The 'Other' in the HP books (was: Harry's Sexual Preference

[jdr0918]

No: HPFGUIDX 81039

<<<"Mev532" wrote:...This debate has been going on about using 
characters for political action and including homosexual characters 
in the HP books...An twelve year old child understands cruelty, good 
vs evil, and death...but not topics such as oral sex or homosexual 
relationships...>>>

The Sergeant Majorette says

Oral sex --ick, no, but that's not the same thing as a homosexual 
(let's say, rather, same-gender) relationship. My personal feeling is 
that no twelve-year old should know enough about sex to determine 
his/her sexual orientation, but I am reliably informed that children 
begin to explore their options in this matter as early as seven or 
eight; it is valuable therefore to have characters who might be 
homosexual whose sexuality does not disrupt the order of the universe.

Actually, outside of the graveyard scene in GoF (which I thought was 
a bit more gruesome than I would have been comfortable with if I were 
a parent), the violence and death is not terribly graphic, and the 
Big Cho Chang Kiss -- shucks, you could have read that aloud in 
Sunday School.

Nobody wants to see actual sex, homo- or hetero-, in the Harry Potter 
books. I think we more or less all agree, however, that JKR has given 
us enough template characters to which each reader can add 
embellishments that make the story his/her own.

--JDR