[HPforGrownups] Does James' bullying arises to the level of sexual harassment/

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 150049

> Alla:
>
> Wait, I am confused now. You were talking about Levicorpus though,
> no? You see James using Levicorpus as sexually harassing Snape or
> did I misunderstand you completely? When half of the school used
> Levicorpus then  yes, I think it is highly probable that many people
> had their pants taking off. Do you see this as sexual harassment or
> do you see something different in pensieve scene as metaphor for
> sexual harassment?

Magpie:
I'm going to weigh in on this...I think JKR made it intentionally skating 
the line so that Harry would feel disturbed and not be able to just laugh 
the whole thing off.  Levicorpus on its own can just be funny and I think it 
usually was, but I think the scene intentionally goes beyond that.

Personally, I don't think sexual harassment is necessarily the concept she 
wants to come to mind (though she can't help but hit it for many).  Years 
ago I remember doing a book for a tie-in series and my writing partner and I 
needed the most humiliating thing for a boy.  So we asked a friend and he 
immediately said "pants him."  He didn't even have to think--this was the 
worst thing to do for a teenaged boy.  And when we had it happen (his pants 
were accidentally yanked down in front of everyone) the series creators had 
us change it because that kind of humiliation was too much.  We changed it 
to having the boy accidentally tackled (this was during a football game) by 
a first grade girl.

I mention the story because it always stuck in my mind as marking a line not 
to be crossed.  I mean, having him be tackled was better--that was more what 
we were going for, something that would be utterly humiliating but in a 
completely funny way that would be funny when he thought about it later. 
Pantsing him is truly humiliating in the wrong way.

I think JKR is going over that line intentionally. Whether or not one 
considers it sexual harassment, it is intentionally sexual humiliation. 
Threatening to expose Snape and showing his underwear to the the whole 
school, including girls, is finding a sexual way to humiliate him at the 
time of life he's the most sensitive about that.  Not because James is a 
rapist or a sex offender by nature, but because that's the kind of 
humiliation she needed in the scene, a violation.  And I think it's good to 
think of it in terms of how Snape hates James and why he hates owing him.

It's actually interesting, when you think about it, the way JKR created such 
a horrible bully in Snape and then had the big moments of history center 
around such significant bullying against him.  We don't know everything 
there is to know about the Prank, but both these incidents are bullying that 
are centered around violation, attacking his sense of self.

-m