Amandageist said:
>The thing that I must say, though, is that none of this, no inkling or
trickle or faintest flicker of this, ever occurred to me in any of my many
re-readings, until I read Elkins' post. Am I the only one who never sees
things like this? Am I the only one who read this with >total amazement?

I think interpretation of sexual imagery is something that is debatable most texts. I would have to say its definitely there, whether I noticed it or not, and more importantly whether JKR intended it OR NOT. It can be read as havign more or less significance but obviously something is there that lots of people are noticing. Scholars continually debate such things.
I can't remember who, but someone also made a point that words we associate as sexual may not really be and that there's so many they're unavoidable. To a certain extent I agree but I also think that sexual undertones pervade our lives and literature and we have created our language and the connotations attached to our language accordingly. And one should be aware of the connotations of the language you're using even if that's not your primary intention. Language isn't perfect. There was also an example of religious ecstasy and I have certainly heard that compared with sexual ecstasy as well. (e.g. women in the middle ages who would weep and cry out in ecstasy "feeling" the passions of Christ. I can't remember the one women's name who wrote a book that I read a couple years ago but she saw Christ as a physical man in her visions/prayers and the imagery was definitely a mixture of sexual/painful/religious).
Anyway, I'm trying to say a lot in a short amount of space and so I will try to clarify later if I can describe these ideas better. I think more cohesively with feedback/discussion.

>I've been feeling a bit abnormal anyway, watching that thread on sexuality
and the age of discovery, and how our 13 and 14 year old hero/ines are
behind the curve. I must truly be some kind of dinosaur or have a hormonal
imbalance or something--I kissed a friend of my brother's just before my
seventeenth birthday, with no real feeling other than a desire to not have
spent my whole sixteenth year Sweet. But that's it, then, until college,
>pretty much; I never even dated in high school.

Yeah, I almost said something earlier but this is a good opportunity. As far as adolescent development people are all on VERY different biological and social schedules. I think something like a first kiss can be anywhere from 11 to 18 and be normal. And that's all of adolescence. Some people who may even be ready for sexuality may be so shy that they just don't date until late. Or often super-busy, smart, active kids don't have time for that stuff. My own partner didn't have a first kiss until 17 which was pretty late (I had mine at 14, which I actually thought was late at the time). I think it can just be vastly different for different individuals and I wouldn't wonder too much. We don't necessarily hear all their thoughts. We know HArry had a crush on Cho, but those feelings, and physical associations were not necessarily delved into. I expect to see more euphemisms in future HP books.

Alley