Gender roles, acronyms, postal possibilities, limited natural resources

[Tabouli]

No: HPFGUIDX 32909

Does it strike anyone else as interesting that the people earnestly debating the 14yo Harry and his (lack of) tears and problems with expressing emotion all, as far as I can tell, seem to be female listmembers?? (btw, Harry also cried, albeit involuntarily, after confronting the Boggart-Dementor in Lupin's office, to his great shame).  Where are the English male listmembers who actually remember being a 14yo English boy?  (Neil?  David?)

Ah!  Just read on and found that Eric, Ali and Daibh eventually rose to the task.  Good.  Though only after a couple of days of earnest discussion among the women... which says something in itself, doesn't it?  :)

Ebony:
> I incited a flame skirmish on another grown-up Harry Potter list for stating that 
Hermione was "all girl".  I don't care if some think that's an anti-
feminist statement, she is just as feminine in her own way as 
Lavender and Parvati are, and as Ginny (in the very limited glimpses 
we get of her) is.  That's not a feminine vs. non-feminine thing; 
it's a personality thing.  She is not portrayed as a tomboy or as an 
asexual nerd.  She's just a smart girl.  That's all.<

I suppose it comes down to your concept of femininity, doesn't it?  If "femininity" means taking an interest in your appearance, giggling about boys, etc. I suppose arguably Hermione isn't that "feminine".  OTOH, the gender differences between the behaviour of Hermione and that of Ron and Harry are clear cut and fairly typical... Hermione is a better amateur psychoanalyst of e.g. Ron's feelings, takes the emotionally nurturing role, plays moral police officer, etc.

I myself was once very like Hermione, would rather have died than admit to a crush, disdained taking an interest in my appearance (or, more honestly, was too self-conscious and insecure to do so), focussed much more on intellectual things than relationshippy girly things like gossiping about boys, and yes, rumours went about that I must therefore be (gasp!) a lesbian (which, for the record, I'm not... in fact, quite the reverse: I was very male-identified), uncool, etc.etc.  Even after I left school someone once told me I had a "masculine" personality!  This, I think, was based mostly on my intellectual confidence, like the "non-feminine" verdicts on Hermione.  I do exhibit some stereotypically "masculine" behaviour, but I still think I'm fundamentally feminine.

Megan:
> Oh, no, I wasn't saying anyone else had either. :-D  I think I was
jsut trying to point out that Hermione goes from apparently (Harry's
perspective, remember) zero interest in guys her age, to basically
entering "Prom Court" at the Yule Ball<

Not zero interest... don't forget Hermione's (no doubt by now deeply embarrassing) second year crush on Lockhart!

--jenny from ravenclaw, who wishes Tabouli would come up with a cool 
acronym for Harry lovers like me *******************

Could be arranged... what admirable qualities of Harry's would you like included?  Perhaps:

C.H.I.M.P.A.N.Z.E.E. "Courageous Harry Is Modest, Perceptive And Nimble!" Zealous Enthusiasts Extol.

Amanda Snape:
> ~*If this group has a key for all of Tabouli's acronyms, I missed it. 
Has someone created a guide for all of the various "clubs" and what they
stand for?  It would sure be helpful for a relative newbie like myself if
I could understand what everyone meant when tney said they were a member
of ...[insert obscure word].  Don't get me wrong - I enjoy the acronyms. 
I just want to know what they stand for!*~<

Not all of the clubs' acronyms were invented by me (though I seem to have become primary acronym generator of late).  All the same, I still have copies of all my own posts, so if you really want I could try to dig up all of mine for you and post 'em (on or off-list).  A cursory glance over my files yielded:

T.A.G.S. (Tabouli's Acronym Generation Service)
L.O.L.L.I.P.O.P.S. (Love Of Lily Left Ire Polluting Our Poor Severus)
L.A.N.D.L.U.B.B.E.R.S. (Love And Nookie Detesters: Let Us Ban Boring Endless Romantic Speculations!)(contrast with Shippers, who like discussing romantic relationships between characters)
F.L.I.N.T. (Flint-Like Inconsistencies Nitpicked Triumphantly)(reference to the Slytherin Quidditch captain, whom JKR accidentally kept on as captain after he should actually have left school: a genuine: genuine admitted mistake)
F.O.B. (Fans Of Bombadil)( : D )
F.R.A.T.R.I.C.I.D.E. (Fellowship of Rings Avoiding Tolkien Rejectors Introduced Cinematically Into Delightful Escapism)

... but there are dozens more.  Most of my longer ones are for the specialised niche market and are too unwieldy for everyday use; the shorter snappier ones you've probably been seeing bandied around pre-date me, like:

L.O.O.N. (League of Overly Obsessed Nitpickers)
C.R.A.B. (Cut Ron A Break)
S.C.H.A.B.B. (Stop Calling Hermione A Bossy Braggart)
F.I.T.D. (Farmer In The Dell: Ron likes Hermione who likes Harry who likes Cho who likes Cedric, who's dead, etc.)

In the voice of the Grey Wolf (arOOO): hope that helps.

Penny:
> I asked earlier: where was Ginny during the aftermath of the 3rd Task 
when her love interest (Harry) was quite obviously in a bad spot?<

Blindfolded by Molly's apron strings (so she didn't see sights unfit for little eyes)?  Gazing horrified from inside Harry's blind spot? More likely not mentioned because she was irrelevant to the plot, or banished to the cutting room floor by editors desperate to cut GoF down below 1000 pages.

Now, two new musings I had this morning...

Sirius is constantly expressing concern that his mail might be intercepted, but so far as we've seen all owls have always reached their addressee unhindered.  When you think about it, though, assuming that owls fly in the normal way to their destination (no going "between" or whatever), it would be very easy to find someone by recognising their owl and following it on a broomstick.  And, presumably, to catch the owl somehow (Accio Hedwig!) or even kill it, to read the mail and, if necessary, stop it getting through.

Musings: is JKR foreshadowing a lost in the post or substituted letter twist?  Can people tell if mail has been tampered with, or can the owl tell the wizard?  Might Hedwig be the fan of Harry's who dies, slain by a postal predator?  And where, O where did Pigwidgeon so conveniently appear from, just when Sirius needed him??  OK, so Crookshanks is confident that the whizzing featherball is a Good Guy, but could there be something more to it?  (I suppose there's always Ye Olde Animagus trick, but I'm getting very tired of that one, and apparently he's definitely an owl).  Could he be linked to a character who might rise to prominence, like Dedalus Diggle, or Otto Bagman?  (maybe there'll be a miniature racing owl breeder somewhere!)

Not likely, I grant you, but I like Pigwidgeon, and it'd be fun for him to turn out to be significant.

My other musing is that Potions, requiring (as it does) the body parts of obscure magical and non-magical creatures, must surely be vulnerable to swings of the eco-system in a way other magical disciplines would not.  What if the Boomslang were to become extinct?  The price of Polyjuice manufacture would skyrocket, subterfuges like Barty Junior's would become very difficult, and there might be a resurgence in the illegal use of the Imperio charm!

Tabouli.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]