[HPforGrownups] JKR and the boys

[Kemper]

No: HPFGUIDX 161444

> Miles:
> ...
> My impression is, that JKR does not know very much about boys becoming men,
> or boys' interactions at all. Otherwise she would show us more "boys'
> situations" like that in the PoA film mentioned at the beginning of my post.
> Do we actually see any signs of fights (not only physical) among the boys to
> find a ranking? Do we listen to any chat about girls and which boy has done
> whatever with a specific girl, or which girl is most interesting? To
> describe teenage boys (and girls as well) without ever mentioning sexuality
> is very difficult, which is another weak point of the HP series IMO - but
> that would be worth another post. JKR seems to master this difficult task
> with girls - but her young male characters are far from being realistic.


Kemper now:
Male sexuality is subtly though seldomly addressed by JKR.  She does
so with a crude joke.  The joke is, IIRC, used twice and by the same
person: Ron.

Ron is a dirty bird.  He asks Lavender if he could look at Uranus.
Ron's a perv.  A wonderful, funny perv as are many a boy... most of
whom wouldn't pose that request of Lavender out of fear rather than
decorum.  But most boys would think it (or something similar) and,
more than likely, speak it when in each others company.

We also don't see in the story Harry's first nocturnal emission (or
self discovery) but then that would distract from the story even
though it's very much a part of growing up male.

I think JKR does her best to show true boyhoodness within the limits
of the type of story she's writing.

Kemper