Lusting After Snape

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 129446

 
> > Post 47924 Porphyria:
> 
snip
 Snape isn't effeminate at all; he's tough, 
> > > aggressive, competitive, hardnosed, unforgiving, exacting, etc. 
> > > 
> > > But on the other hand, there are some feminine (or yin) aspects 
to 
> > > Snape's depiction, aren't there? For one thing, I find it 
> > intriguing 
> > > that his craft is the one most often associated with (female) 
> > > witches; brewing in a cauldron, as opposed to the traditional 
> > > depiction of wizards with their really big staffs. In fact, he 
> > > disdains 'silly wand waving' (because of its overly phallic 
> > > obviousness?), instead praising the 'subtle' art of potions 
with 
> > > their more sneaky, devious ways (and feminine symbolism). Here 
I'm 
> > > sort of smooshing together western "feminine" with "yin" which 
is 
> > > also dark, negative, the color black, the night, etc.

 
> Gerry wrote: 
> I wonder in what kind of society this Porphyria lives, that she has
> such a stereotypical view of what woman can be or cannot be. 

Potioncat:
Oh, I don't know, I saw a good deal of validity in her comments. Not 
being in the business world, or active in non-traditional roles, I 
don't know if it still applies in the marketplace. But there are a 
great deal of gender-specific expectations out there. And I am old 
enough to think boys and girls "are" different. Of course I think 
Porphyria intended her comments to be more symbolism/cultural than 
specific.

I asked in an earlier post if anyone could think of another wizard 
from our collective magical stories who made potions. Certainly, it's 
witches that generally use cauldrons. But for that matter, I'm not 
sure that wizards rode brooms either.

It doesn't take much imagination to get wand=male cauldron=female as 
far as symbolism goes. On the other hand, JKR based Snape on her 
chemistry teacher; and Potions would be the closest magic to 
chemistry, IMO. Perhaps no symbolism was intended at all.

I tried, but don't really know how to go about it, to find an article 
about JKR's chemistry teacher. He never knew he was the model for 
Snape. His wife had figured it out. His associates knew. But he 
didn't have a clue. A slight variation of his name is used in that 
first Potions class, too.