Harry Potter is Anti-Woman

[tiger_queen429]

No: HPFGUIDX 180990

I was a huge fan of Harry Potter. I loved the interesting world and 
all the characters in it. It's just the more I think about them, the 
more I feel that the books are very anti-woman. I know that this has 
been said before, but I keep thinking that the horrible way that JKR 
treats women. Harry Potter is set in what I can best describe as an 
idealized version of the United States in the 1950's. Women can be 
smart and successful as long as they do not even think about marriage 
or a family. Women are either mothers or workers; they can't be both. 
Men can have any type of job they want and a family, usually with 
some degree of success. If you look at the way the sexually active 
women are treated through out the book, you can see the way that 
these women are portrayed in two roles: sex objects and mothers. Here 
are some examples:

Lily Potter:
She has no identity outside the men in her life. I was waiting for DH 
to see about her past, maybe one of her female friends would be of 
help to Harry. The only thing we find out is that Snape is good 
because of his obsessive love for Lily, her feelings for him do not 
matter. When Harry goes back to the same memory of the OWLS, his 
focus on Snape, not Lily. Harry survived Voldemort's attack because 
Lily, the mother, protected her son. The only contact we see Lily 
having is with James's friends: the letter to Sirius and tea with 
Bathilda. Where are her friends other than Snape? Did she get married 
then drop all contact? Sirius was James's best friend. Where are 
Lily's best friends? We have all this talk about Lily being great 
magical abilities, but that amounts to nothing. James, despite being 
portrayed as a jerk, at least has the fact that he's an Animagi and 
the Marauder's Map as proof of his skills. Lily has nothing. She's 
portrayed only as Snape and James's sex object and as Harry's mother. 

Fluer Weasley:
Fluer was one of my favorite characters. However, despite all of her 
potential as a minor character, she is portrayed as a sex symbol. I 
thought she had so much potential after GF. A talented witch, the 
champion of her school going to work, I thought she would be a symbol 
of a woman who could have it all: beauty, talent, and romance. (I 
understand that she had to be the one to not complete the Second Task 
because Harry had to prove his saving random people, not just his 
friends, complex.) But she falls far short. Fluer does not even work 
full time. When we first see her in HBP, right after Harry calls her 
his "image of perfection" when she brings him a tray of food, she is 
quick to let Harry know that as an engaged woman, she only has a part 
time job. She comes across as vain and wedding obsessed. Because 
women only care about getting married.
Tonks:
Tonks was an interesting character in OP. Then she loses all of her 
coolness. In OP, Tonks is not a real woman, because she can't manage 
any household spells and is pretty clumsy. By HBP, she loses her 
power because she isn't loved by Remus. She isn't seen as a sex 
symbol, so therefore she can't have any magical ability. In DH, she 
is happy because she is pregnant, but can no longer take care of 
herself. Even though she is an Auror; she has to live with her 
parents because Remus does not have a way to support herself.  Tonks 
had pretty good job, Even though Voldy has taken over, it seems odd 
that she does not have any money saved up or any other way to support 
her family.

Ginny:
Ginny in HBP becomes a sex symbol. All the boys talk about how cute 
she is and her brothers worry that she dates too much. She stands up 
for Harry after he does Dark Magic and nearly kills Draco. I see this 
as an example of Ginny being a mother to Harry, protecting by 
sticking up for him. Then in DH, when everyone is arguing for her not 
to fight in the final battle, she looks to Harry, and when he says 
no, that is the final answer for now. She does disobey Harry later, 
but that is not done directly. Ginny never shows the fiery spirit 
that Harry loves so much about her to Harry. We never see it in the 
book. That is the reason I am not a Harry/Ginny shiper, you never see 
a time when Ginny shows the spirit everyone talks about in front of 
Harry. She never goes against him. 

Hermione:
Hermione is the strongest of all female characters. However, she is 
portrayed mostly as a mother, and only sometimes as a sex symbol. She 
is the voice of reason, the rule book, and the source of wisdom. In 
DH she takes care of Harry and Ron. She is the one who finds and 
cooks the food and heals the wounds. Her talents are mostly used in 
the previous books to emphasis right and wrong and to help Harry and 
Ron with their homework (like a mother would do). You never really 
see her having fun except when she is out with Victor, but then she 
looks so different that Harry doesn't even recognize her. 

Molly Weasley:
Molly is seen as the ultimate mother. It appears that she never works 
outside the home. I can understand this if there is no daycare in the 
WW, but after SS/PS there is no reason for Molly not to work. She has 
no kids at home to take care of, and the family could certainly use 
the money. I'm sure that there are some types of jobs that would 
allow for summertime off or reduced hours. All I am saying is that in 
CS, PA, and GF, Molly could have a job to help her family. 

Working Women:
There are only two examples of working women in the books. One is 
Marietta Edgecome's mother. She works for the Ministry. As the 
largest example of a working mother in the books, we can see that 
something is wrong with a working mother even though the one child we 
know about is only home for about two and a half months out of the 
year. Marietta a is sneak! She betrayed Harry! We can't like her and 
her family for teaching her not to love Harry! The only thing we can 
take from this is that working mothers teach their kids bad morals! 
The only other mention of a working mother is Hermione's mother who 
is a dentist.

>From this story, I can see that JKR makes women not on the same level 
as men. No woman is seen as the equal of Voldy or DD. McGonagall and 
Bellatrix are good second in commands, but not the equals of the men 
they follow. A woman that tries to have both is not portrayed at all. 
Women are not seen on the same level as men.