No Sex, Please, We're British

[grannybat84112]

No: HPFGUIDX 83482

Caipora considered:

> I'm fairly sure one of Rowling's sources is Kipling's "Stalky & 
Co".  Set in a boarding school, has a Trio, etc.
> 
> Kipling was of course Victorian. Even so, his meaning is clear. 
> Here's a dialog between the Head and the Chaplain:
>
> `We-ell. I should say that that was the one tendency we had not 
> developed. Setting aside we haven't even a curtain in a dormitory, 
> let alone a lock to any form-room door—there has to be tradition in 
> these things.' 
> 
> `So I believe. So, indeed, one knows. And—'tisn't as if I ever 
> preached on personal purity either.' 
> ---

Uh, it's not clear to me. (I'm not sure whether this is because I 
speak American English as opposed to The King's English, or if I'm 
just not as well-versed in the subtlety of Victorian euphemism.) I 
assume they're talking about either masturbation or homosexuality--
and I deduce that only because of the context of this thread.

 
> I wouldn't call Rowling entirely reticent. When Harry is in the 
> Prefect's Bath, Millicent peeks at him.  ... If even a spirit 
> cannot withstand a bit of sexual curiosity, what can we assume of 
> flesh in the grip of adolescent hormones?

One would assume so, yes. But Rowling seems terribly reluctant to 
explore the practical, physical issues of Harry's puberty except in 
deeply cloaked metaphor and Jungian symbolism. (The ghost is Moaning 
Myrtle, by the way.)


> Recall too the mandrakes, and their marks of maturation: acne, wild 
> parties, and finally moving into each other's pots. Surely there 
> aren't two ways for an adult to read that 

Well, yes, but the mandrakes are bit players rather than main 
characters. And their ultimate destiny is to be sliced, diced, and 
pureed into a restorative draught; hardly an encouraging omen for 
teens interested in learning about sex.


> Lastly, I recently read somewhere that at Eton, a boy who is caught 
> in bed with a girl is expelled. If he's caught in bed with a boy, 
> he's suspended.

I'm not a Brit--I don't even play one on TV--but even clueless Yanks 
such as I have heard the jokes and cliches about the English 
universities existing to perpetuate ruling class of priveleged men 
who are a largely homosexual. Perhaps this is one of the reasons JKR 
prefers to address sex from an oblique angle; maybe she wants to 
direct her readers away from the stereotype?

(Still, I can't help waiting for Malfoy to make some homophobic crack 
about Harry and Ron's friendship. Draco is hardly known for his 
subtlety. An insinuation like that would provoke an immediate fight 
with wands and fists, and Rowling is running out of believable ways 
to trigger a confrontation between the two. Since OOP Draco may have 
more reasons than ever to hate Harry, but The Boy Who Lived has much 
bigger flies to swat.)

Grannybat