[HPforGrownups] Re: Bigotry in the Potterverse

[Lynda Cordova]

No: HPFGUIDX 188101

sartoris22:
I know we have more derogatory languge for an unpartnered woman than an
unpartnered man, but think about how society really works. And I am not
talking about a man who simply isn't married or doesn't have a steady
girlfriend, I am talking about a man who has no sexual or romantic
relationships with women, like Slughorn and Snape. In our world, men like
that are less socially acceptable than their female counterparts.

Lynda:

LOL! I happen to be one of those unpartnered people. And many of my friends
both male and female are similarly unpartnered. Oh the stories I could tell.
. .I think we come on many of the same conflicts truthfully although it is
more acceptable for me to plus one my best friend (female) than for my
church mate an unpartnered male, to call one of his unpartnered male friends
to attend a work party or concert with him. For my friend and I who attend
the same church we are simply happy to be in a congregation that doesn't
assign a romantic attachment to us because we sit at the same table after
the service for the social hour or in the same pew occasionally during the
service.

I think it depends on how the unpartenered people handle the situation as
well. People are more likely to take us as we are if we do as well.

Now as far as HP is concerned, I'll point out that Snape and Slughorn are
part of an isolated group. Professors at a school for kids living away from
home, where being unpartnered is more acceptable than in the world outside
wizarding academia.

Lynda


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