The Female Students (and other female charcters)

[judyserenity]

No: HPFGUIDX 33206

> >Cindy wrote:
> > > In fact, there are a lot of female students who are cheated out 
> > > of personalities in the HP books....
> 
> And then Elizabeth Dalton replied:
> >This is a general problem I have with the books, and given that the 
> > author is female, 
> > I have to say I'm pretty disappointed about it... 

"Liz Sager" replied:
> I think part of the reason we don't hear much development from 
> female  characters (other than Hermione) is that when we read the
> books, we see things through Harry's eyes. We see what Harry sees, 
> feel what Harry feels. 
> And since he hasn't really discovered girls in "that way" yet, much 
> character development is left to be desired. I realize that he's not 
> going to notice his teachers in 'that way', but he might wonder in 
> class who would... 

I agree with Cindy and Elizabeth Dalton.   I love the Potter books, 
but the lack of good female characters is a *major* disapointment to 
me.  Not only is JKR female herself, but her only child is female. 
Couldn't she have come up with some decent female characters?  I do 
see Hermione as a positive character, but she's very much a 
stereotype, and she's the *only* female character who does much of 
anything, in the whole series.  

The treatment of women in the Potterverse smacks of tokenism.  Sure, 
they can be on the faculty, but they prune flowers (Sprout) or fix 
sniffles (Pomfrey, who is called a nurse and not a doctor) or 
fuss about smudges on library books (Madam Pince) while the 
males save the universe.  And, all the female teachers seem to fit the 
"fussy, uptight" stereotype, as does Hermione. Females can be 
students, but other than Hermione, they are just victims (Ginny, 
Myrtle) or frivalous (Lavender, Parvati.) Fleur's being the only girl 
in the Triwizard Tournament, and then being so incompetent, is another 
example of this tokenism.  Plus, we haven't seen any women working at 
the Ministry of Magic, except for gossipy, stupid Bertha, who got 
herself killed before ever getting into the story.

It's true that Harry, being male, would have fewer female friends.  
Still, there are ways of putting female characters in the books. We've 
seen Percy take a leadership role in many crises, but where is the 
Head Girl, whoever she is?  And, there's no reason why the female 
teachers can't be more active.  Clearly, a teacher can have an 
important role in the story even if Harry doesn't like that teacher 
(think of Snape and Lockhart.) I have to say, I was bothered by the 
comment here that JKR could work female teachers into the story by 
having Harry wonder about their love lives.  Why does there need to be 
a romantic connection in order to put a woman in the story?  There are 
plenty of male teachers who play major roles, and it has nothing to do 
with their love lives. 

Gee, I wish that instead of George and Fred Weasley, we had madcap, 
funny Georgina and Freida Weasley.  I'd even settle for *Cornelia* 
Fudge.