phonecalls to her friends analysing every 
syllable he utters in her presence.  While the guy broods, shoves his 
still burning torch into a corner in resignation, berates himself for 
lacking the courage to ask her out (she would probably have said no 
anyway), and then goes off to play football (or Playstation, or to 
the pub, or whatever)...
> 
> (hey, nothing like a few gender stereotypes... make the world go 
round!  Just ask Helen Fielding...)
> 
> Take it from an ex-teenage girl who has tried these tactics (wot, 
me?  A manipulative flirt?), and had them backfire on her every 
time.  "But if you liked me, why were you always talking to him?  I 
thought you liked him!"  "Yeah, but that was because I was too 
*embarrassed* to talk to you, because I liked you!"  "But that's 
stupid!" etc.



Yeah, I can kinda understand this logic.  I think my wife is perhaps 
more straightforward than some (and she tells me that in this 
position, she'd flirt with the friend she realized she liked, but she 
admitted that there are a lot of variables involved (like the girl's 
and the boy's personality and exactly what kind of relationship they 
had previously.)  Obviously, I can't quite think like a gal, but I've 
tried to get into their heads a little bit.

Let's look at another scene and let me know what you think.  After 
Rita Skeeter's article on the alleged Harry/Hermione romance, 
Hermione does not deny the allegations, although she scoffs at Rita's 
writing nonetheless.  The Romantic Pairings FAQ for the list proposes 
this as evidence of pro-Ron sentiments: why didn't she say anything 
about it if she liked Harry?  However, it seems like it should be the 
opposite to me as well: if she liked Ron, she'd want to make sure to 
deny involvement with Harry so he knows there's a free path (not 
inviting him to come down it, necessarily, but he sure won't if he 
thinks someone else beat him there.)  However, by not denying it, she 
seems to either show such complete disdain for the article that it 
doesn't need to be addressed at all (a good possibility) or 
subconcious (at least) interest in Harry: she surely wouldn't want to 
confirm interest in him, as that's much too forward, but she 
certainly doesn't want to deny it either, because that'll shut him 
off for good.

So, is that a fair analysis, or am I thinking too much like a guy 
again?  :)

Joshua Dyal