Harry Potter is a CHILDREN'S BOOK re: rape sexual preference

[dtbonett]

No: HPFGUIDX 79883

Jim Ferer wrote:
> 
> JKR can, does, and will write about love.  Great literature has long
> dealt with love without getting sexual, or at least with sex in the
> background.  In canon, we have many kinds of love already: Lily's love
> for her son; Dumbledore's for Harry; Harry's for Sirius; the Trio's
> for each other; and the beginning of attraction as the characters get
> older. It's love we don't spend enough time considering these days –
> the kinds of love, who we love, and how we express it. Getting into
> sexuality might even overshadow some of the excellent points about
> love we're seeing.  It's an example of JKR's genius that we're seeing
> so much about love.

I was glad to see these points brought up, in this thoughtful post. 
Has anyone ever considered that JKR might have chosen to write a
children's book because in 'adult' literature nowadays, writers are
forced to deal with sex, whether it actually adds anything to their
plot or not? I for one am sick of the mandatory sex scenes which
assault the reader (and viewer of tv, movies and even just plain old
commercials) everywhere and one reason that I like Harry Potter is
that one deals with characterization, motivation and other things in a
rich way without over-concentration on just one one aspect of human
life, which can be interesting when dealt with in a thoughtful way but
all too often has nothing to do with the plot of the book and just
appears to have been shoveled in there for the purpose of titillation.

C.S. Lewis, who JKR admits had a great influence on her, once said (I
don't remember what the exact quote is) that if people began to fill
their writing with detailed descriptions of people eating food,
describing exactly how they masticated, how the food went down their
throats and its passage into the large and small intestines etc. and
you were forced to read this constantly, as well as descriptions of
people staring longingly at unattainable food, put in for no reason,
it would be no more strange than the over-concentration on sex that we
have.  Since he died in 1963 (!) one wonder what he would think of
literature in 2003!

I appreciate the reader who brought up the point that these are 15
year olds we are talking about here, underage people.  JKR has an
audience of kids way younger than that still too--Iread the books to
my nine-year and appreciate being able to do so.  I would hope that
most people would agree that sex is an act for a man and a woman who
are emotionally mature, not anyone who is physically capable of
managing it.  Which would mean a couple a lot older than fifteen,
although our culture does encourage kids to jump in over their heads
and do something they don't really understand in terms of the
emotional (and other) repercussions of what happens when you don't
understand that its not just pleasure, there are responsibilities that
go along with it. The books would really change if JKR began
describing the characters having sex and it was REALISTIC (i.e., a
pregnant Hermione or people faced with various STDs, as well as just
the emotional ramifications,) Harry is staying just where his age
level should be, he has enough trouble trying to figure out how to
talk to Cho properly.  The emotions that went with his first kiss were
beautifully described, to me this is all we need to deal with for the
moment.  In learning about girls slowly, he is optimizing his chance
of (if he survives) one day ending up in a marriage that is like what
his parent's marriage is described as being like, or one like the
Weasleys, where the couple care about each other and care for the
children, and make the home a safe haven.  The Weasleys obviously
enjoy sex with each other, or else they wouldn't have so many kids,
and they obviously have a lot else in their relationship, too, and
this kind of thing is all too rare as a role model for kids nowadays
either in books or in real life. It's great to have this kind of thing
as a backdrop, while JKR lets the kids get on with being kids (which
15 year olds still are) and goes on with the adventure and the battle
between good and evil that I personally enjoy. 

> The word "love" does not sound like a zipper opening.

No, it doesn't, does it?
D. Bonett