The Female Students (and other female charcters)

[christi0469]

No: HPFGUIDX 33221

> 
> 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.

 While I agree that there are not many female characters that could 
be considered strong in the HP books, I disagree with the 
characterization of the entire female faculty of Hogwarts as fussy 
and uptight. Prof. Trelawny seems laughable, but I certainly do not 
see her as fussy and uptight. Prof. McGonagall is strict and very 
much in command, but she also has a compassionate side. She gives 
the outward appearance of being uptight but relaxes and has fun at 
the Christmas feast. She is also the deputy headmistress. Prof. 
Sprout may do pruning, but not of what I would term flowers. She 
bandages the whomping willow and deals with the potentially fatal 
mandrakes. Without her there would be no hope for the petrified 
students(and cat). Mme Pomfrey does much more than tend to sniffles, 
she heals broken bones and burns and petrified students(with the 
help of Sprout and probably Snape). She seems to have a good command 
of the infirmary, and has the guts to ask Dumbledore to leave. She 
may only be a nurse, but with nurses like that who needs doctors? 
And I have never met a school doctor, even in college. And Mme Pince 
is extremely stereotypical of a librarian. Prof. Hooch is a 
Quidditch referee as well as teaching flying. We only see one flying 
lesson, but I imagine Harry may just have been exempted from flying 
lessons for obvious reasons. Prof. Hooch points out that Malfoy has 
been "doing it wring for years". 

  I also object to the characterization of Fleur as incompetent. 
When she faces the dragon she does a very good job of entrancing it. 
Her robes catch fire only because the dragon snorts in its sleep, 
and she immediatly put the flames out with a jet of water from her 
wand (Cedric also gets burned, Harry gets injured by the dragons 
tail, and Krum breaks a lot of eggs). She starts out competently 
enough at the second task, only to be caught by grindylows. IMHO, 
this is just so that Harry can save the only hostage that does not 
matter to him personally. She might have had a decent chance at the 
third task if she had not been stunned by Crouch. The fact that the 
goblet of fire chose her at all suggests that she is brave and 
competent.

 It is true that JRK could have switched the genders of some of the 
characters. But Cornelius Fudge at the end of GoF is not exactly a 
steller figure, even if he is the MOM. Dumbledore could have been a 
women, but it would take away from his resemblence to Merlin (IMHO, 
of course) and may have made Harry less comfortable with him. If 
Fred and George had been girls Harry might not have developed a good 
relationship with them. I also suspect that Ron may have so many 
brothers to set him up as a seventh son (Molly and Arthur would have 
only have had to lose one child, and it would explain the "mortal 
peril" clock). And Molly Weasley seems like a stronger character 
than Arthur Weasley. IIRC, we are supposed to find out more about 
Lily in the next book, which could give us another strong female 
character. Harry's POV definately colors which characters we meet 
and how we perceive them, and I think that he may perceive more 
strength in female characters as he becomes more interested in them. 

Christi