Logic and Math of Sexism (WAS Article)

[Kiyari6]

No: HPFGUIDX 41351

[So to get back to the question: do you think that the
imbalance between male and female characters
constitutes a failing in the books?  Are you afraid
girl readers are going to wonder if they're important
after reading HP?  And given that Harry's going to
have normal hormones, do you think he'll start to see
girls as more than one-dimensional?  (All too many
real-life men don't, even after they've grown up.) :D]

I don't believe the imbalance is a big problem for the
book, it is the readers, particularly the female
readers who have the problem.  I noticed the
difference between male a female characters in the
books but I didn't think it was a draw back from the
story.  This is a book about a teenaged boy, I would
be more surprised if there was a balanced or if there
were more female characters then male.  Young boys
tend to have more friends that are boys, they may have
friends that are girls, but they are less likely to be
as close or understand them as well as a boy.  The
same is true for young girls. The amount of male
characters fits well with the story.  And there is not
a total lack of female characters in the book,
Hermione is one of the main characters, and in CoS
Ginny plays a rather large role even if she doesn't
speak very much.

I don't believe the lack of female characters will
have a bad effect on young women readers.  Most girls
now are brought up being taught that women are equal
to men. Even if parents might not reinforce this idea
very much the media certainly does.  There is always
at least one big story about unfair treatment of women
in the workplace at least once a year.  And really at
fourteen the difference will not stand out as much,
you're not as concerned about female/male ratio's 
as when you are when you're older.  I personally
didn't dicover this for myself until I reading PoA. 
Younger reader's don't pick up on these kind of things
in the book, they're not looking for it, and it
probably doesn't impact there lives very much.  Young
girls very rarely have the males are better the
females problem now, teachers will get into way to
much trouble if they favor boys much more then girls,
and most parents don't favor their little boys over
girls because of there sex.(there is always the odd
exception, but I'm going on society as a whole)  
Girls are usually first exposed to the males are
better then females in the work place, or media.  We
read books as children for entertainment, not the pick
out strange similarities between a books story line to
government, or male/female character ratios.  That is
not what is important to children, they want an
interesting idea that they can then use to make up
their own stories in their head, to be able to go
'what if?'.

And just because there are not many girls in the books
right now doesn't mean there won't be in the future. 
I'm sure at some point Harry will have a girlfriend,
and it will probably not be a girl we are very
fimilair with as of now.  There is nothing in the
books that in some way says boys are better then
girls.  At least I have not found it, and if someone
does I hope they bring it to our attention. 

Kiyari 

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