Working mothers, was Did the Slytherins come back

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 182086

> >>Magpie:
> > Of course I got that the staircase is supposed to be funny       
> > because it's the type of thing a school would do. But it's not    
> > just modern kids faced with something built for a time when there 
> > were different expectations for nice girls. It's sitting there   
> > conflicting with an often equally exaggerated portrayal female   
> > sexuality--which also contains plenty of ideas that are pretty   
> > old. 
> > <snip>

> >>Pippin:
> It's the old expectations for nice girls, which modern kids still
> encounter in favorites like the Narnia books, which JKR is         
> countering.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
But she's not, in the end.  Female sexuality is still a "bad thing".  
Hermione and Ginny (our "good girls") are interested in sex as a 
means to get children.  And only with their husbands.  

As Magpie points out, the series is full of girls with a strong sex 
drive but it's not painted as a positive.  It's something boys (with 
their oddly diminished sex drives) have to run and hide from.  And 
it's something that adversely affects the girls unless they sublimate 
it into being a good little (breeding) wife.

It's like that old question that used to be asked back when I was in 
junior high (made famous by "The Breakfast Club"), "Are you a slut or 
a prude?"  There was no middle ground for an unmarried girl.  I don't 
see this as a step forward, myself.  Nor do I find it particularly 
modern.

> >>Pippin:
> So Ginny and Hermione get to giggle over the idea of love potions   
> (but not use them) and it's okay for Ginny to wear a low cut gown,  
> for Hermione to use hair products and for Fleur to be "extremely   
> busy" with nice boy Roger Davies. They aren't punished as Susan was 
> for showing an interest in sex, nor is it implied that sexual      
> innocence is a higher state than sexual knowledge.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
I strongly disagree. Fluer was not looked at in a positive manner 
within GoF.  It's only when she lands Bill, sticks by Bill and then 
fades into being his happy little housewife, that Fluer is seen as 
somewhat positive.  Her Veela nature is brought under control.  But 
before then she was a dangerous sexual female making a fool out of 
Ron and belittling Harry.  (Fortunately, we also see that she was 
really, really weak.  The weakest of the champions, so nothing to be 
too scared of.)

Ginny and Hermione, as good girls, are not sexually interested in any 
boy other than the ones they plan to marry.  As you say, they'd never 
dream of actually *using* the potions.  That's something a slut would 
do, not a good girl on a hunt for a husband.  (Unless the future 
husband needed an extra push, I guess.)

Betsy Hp