Perversion In the Graveyard (WAS: Sexuality in HP)

[m.bockermann at t-online.de]

No: HPFGUIDX 40547

Hi everyone!

(Warning: discussion of sensitive topic! Please skip if this kind of
discussion bothers you.)

A lot has been said about sexuality, homoerotism and/or perversion in HP.
There are some who say there are decidedly sexual undertones in HP, others
deny this interpretation of the text. One of the arguements against erotic
undertones (might they be hetero- or homosexual) is that Voldemort is so
evil and power-greedy that can't have a sexuality of any kind.

But this arguement only holds if you try to connect Voldemort with ordinary
sexuality. I agree in so far that Voldemort doesn't have an ordinary,
healthy sexuality but an abnormal one. When I speak about abnormal
sexuality, I mean that of perverts and/or rapist. Please note, that I do
*not* include homosexuality in there. I know, there are people who see that
differently but this is not what I want to discuss.

What I want to talk about is the kind of sexuality that drives a person
(*not* necessarily a man) to rape another person of the other or the same
gender. In a rape, the need the rapist seeks to satisfy is *not* the libido
of a normal, healthy adult. Between two consenting adults, intimacy
satisfies the sexual drive of the libido.
But  a rapist doesn't mainly seek physical or emotional satisfaction. He
also or simply needs to satisfy a lust for power, for domination. In
somebody with an abnormal sexuality, the sexuality and the lust for power
become intermingled.

I guess that is why the Graveyard scene creates such controversy.

One thing is sure: JKR has guts. She breaches new territory with her tale
that most author's of adult books avoid the sexuality of their villain, let
alone author's of children's book. Those authors follow the easy path: they
separate their villain from their sexuality, leaving only the desire for
power. They are bad, because they do bad things and they laugh a meniac
laughter. But sexual identity is important in a normal person. In a literary
villain, the exclusion of their abnormal sexuality robs them of their
humanity.

Think about Vader for example. He is more mechanical then human. Certainly
there is no sexuality left in him, wether normal or not. We see him do evil
things and that is the reason why he is a villain.

I agree with Elkins and the others who read undertones in the graveyard
scene. JKR has promised in interviews that she would picture the darkness.
And she does. She doesn't dehuminize Voldemort by denying him a sexuality of
his own. He has a kind of sexuality, but as villain he has an abnormal one.
He doesn't derive pleasure and satisfaction by physical intimacy but by
degrading Harry and asserting his power over him. In this regard, it is very
much like a rape.

The fact that Voldemort takes blood from Harry is disturbing in many ways.
Blood is an important symbol: it stands for life for example. But blood is
also associated with sexuality, via the menstruation and the blood that
flows when a virgin looses her innocence. Both menstrual blood and virginal
blood have been associated in the past with magic, with illness, with
healing powers. The exact interpretation differs from culture to culture and
from time to time.

Not only Harry's helplessness but the blood makes this scene a kind of
metaphorical rape. I believe that this is also satisfying to Voldemort. It
doesn't satisfy the sexual desires of a normal, healthy adult however but
the abnormal one of a villain.

Voldemort is not only evil, because he acts evil. He is also evil, because
he is *really* twisted and JKR shows this to us.

Somebody (I'm sorry I don't remember who) asked wether we were actually
*seeing* any erotic undertones the first time we read the graveyard scene.

My answer is, that I was thinking: Wow. I can't believe she is doing this! I
am *not* somebody who is easily scared by horror movies. Despite the
splatter, I get bored. I guess that is because the villain in the end, is
mostly just another "bad boy". He challenges the hero, sometimes wounds him,
but he rarely hurts him emotionally. But he is just an evil doer.

But Voldemort is truely evil. As Elkins said, he is so here because he
breaks so many crucial human taboos: about religion, family and the
treatment of the dead. And I think he is so, because unlike other villains
he has a sexuality, an abnormal one that fits his evil mind.

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