[HPforGrownups] Re: The Female Students (and other female charcters)

[Aja]

No: HPFGUIDX 33372


On Sun, 13 Jan 2002, tex23236 wrote:

> Agreed. It almost seems some readers forget JKR is female. 

Being female makes it even *more* of a shame in my opinion that HP is not
frequented with more strong, positive females.  (And although my
contribution to this discussion has been limited to the "most hilarious
offering" according to Elizabeth *grin*, I'd like to jump in and say that
I've felt the series lacked good female roles ever since the first book,
and I've been thoroughly enjoying hearing the views from everyone else
who's chimed in on the topic.)  

I think there's a real cause for alarm as the books stand now in the
absence of positive female role models. I'm not saying JKR has denigrated
women in any way--but, one has only to look at the new female characters
introduced in GOF to see the imbalance: 

--Narcissa Malfoy: presented as a haughty woman; she says nothing in the
book, is only shown with her husband (and enters walking behind him), and
is mentioned as wearing a nasty look each time she comes up in discussion.
--Madame Maxine and the Beauxbatons students: presented more positively,
but there is a very unflattering moment when all the members of the
girl's school summarily burst into tears after not being chosen by the
goblet to compete in the TWT. (I must say this was when I put down my book
and said, "Oh, please!" in dismay.)  Maxine is insecure about her identity
and unwilling to confront her half-giant ancestry.  Although she *is* a
positive role model as the only female headmaster, she could easily lose
the position based on prejudice against giants, if not against women--this
makes her weaker than her male counterparts in the same positions, even
Karkaroff.
--Rita Skeeter: is just horrible. She has IMO little intelligence, and is
presented as being hard-nosed, heartless, and pretty much awful. For a
long time I wasn't sure if we were supposed to see her as comic
relief or as a serious threat--but I was completely disappointed with her
character. I guess I've watched His Girl Friday too many times.
--Mrs. LeStrange: as discussed ad nauseum, she wears the pants, but she's
also, from all appearances, just plain evil.
--Fleur: beautiful, but she comes across as a bit manipulative because 
of her Veela looks and ancestry.  She is also presented as the worst of
the four tri-wizard competitors.

>From this batch alone it seems to me JKR has left out a significant
representation of strong females--the kind who are strong but *not* evil,
and good but *not* insecure or weaker than their male counterparts.  And
were I to let this issue affect my enjoyment of the books as a whole, I'd
be really embarrassed that a writer so seemingly conscientious about other
aspects of her work chose to depict such a lop-sided view of women. 

> OTOH, if a male had written HP, he would have been castigated even
more for "his" lack of strong female characters. 

This is nice to speculate, but completely irrelevant. I still feel I am
more attuned to her lack of development in this area because she *is*
female.

> I also find it interesting that such critics don't mention other groups. 
We see a few Blacks and a few kids with ethnic-sounding names; 

Are you saying that those in the discussion haven't taken prejudice of
other kinds into consideration? I believe you're wrong there--I point you
to Elizabeth's most recent post (mssg # 33360) for the latest thoughts on
this.  I think the general consensus among the debaters is that she could
use some work there too.

> and I half expected to see some Voodoo, at least, from these kids.  But
I suppose JKR was right in sticking to a single system of magic.

It's not to be expected that JKR could work in *every* social/cultural
aspect and diversity into 7 books with a tight story arc.  That's not what
the books are ultimately about-- which is partially *why* this list sprang
up, to allow us to indulge in endless debates about where the strong
women/minorities/ethnic and religious groups/international
factions/Cockneys/Welsh/Scottish/other regional accents/
theatre/music/arts classes/missing 24 hours/anything else you can think of
went in the canon. :)

Aja

*looks at her Slytherin Malfoy doll which she bought just for Tom Felton's
picture on the front--$6.77 Walmart bucks for one smirk, the little whore*
        ~~~RQ: Where Little Boys Find No Mercy~~~