The Female Students (and other female charcters)

[babelfisherperson]

No: HPFGUIDX 33279

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "elfundeb" <djdwjt at a...> wrote:
> I would add that in my view JKR's treatment of women (and
> minorities, for that matter) doesn't square well with statements
> she has made that prejudice is a major theme of the books.  After
> paying lip service to the lack of traditional prejudice in the
> wizarding world by peppering the sidelines with female professors
> and Quidditch players and making sure we're aware that the Hogwarts
> population has a reasonable percentage of minorities, all of the
> female characters we see close up conform to classic stereotypes.
> (Aside -- do people feel the male characters are also stereotyped?
> I don't get that sense as much as with the females.)  If the
> Weasleys are such Quidditch fans, why don't we see Ginny out there
> at the Burrow playing with her brothers?  Why do there not seem to
> be any female Aurors?  Why does every witch devour Witch Weekly?
> And why are the minority females notable mostly for their athletic
> abilities (Angelina, Cho) or their exotic appearances (Cho,
> Parvati)?  In so many places in the books she slips in little
> details about the wizarding world, but she just doesn't seem to do
> it in her treatment of witches.

Do remember, everything we see is from Harry's perspective. With the 
sole exception of Hermione, he pays almost no attention to girls 
through most of the series so far. And when he does pay attention 
them, he's mainly noticing their looks. He IS, after all, a boy.

We haven't seen any female Aurors because, I'm fairly certain, we've 
seen a grand total of ONE Auror. We don't see Ginny playing Quidditch 
because we don't see much of her at all; Harry doesn't pay her any 
attention, as he seems to think of her as "Ron's annoying little 
sister". I've not seen indication that "every witch devour(s) Witch 
Weekly", and even if that were the case, we don't know that Witch 
Weekly is some magical equivilent of Cosmo or whatever.

Red XIV