Nel Question #9: Gender

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 127521



> 
> Tonks now:
I don't see anything sexist in HP. JKR wrote the books to 
> teach children and male children would not read it unless the hero 
were 
> male and they thought that the writer was male. Female children will 
> read books by both male and female authors and with both male and 
> female heroes and can identify with either one. Boys on the other 
hand 
> can't do that. The macho thing is taught very early in a boy's life. 
> Whereas girl have more freedom to just be human.

I would say that you are wrong about that. It has nothing to do with 
a 'macho' thing.  First of all, if you look in the young adult section 
of any bookstore you will find almost all of the books geared towards 
girls and few if any, geared towards boys.  Boys and girls have 
different tastes in reading, but boys as a general rule read less than 
girls so books that appeal to boys are just fewer in number. I always 
liked to read and I can remember going to bookstores and struggling to 
find something to read that boy-centric and wasn't a hardy boys 
mystery.  

I would agree with you that boys have a harder time with female 
protagonists than the opposite, but I would argue that is simply a 
result of boys finding the events that surround most female 
protagonists uninteresting while the events around male protagonists 
more interesting. how many of the young adult series involving girls 
are about things that boys don't care the slightest bit about? The 
answer is a lot. But when female protagonists are involved in stories 
that actually keep them interested, like in my case Nancy Drew 
stories, boys don't have much of a problem with female leads. 

my two cents

phoenixgod2000