Scene with likeable James WAS: Re: Eileen Pince

[Ken Hutchinson]

No: HPFGUIDX 156312

> 
> wynnleaf:
> While I'm sure this is the way you experienced things, apparently
> that's not a general "truth." As a mom of three teenagers, I've been
> pretty interested in this aspect of the conversation, and so started
> asking my kids and their friends (and boyfriends). It all depends on
> how you look at what James and Sirius were doing. If you see it as
> equivalent to mild pranks, then yes, most guys pull pranks on each
> other at one time or another. But if you see if as equivalent to
> accosting another kid without provocation, and having your friend hold
> him down while you and your friend hit and insult him -- well, that's
> not *nearly* a common thing and seems to be regarded by the kids I
> asked as bullying behavior.
>    
>   Joe:
>    
>   No offense intended at all but are you sure your kids and their
friends didn't just tell you what they thought you wanted to hear?
Honestly if they had done those things do you think they would just
tell you?
>    

Having been a schoolboy myself I have to agree with Joe on this one.
There is an exaggerated, comic book quality to life at Hogwarts, no
doubt about that. The interactions between male students ring true
nevertheless. The scene you are discussing is not the equivalent of
two thugs holding a victim helpless while a third beats him
mercilessly, I don't recall seeing *that* happen outside of movies and
TV shows. Two big guys holding a victim helpless while a third does
*something* to *humiliate* him? Yeah, I saw that several times. And
this was in quiet, small town schools in northern Illinois and central
Wisconsin in the 1950's and 1960's. I even had three fellow students
attempt this on me once but "Crabbe" and "Goyle" found that I was a
little too slippery to hold long enough for "Draco" to get a shot at
me. You might even say I fluttered away like some overgrown bat!

And no, I did not tell and would not have told my parents about any of
this then, whether they pressed me hard for information or not. There
are things that guys just deal with on their own and only discuss with
their mates. 

Ken who, like most guys, has long since outgrown such things