Women in HBP (was: Re: SHIP: Pirate Ginny)

[anthyroserain]

No: HPFGUIDX 133562

Sienna wrote:

> The part where the author really lost me was when Ginny snaps at 
> Hermione and tells her not to embarrass herself. For me it was too 
> much about how an attractive girl (who fits into and understands a 
> mans world - ie quidditch) is more desireable and worthy than an 
> intelligent girl who lacks in social graces and physical beauty. I 
> couldn't believe the author could so callously send such a message 
> (to girls who might be brainy like Hermione but lack Ginny's 
social 
> graces) just so that she could kill the shipping wars. I was 
utterly 
> appalled. I lost all liking for Ginny right then and there and I 
felt 
> like smacking Harry upside the head.
> 
> In fact the anti-feminist undertones in the Ginny v's Hermione 
> characterisations require some discussion. Whereas Ginny is 
rewarded 
> and placed on a pedastal for her desireability, Hermione is subtly 
> mocked. Her thirst for knowledge, while admired on the surface are 
> characterised as insecurity and teased. Her book-smarts do not 
avail 
> her of respect in HBP but rather of subtle scorn. Despite all she 
has 
> done for him, Harry is pleased when Ginny puts her in her place. 
> There is much more that could be said about the message this sends 
to 
> kids. Essentially, I went away feeling like Ginny had been turned 
> into a sort of trophy worthy of a hero, with all the trappings 
that 
> entailed, while Hermione was brought down a peg so that Ginny 
could 
> shine.

anthyroserain:

Sienna, you've hit on something that's bothered me a lot, too. JKR's 
representations of women in HBP seem to be frighteningly 
conservative, particularly when compared with her previous books.

You've done an excellent job of analyzing the depiction of Ginny vs. 
Hermione in physical beauty and personality characteristics, so I 
thought I would add a few more examples from HBP.

In addition to your previous examples, there's Fleur, another 
conventionally gorgeous girl. I thought the moment at the end where 
she said that she would never abandon Bill was sweet, but I can't 
help but think that we would *never* see the reverse, gender-wise. 
I thought it would have taken far more courage and been more 
interesting on JKR's part if Fleur was the one whose looks were 
destroyed by a werewolf attack, yet Bill still chose to stick with 
her. After all, who thought Fleur was interested in Bill for his 
looks?

And Tonks. Oh, I don't even want to get into this, as I still think 
Lupin was coded as gay (yes, I'm one of THOSE people) but I was 
really bothered by her depiction in HBP. In OOTP, though we don't 
see her all that much, we have one of the coolest, most 
nontraditional women in the series: she has a sense of humor, she 
kicks ass, she's clumsy and not conventionally pretty, and she 
radiates independence. In HBP, she's transformed into the Pining 
Woman archetype. At first, I thought JKR was making a rather 
profound and lovely comment about grief: that, as Tonks was deeply 
affected by her beloved cousin's death, Harry might realize that 
sometimes other people feel the same sorrow and grief that you do, 
even though you never knew how much the other person affected them. 
But no, she was just in love the entire time, and it interfered with 
her abilities.

Then there's Merope-- the rare case in HP of a non-pretty woman 
attracted to a beautiful man. But Merope pines too, and Dumbledore 
states, "Of course, it is also possible that her unrequited love and 
the attendant despair sapped her of her powers; that can happen."
But does it ever happen to *men*? The idea that a woman's desires 
get in the way of her professional abilities is an old, decidedly 
anti-feminist one. Surely JKR doesn't mean to suggest this, so why 
are her examples all female?

On another, related topic: I'm quite used by now to JKR using 
physical characteristics as a signal of inner characteristics, which 
is something that has always disturbed me very much. Unattractive 
(not just not pretty) people in HP almost invariably possess mainly 
negative characteristics. (On the other hand, sometimes she does 
include beautiful evil people, like Tom Riddle and Bellatrix.) Fat 
people in HP are always greedy and self-indulgent-- this stereotype 
has been going on unchanged since the first book. I hope this is 
simply shorthand and lazy writing on JKR's part, not what she 
actually believes. 

This is actually my biggest complaint about the series. I love the 
Harry Potter books, and I love JKR's writing, and I am constantly 
amazed with the books. It's just a niggling thing that has always 
bothered me. And as far as representations of women go, up until 
HBP, I thought JKR's depictions were quite progressive and 
feminist.  

- anthyroserain