Is Harry Potter Sexist?
Ok, I definitely don't think J. K. Rowling herself is personally sexist. And besides, I admit that there are many aspects of the books that break a lot of gender stereotypes: the three female Chasers on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, for instance. But I do think that the books themselves are written in a rather sexist fashion, not because Rowling is sexist, but mostly as a product of a sexist society, as I'll explain in more detail below. (Why do we care, you might be wondering. Basically, I'm personally strongly against stereotypes based on gender, or anything else, which limit what people can or feel comfortable doing. Gender roles and their unconscious enforcement by everyone in everything are a great disturbance to me. People always think my vehement opposition to categorizing activities, jobs, opinions, characteristics, etc. as "male" or "female" is strange, unnecessary. But every tiny comment accumulates in the minds of listeners to color their perception of the world in a way it doesn't have to be colored, and if it serves to limit people from fulfilling whatever position they are best suited, by desires, talents, etc, to fulfill, I find it terribly detrimental. And I find such stereotypes to be widely prevalent in the media, particularly in books and movies (not to even mention TV shows and advertisements). Thus I feel that it's important to recognize these stereotypes for what they are, so that we don't begin to believe that they are essential truths, and understand where our ideas about them originate. If you have any interest in discussing this topic with me, I would be GREATLY delighted, and you can e-mail me at dragonfyre52@hotmail.com) Anyway, I hope this is helpful and or interesting and or thought-provoking for you. Here goes:
First of all, I'm not asking for a Harriette Potter I don't have any problems with the fact that the main character is a guy. That isn't sexism, it's statistics. There is a 50/50 chance that each character will be male or female, and the main character is no different. Plus, it's a very sad but true fact that while girls are more than happy to read stories about boys, boys will very rarely read stories where the main characters are female. That's just truth (although that may derive from two forms of sexism: (1) there are more stories with guys as heros, so girls have really no choice but to accept heros with the heroines, whereas guys can get away with reading solely about boys, and (2) the stories that DO have female main characters are generally more girly stories, there are very few exciting adventure stories with daring and heroic female main characters (although there are some, I know, I know!)) So what I am saying is I don't think J. K. Rowling is sexist because her main character is male. Ok?
Now, look at all of the other characters. Think of all the guys we know as full-fleshed characters: Harry, Ron, Draco, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Sirius, Snape, Dumbledore, Lupin, Quirrel, Crouch, Bagman, Mr. Weasley, Fred, George, Percy, Bill, Charlie, Cedric, Krum, Peter Pettigrew, (22) the list goes on... Now think of the girls: Hermione, McGonagall, Trelawny, Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Fleur, kind of Parvati... (7) they just don't compare. And don't tell me I forgot Cho Chang, that's a whole nother thing. We don't even know this girl. She's pretty, she can fly, Harry likes her. She's the apple of our heros eye, his crush major, and we barely know the girl. (This irks me quite a bit, and I hope if Harry does start dating her we learn that she is a very cool person rather quickly.) Hermione is a cool person (and I love her dearly) but she is, although supercool, a bit of a type character. She's smart, she lives in the library, she has a hidden feminine side. But she's just not as fun to be around as Ron, and as Harry says in book 4 "You do a lot of hanging around in the library when Hermione's your best friend." We also see only glimpses of Ginny hiding behind her mother type of thing, whereas all of her brothers are fun, exciting, or at least fully-developed characters. We know Fleur a lot less than Viktor or Cedric, McGonagall and Trelawny less than Dumbledore and Snape. We know all about James Potter and all his friends from school, but virtually nothing about Lily or her Hogwarts life. We've met everyone in Harry and Ron's dorm, but we never see anyone but Parvati from Hermione's. Crabbe and Goyle make more appearances than Pansy Parkinson, and we have no Icicle yet, no Malfoy counterpart. Even with the ghosts, we know a lot more about the Fat Friar, Bloody Baron, and Nearly Headless Nick, and virtually nothing about the Grey Lady. And then there's the Founders. Everything centers aroung Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin, and Roweena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff are just kind of off in the background. I could go on for quite a while, but you get the idea here. And I recognize that, since the main character is a boy, he's more likely to hang around with males, but this doesn't explain the discrepancies in ghosts, teachers, Founders, etc.
So we know fewer girls in the series, and we know less about them. And what we do know about them is more stereotypical or two-dimensional than what we know about the male characters. We have no cool female characters to compare with people like Lupin or Sirius, no female rolemodels. And while I think boys would be less enthusiastic about a Harriette Potter, I don't think they would have objections to seeing a bit more representation of the female side of the wizarding world.
Furthermore, think about the term "wizard" vs. "witch." When you think of a wizard, it is someone powerful and mysterious, or at least very wise. When you think of a witch, you think of an ugly, mean old lady, or at least (in Harry Potter) a rather silly housewife type who will fawn over a pretty face (Lockheart...) and read silly articles in Witch Weekly. And if you don't believe that, try this experiment, suggested by my coach: (who agrees with me that the series is sexist and even thought it took place in the 1950s (so were the gender roles misleading) until I told him that technology and Nick's Death Day point to a modern time period) go up to an old man and call him a wizard, then go up to an old woman and call her a witch. Did it hurt? It still perplexes me as to why J. K. Rowling didn't stick with wizardess...
Ok, so I'm done with my little rant. And let me add one more disclaimer: I still love the books. I'm not going to boycott them to prove my point, and I don't suggest you do either (talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face!). My love of the series has not diminished at all. But I would like to see some more depth and numbers from the feminine side of the book-population.
And as I said, I believe this is a product of society as a whole, and is actually a lot less prevalent in the Harry Potter books than in other books or in general society. But nonetheless it's present, and I have this website about Harry Potter, and so what better way to open the conversation about gender steretypes in books and movies? You know?
Agree? Disagree? Send me your opinions at dragonfyre52@hotmail.com
Some more of the webmistress' opinions on gender roles in society in general here!
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What other people have to say about the subject:
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And here's an article by someone who agrees with me on the subject: See what she has to say here!
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All opinions vented on this site are copyright 2000 by October. You don't have to like them, you just have to agree with them! But don't steal her words without asking. You can do so by e-mailing her at dragonfyre52@hotmail.com You MUST have permission to use anything from this site!
I'm Leigh Wilmot and I'm 13. I have read the books ever since they have been coming
out. I believe that they are the most beautifully composed and interestingly intricate books ever
to be written. For that reason, I have always tried hard to ignore the subtle sexism in the books
I've grown to love. I agree with you on all of your reasoning. I think that you're right about
your beliefs that many of the character roles are favored towards the guys. And I also agree that
you would almost never see a dude from your class reading a book in which a strong, independant,
funny, heroine is the main character. I would never boycott my favorite books but after reading
about Hermione constantly "quivering" , "wimpering" , and "cowaring" , --- and Harry " beaming
triumphantly" , "rescuing" , or "winning" I sometimes think that something's got to give....
~Leigh
