[HPforGrownups] Re: Logic and math of sexism (was Males are just as silly as females)

[Amy Z]

No: HPFGUIDX 41284

Darrin, you make lots of good points, and also you're
defending Hagrid, so I am generously inclined toward
you.  Howevers follow.

> But I guess my question is, is this necessarily
> sexist?
> 
> Simply having more male important characters than
> female isn't 
> sexist, unless you want to implement a literature
> quota. 

No, I don't want a quota, and you're right, a book
doesn't have to be even.  It doesn't even have to be
close to even.  Where one draws the line is very
subjective.  I would suggest, however, that if there
were *no* female characters most of us would wonder
just a bit about JKR's worldview.  For example, I
refer you to The Hobbit.  Lovely book, I love JRRT,
but let's face it, when he wrote that book women were
just invisible to him and hence absent from the world
he was creating.  I would grow very uncomfortable if
my daughter's, or for that matter my son's, entire
bookshelf presented one woman-free world after
another.  

So I look at JKR's choices in HP and think that like
many of us, when imagining a character who is
influential, she has her default setting on male.

> So, let's look at positions of power. 
> 
> It is true the Ministry is sexist, but the ministry
> is not exactly 
> representative of the ideal society, is it? 

No.  And men in HP have an equal share of
evil/stupidity--that is, there are *more* evil and
stupid men than women, but the *proportion* of
evil/stupid men: good/smart men is about the same as
that of evil/stupid women: good/smart women.  (By men
and women I also mean boys and girls, but am using up
my quota of slashes so will leave it as is.)

The staff of Hogwarts is where things really start to
shake out.

> The Headmaster of Hogwarts is male, but two of the
> four heads of 
> houses -- Sprout and McGonagall -- are female and
> the second-in-
> command is female. 
> 
> Blinns, Hagrid, Snape, Flitwick and the continuous
> DADAs are male 
> (for now), but McGonagall, Sprout, Hooch, Sinistra,
> Vector and 
> Trelawney are female, so, of the teachers we know --
> Muggle Studies 
> and Ancient Runes are as yet unknown -- there are
> more women than men.

*IF* you count all four DADA teachers as one.  This is
what JKR did when she defended herself with the claim
that the staff at Hogwarts is 50/50, and I thought she
was pushing it, because the DADA characters are so
important.  Lupin, though he appears in only one book,
would be higher on my important-figures list than
Flitwick; I'd say the same about Moody.

Also, the female staff tend to drift to the bottom. 
Vector?  Sinistra?  I'm glad they're women, but they
aren't exactly characters, are they?  Let's look at
the most important staff: important in terms of their
page time, impact on the plot, and status at Hogwarts.
 Very roughly, and without too careful an attempt to
rank them, I would say they are:

Dumbledore
Snape
McGonagall
Hagrid
Lupin
Moody
Trelawney
Pomfrey
Lockhart
Binns
Flitwick
Sprout
Quirrell

Four out of thirteen are women.  At 31%, it's way
ahead of the United States Senate, but it's not
exactly close to equal, is it.  The three most
important ghosts/geists, if such may be considered
staff, are Nick, Peeves, and Myrtle.  That doesn't
improve the percentage.

I struggled with whether to include Hooch and decided
to leave her off.  I guess she'd be next on the list,
but then I'd probably add Dobby, who has a hell of a
lot more impact from his stool in the kitchens.  

One ranking I'm clear on is that Snape, so far, is
higher than McGonagall.  She's the deputy--good job,
JKR--but he is a much more important character.  In
page time, in impact on Harry's life, on the plot, in
complexity of character . . . he's the number two
professor in my mind if not in the official roster of
the school.

> So, perhaps instead of being sexist, the books
> actually depict a 
> healthy relationship between boys and girls, one
> that has some 
> undertones of hormonal feelings, but so far has been
> entirely chaste?

I do love this--Harry's having a female best friend is
one of the many great things about the books.  I don't
think it's unrealistic, but such close friendships
between approaching-adolescence girls and boys are
unusual.

Amy Z

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