No Sex, Please, We're British (was ethics in the WW )

[grannybat84112]

No: HPFGUIDX 83261

o_caipora started it:
> >  
> > > ... I couldn't help but wonder if Hogwarts' sex education 
> > > course is consistent with the rest of the curriculum 
> > > 
> > Laura:
> > 
> > If so, that's another class Snape won't be teaching.  *grins* 
> > come to think of it, who would?  Maybe Madam Hooch-the gym 
> > teachers often get stuck doing the health-related stuff.  
> > ... In any case, let's hope that the teaching 
> > is confined to lecture and discussion...
> 
> Annemehr:
> 
> So, "Wands away," then?
> 
> Obviously, that's the job for a "chastened" Dolores Umbridge.

Some time ago I read a delightful short piece on FanFiction.net 
wherein Snape had to teach Sex Ed. (He got the job because that year 
he drew the short straw.) True to form, he uses the subject as an 
opportunity to humiliate Harry and make the other Gryffindor boys 
squirm. Also perfectly in character, I think--Snape himself was 
acutely uncomfortable with the subject. "This is a lecture, not a 
discussion. Any further questions you may have, see Madam Pomfrey."

I suppose the Umbridge version would deal with Hermoione and the 
girls. "There will be no need to talk."

(Just to get this out of my brain--I was never bothered by how rarely 
Harry appears to bathe; the scene in the prefect's bath took care of 
that. What always set my teeth on edge was that JKR never mentions 
Harry brushing his! Imagining him going straight to bed after a feast 
with roast beef and squishy peas and treacle tart clinging his 
teeth...now THAT'S Too Eeeeeeew!!! To Be True!)

Ahem.

To bring this back to canon: I don't believe Hogwarts even has a sex 
ed class. JKR is so timid about broaching subjects sexual that she 
had Harry's first kiss take place off-page. She never even places 
conversations between Ron and Harry in the boy's bathroom in order to 
give us a glimpse of how they learn how to shave. (Hmm, how do 
budding wizards shave? With wands? With a beard inhibiting potion? 
With an old-fashioned straight razor? And who would the boys turn to 
for help? Dumbledore wears a beard, and Snape would just as soon cut 
their throats).

This reticence strikes me as odd when you consider that half of the 
action in Cos takes place in a girls' restroom, with Myrtle coming 
out of a toilet and all the bodily functions that implies. I wonder 
if Myrtle isn't JKR's symbol of uncomfortable sexuality; I found her 
scene with Harry in The Egg and the Eye hilarious, and the 
interaction between them rang very true. ("Myrtle! I'm not wearing 
anything!") 

Come to think of it, the only adolescent we see demonstrating overt 
sexual urges is Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw who appears to change 
girlfriends every month. Davies is at least a year ahead of Harry 
(but I seem to recall he's in the same year as Cho, and she's two 
years ahead...isn't she?). Students younger than fourth year just 
don't appear to exhibit any interest in sex beyond puppy love; even 
Ginny's crush on Harry was expressed in terms of embarrassed silences 
and awkward get-well cards. Now that she's gained a bit of 
confidence, suddenly she's dating a string of boyfriends.

My point is that the kids at Hogwarts feel awfully innocent.

So I have to wonder: Is this reluctance to address sexual issue 
reflective of the larger British society, or is it meant to express 
yet another discomforting little social flaw that the Wizarding World 
refuses to talk about?

I don't think this is just a Flint or another trivial detail that 
Rowling forgot to mention while constructing her world. The issues of 
blood purity, Squibs, and family allegiances cannot be divorced from 
sexuality. The looming war will force these issues to explode, and 
I'm betting that more than one dirty little skeleton will fall out of 
more than one family closet. (Crouch/Winky, anyone?)

It would help, I think, to have a baseline from which to theorize. 
Would any of the Brits care to expound on the general state of sex 
education in the British boarding school system? 

Smelling salts at hand,
Grannybat