[the_old_crowd] Re: More random jottings - on a theme

[Mike & Susan Gray]

I was really, really not going to get involved in this - but I mean, what
red-blooded male is going to take a pass on sex? Not this goat. So ...

Says the other Amanda:
> Not a mandate but in a saga that is so large and deals with so 
> many `adult' issues in an incredibly realistic way to not touch upon 
> sexuality stands out like a sore thumb.

Oh dear ... where to start, where to start ... Right, boys and girls, back
to the birds and the bees: What is sex?

Apparently, a few otherwise clever people are laboring under the illusion
that sexuality refers to an energetic activity involving anatomical friction
between one or more persons and/or body parts. Which is a bit like saying
that nutrition means eating a hamburger for lunch or that driving a car
means turning a steering wheel and making honking noises.

Here's a top-of-the-head overview of the trio's experience of sexuality in
the Potter books:

Harry and Ron and Hermione are all human beings; however, their humanity is
such that the first two are called boys whereas the latter is called a girl.
That's sexuality.
Harry and Ron and Hermione quickly develop confusing feelings about each
other and other boys and girls. (These feeling are caused by things in their
bodies called hormones and are introduced by an aspect of the human
maturation process called puberty.) That's sexuality.
Ron, in particular, becomes increasingly aware of those parts of his and
other people's bodies which are usually covered and makes jokes about
getting to see them. That's sexuality.
Harry and Ron and Hermione all participate in socially negotiated patterns
(called balls, for example) which allow closer encounters of interaction
between boys and girls which they both desire and fear. That's sexuality.
Harry, Ron and Hermione all participate (with greater and lesser degrees of
success) in a widely-spread pre-mating ritual known as kissing. That's
sexuality.
Harry, Ron and Hermione are siezed by otherwise inexpicable emotions of
jealousy and rage when persons with whom they have established a hormonally
charged bond show signs of forgetting it or of establishing such a bond with
other persons. That's sexuality.
Harry, Ron and Hermione experience both positive and negative emotional
states as members of Ron's family move through various socially recognized
mating patterns and establish a long-term bond known as marriage. That's
sexuality.
Harry, Ron and Hermione all enter into this same type of bond. That's
sexuality.
Harry, Roon and Hermione all become parents and raise their children. If
that's not sexuality, I don't know what is.

To say JKR ignores sexuality is about as absurd as saying the Titanic didn't
really hit an iceberg because no one saw an icey thing poking out of the
water. 

* * * * *

Now, if you were really saying that Rowling might *also* have provided
details (age, regularity, conctraception, positions, etc.) about *coitus* as
practiced by teenagers in her world - well, there you have it. She might
have; she didn't want to. Of course, I might mention that there are a few
well placed jokes - but, of course, joking about sex (coitus) really bothers
some people.

If you want to convince people that it is a serious aesthetic flaw for a
contemporary Bildungsroman to neglect the non-jokeful depiction of this
specific activity, you are well within your rights. But you might want to
note that a lot of people who are entirely open and upfront about sexuality
(coitus included) don't give a fig and will wonder what your problem is. 

Hence, a modicum of humilty would be advisable. Last time I checked, coitus
ignoratus wasn't on the canonical list of literary perversions.

Baaaaaa!

Mike Gray (a.k.a. Aberforth's Goat, whose wife took the kids up to
Interlaken last week while I stayed home to work on my project. No more
posts of this kind from me, or I'll probably have an accident.) 
_______________________

"Of course, I'm not entirely sure he can read, so that may not have been
bravery...." JK Rowling, The Goblet of Fire.

http://aberforths-goat.livejournal.com/
http://www.research-projects.unizh.ch/p8199.htm 
http://groups.google.com/group/fantasy-and-religion