Males are just as silly as females (Was Article)

[jenny_ravenclaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 41270

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Laura Ingalls Huntley" <huntleyl at m...> 
 
> It really alarms me the way people here can be so dead-set on one 
thing that they take little pieces of canon that support their views 
and completely disregard the rest of it.  I mean, I know I'm not 
innocent of it *at all*...but, esp. with this "is JKR sexist" debate 
-- to me, it seems like people just latch on to bits of the book where 
female characters behave "badly" and are blind to the fact that there 
are just as many male characters acting just as foolishly.  So, what?  
To me, this suggests that the *readers* more readily forgive Colin, 
Neville, Justin, and Ron (think about all the inane theories and 
prejudices this one's come up with) for being silly/immature/etc. 
because they are male, but if Lavender or Pavarti do the same thing, 
WATCH OUT.  What's even more disturbing is that nearly all of the 
people I see doing this (on this list and off) *are* female.  So who's 
sexist?>

While I think you make many excellent points, Laura, I not only 
disagree with your comments here, but your tone could have been, er, 
toned down as well.  

I think JKR portrays her male characters in ways that are just as 
silly and sometimes downright annoying as her female characters.  I 
also keep reminding myself that there are reasons for the portrayal of 
each of her characters.  I also happen to like some of the female 
characters who are not so popular with readers and I dislike some of 
the male characters who are extremely popular *coughHagridcough*.

I think Lockhart is JKR's single worst written character.  I suppose I 
should have found him funny, but I didn't.  If there was anything real 
in his characterization, I might not dislike him as much as I do.  He 
is a hefty reason why I have not re-read CoS as often as I have the 
other HP books.  Ah, and incidentally, Veelas cause just as ridiculous 
reactions in males as Lockhart does in females.

Two female characters I like very much are Fleur and Cho.  I don't see 
Fleur as vain as much as I see her as tough and probably wary of all 
the attention she gets from men.  Even when she does not turn on her 
Veela charms, boys' heads turn when she walks by.  It must be 
frustrating for her that people are only interested in her for the way 
she looks.  We see her emotional side when she claims to deserve a 
zero for her second task performance and her eagerness to see her 
sister safely on shore.  She is also very gracious to Harry from the 
second task on.  I like her and look forward to seeing how her 
character will be developed next.

Cho is another character who seems to be disliked by fans everywhere, 
but alas!  I am not one of them.  JKR has gone out of her way to write 
Cho as a nice girl who doesn't giggle moronically with her friends, or 
wear a Cedric pin (someone else recently mentioned this) along with 
everyone else.  She wishes Harry luck in PoA, unlike Fred and George 
who are rather rude to Cedric upon meeting up with him in GoF, simply 
because his House won a Quidditch game over Gryffindor *once*.  Cho is 
also extremely polite to Harry about the Yule Ball.  I'd like to think 
that if Cedric hadn't asked her first, she would have said yes to 
Harry.

I don't forgive male characters like Neville or the Creevey brothers.  
I find Neville annoying and wimpy and wish his shining moment so far 
wasn't only in SS.  I'd like to see him toughen up.  The Creevey 
brothers - ugh.  Not too long ago I went on a tirade about Colin and 
how much like the paparazzi he is, following Harry around, snapping 
photos against Harry's polite wishes, staring and pointing all the 
time. I don't think the books would be missing a thing if Colin and 
Dennis Creevey suddenly decided to go to Eton after all and didn't 
return to Hogwarts in OoP.

There you go; I am an equal opportunity critic of HP characters.  :-)

--jenny from rave