Sex in HP'verse./SHIPS

[Penny & Bryce]

No: HPFGUIDX 33267

Hi all --

 > Terri Lyn Layman wrote:
 >> While I do enjoy the discourse on SHIPS and their various
 >> permutations.  (Won't even touch that one right now.)    I do
 >> have to point out one very valid point:  The books, while enjoyed
 >>  by  adults, were written for children.

Er ...from JKR's *own* mouth (Sydney Morning Herald interview...recent):

 > A problem you run into with a series is how the characters grow up
 > ... whether they're allowed to grow up. The characters in Enid
 > Blyton's Famous Five books act in a prepubescent way right through
 > the series. In the Narnia books the children are never allowed to
 > grow up, even though they are growing older.    I want Harry Potter
 >  and his friends to grow up as well as older, though I'll keep it
 > all humorous, well within the tone of the books. I want them
 > eventually to be truly 17 and discover girlfriends and boyfriends
 > and have sexual feelings - nothing too gritty. Why not allow them
 > to have those feelings?

Also in the recent BBC interview, she said something to the effect of
"there will be inevitably more boy-girl stuff, the characters are aging,
etc."

As for whether the books were written *for* children, JKR has said she
had no target audience in mind.  We just debated this extensively
sometime in the last month, so I won't rehash it.  Other than to say
that some of our members believe these are childrens books, others think
they are Young Adult, others think they are a hybrid with the earliest
volumes being juvenile/young adult & the later ones trending toward
adult.  I fall into the last category myself.

In any case, there's nothing in JKR's statements to indicate that she
will tailor the series for her youngest readers or do anything other
than what she's planned as far as plot & themes.  In fact, she's said as
much in post-GoF interviews (From Entertainment Weekly's 2-part
interview in July/Aug 2000: "Will you tone it down more for your
children readers, GoF was a bit dark?"  Answer: "No...if I lose some
audience along the way, that's fine, but I'll write it the way I've
planned it & the way I want it to be").  That's a paraphrase btw,
because my baby is ready to go on a walk so I've no time to find the
actual source & quote it word for word.

No, Terri, I don't think we will see graphic sex in the HP series.  But,
I do think JKR plans to take it beyond mere "glossing" over romantic
relationships.  That's been true in the past because the books are from
Harry's POV, and he was younger.  He's growing up though and will be
involved in romantic relationships or entanglements himself, as will his
peers.  :--)

Penny