Stereotypical Sexism (was Re: Stereotypes, Sexism & Masterful Writing Reviewed)

[sarcasticmuppet]

No: HPFGUIDX 88388

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "spang_b" <spang_b at y...> wrote:
> hi,
>    I was stuck by something small and may be insignificant but it 
> does bear upon this sexism issue. I have noticed that none of the 
> main female characters is desribed as beautiful. 


I must disagree.  Fleur Delacour (who I am positive we will see more 
of in coming books, perhaps as Mrs. Fleur Delacour Weasley) was the 
Boubatons Champion.  I got the impression that the B. students that 
attended the tournament were *incredibly* competitive (two girls at 
the Goblet ceremony started sobbing after Fleur's name was called, 
and after five years experience at band auditions, I know *exactly* 
how they felt).  The Goblet of Fire chose Fleur over the many other 
students, both male and female.  She obviously had the skills needed 
to perform in the tournament, not least of which would have been the 
ability to use her head.  The fact that Fleur is drop-dead-gorgeous 
goes without saying.


>The same thing does 
> not apply to important males in the canon. Sirius is handsome and 
> Lupin in his own way. But the only truly beautiful woman in the 
> series happens to be Bellatrix. 

now me:
You say "Lupin in his own way," which I think is a bit interesting.  
I'd only considered Sirius as the heart-breakingly beautiful one, 
while Lupin is always described as a bit sickly, old, or tired due to 
his werewolf problem.  Saying Lupin is attractive in his own way is a 
bit of a double standard, IMHO, because "attractive/handsome in 
his/her own way" can apply to every single character in the series, 
male or female.

As for Bella, I wouldn't go as far as describing her as "truly 
beautiful."  Harry can see the darkness of Bella's persona (In 
Dumbledore's pensieve, before he know exactly how fanatical a DE she 
was), describing her as beautiful with "heavy-lidded eyes."  This is 
the most intriguing physical characteristic in the series, IMO.  It 
gives a physical/emotional/spiritual flaw reflected in her 
appearance, making her less than truly beautiful.


>Hermione turns out to be pretty for a 
> while but doesn't care about physical appearance at all. 

my turn:
Hermione, as far as I can tell, is always clean, well-groomed, and 
wears her uniform with the utmost attention to neatness.  She 
polished up very nicely for the Yule Ball, but really, what was 
different?  Only her dress robes and hair.  Such superficial things 
does not contribute to overall beauty.  And yes, I do think Hermione 
is beautiful, and not just "in her own way."  I think the Hogwarts 
girls (Even the Slytherins, in thier constant attacks on Hermione's 
looks), for the most part, are in awe of Hermione and the way she 
doesn't care about hair or makeup or boys, gets good grades, and 
still has great skin :-).


>And other 
> school girls who are goodlooking are usually unintelligent 
bordering 
> on being bimbettes.

Once again:
I assume you must be referring to Parvati Patil who tends to giggle, 
wear bangles, put butterflies in her hair, and like the color pink.  
Her unintelligent bimbo status is an assumption made by you (Legally 
Blonde comes to mind).  As far as we know she's not a complete idiot; 
she seems to perform pretty well in class, and is in the DA (98% 
sure, no book with me) so her DADA skills have improved to NEWT level 
over the past year.  I can think of about twenty Junior-high aged 
girls just like Parvati, including myself about five years ago.

I thik it's also worth noting that Padma Patil, a girl with identical 
physical characteristics as Parvati, is in Ravenclaw, a house known 
for their smarts.


>  I think JKR perpetuates this silly notion that beauty and brains 
do 
> not reside together, that intelligent girls do not or should not 
care 
> about beauty or if we take the Bellatrix example, beauty might 
> actually be evil because it is used in power game.
> Bye
> spangb

Last time, promise:
I don't think she does any such thing.  If anything, she shows that 
girls are different.  If Hermione, Parvati, Lavender, or Hannah Abbot 
were all straight-A students with perfect fashion sense, I'd think 
something was amiss.  As it is, I think it's a pretty good cross-
section of fifteen-year-old girls.  As for Bella, we see that her 
inner-darkness obscures her physical beauty.

--sarcasticmuppet--