[HPforGrownups] Harry Potter, REALLY for Grown-Ups (well, PG-13 anyway)

[Shaun Hately]

No: HPFGUIDX 164401

On 31 Jan 2007 at 0:00, Bart Lidofsky wrote:

> Bart:
> 
>     Hogwarts has students from 10-17. Doesn't ANYBODY
> have sex? Now, I am not one of those people who say that ALL
> teenagers
> have sex, but  certainly, SOME do. Even the professors appear to
> be
> virgins!
> 
>     And look at Draco. He clearly has little care for
> the feelings of others. Yet, he has a woman who has the entire
> older
> male student group hot under the, ummm, we'll call it the collar,
> and
> Draco has her under Imperious Curse, and, well, nothing! Don't tell
> me
> that Draco has become  a gentleman!
> 
>     Any thoughts?

Hi Bart,

The simple answer is maybe they do, maybe they don't. Either could be realistic. A lot 
depends on cultural issues/ mores.

I attended an exclusive, partly-boarding school in Australia in the early 1990s. I know a lot of 
other people who did the same.I know a lot of people who continued at such schools in the 
later 1990s, up until the present day. They are (and we were) normal healthy adolescents 
with a normal healthy adolescent interest in matters sexual.

And most didn't have sex while they were at school. It wasn't absolutely unheard of, but it was 
very unusual. Why? Because that wasn't a significant part of the culture of our school 
environment.

People should consider that Hogwarts may have its own unique culture - in fact, I think it's 
amply demonstrated in the books that it does, although on issues like this we don't know that 
much about what that culture is like. Still, it is, at least, possible and plausible that in 
Hogwarts culture, and perhaps in Wizarding culture in general, that kids just aren't as 
sexually active as in some other cultures most of us are aware of.

I'm not saying that is necessarily the case - we don't have enough information to say one way 
or the other in my view. But we should not fall into the trap of assuming that just because a 
fairly high proportion of kids have sex before leaving school in the Muggle world, that this is 
necessarily the case in the Wizarding world, or at Hogwarts in particular. It may, quite 
plausibly be rare.

As for Draco - he may well be a 'gentleman' in certain ways. I see no reason to assume he is 
particularly concerned about any moral issues associated with sex, but those aren't the only 
issues. He also needs to consider issues of inheritance of abilities, issues of his blood status 
- breeding is very important to someone like Draco, issues of inheritance of wealth - a whole 
range of issues that historically 'gentleman' have had to take account of. And one of the last 
things somebody in Draco's position might wish to do is leave a string of ill-conceived 
bastards behind him. It's nothing necessarily to do with him being a moral or considerate 
person - there can be cold hard issues of aristocratic prestige and privilege that prevent him 
engaging in certain behaviours.

The Wizarding World also seems rather old fashioned in many ways - with a more traditional 
culture than our own. Premarital sex, and sex at a young age used to be less common than it 
is in our modern world (there have also been periods when it was more common - but when I 
look at the Wizarding World, to me it seems to have social attitudes that are a few decades 
out of date rather than centuries).

I doubt Hogwarts is a *totally* sex free environment - indeed we do have some evidence of 
contact between students that is frowned upon - Snape blasting the bushes at the time of the 
Yule Ball - but it may well be one where culturally, most students don't do it.

Such schools do exist even in the Muggle world.

It should also be considered that is a boarding school environment, and has been for a long 
time. Over time such schools, if they are interested in doing so, can make it quite hard for 
students to have the opportunities for such things. Privacy can be a real problem.

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately | www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       | drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200 
"You know the very powerful and the very stupid have one
thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the 
facts. They alter the facts to fit the views. Which can be 
uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that 
need altering." The Doctor - Doctor Who: The Face of Evil
Where am I: Frankston, Victoria, Australia