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Ruralite Cafe: Published 8/03/00

By Lynn Hotaling



Columnist's criticism of Potter books unfounded

 By Lynn Hotaling - Associate Editor
Who could possibly find fault with a series of books that has caused legions of adolescents to turn off the television, put down the mouse and forsake the joystick?

That would be an over-zealous member of the feminist mafia, who wrote recently in USA Today that the popular Harry Potter books lack proper heroines.

I was amazed to read that the Potter books in general, and the recently-released fourth volume, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in particular, fail to provide good role models for girls.

For starters, the writer of the popular series, J.K. Rowling, is a woman, and she's made millions of dollars. Seems to me she'd make a pretty good role model.

Rowling-as-role-model is an idea not even considered in the lengthy column by Donna Harrington-Lueker that bemoans the Potter books' lack of proper heroines.

Harrington-Lueker devotes a lot of space to a diatribe about how one of Harry's best friends, a girl, is bossy, studious and a stickler for following rules. She seems to think these qualities are bad.

What Harrington-Lueker fails to mention is that both Harry and his female friend, Hermione, are 14. By definition, studious 14-year-old girls are bossy and insist on following rules. My son, Scott, an actual 14-year-old boy, regards Hermione's behavior as generally true to type.

Harrington-Lueker has another problem with the way girls are treated in "Goblet of Fire." Without revealing too much, I can say that it involves the revival of a centuries-old competition between the various schools of wizardry and witchcraft. A champion is chosen to represent each of three schools, and only one champion is a girl. This is not a high enough percentage to impress the girls reading the book, Harrington-Lueker says.

Here's the catch: The competition hasn't been held for the last 700 or so years - it was halted because so many of the champions lost their lives during the contest. With the contest's revival, its rules were changed to ensure that only students age 17 or older can be considered.

I called in another expert, my 18-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.

"So, Liz, if you had a chance to represent your school in a competition that's so dangerous it hasn't even been held for 700 years because so many champions died, would you be interested?"

Her reply, in a word, was "No."

That's because girls generally decline to engage in obvious risk-taking behavior. Based on personal experience, I'm amazed that even one female was willing to compete.

Maybe the column-writer grew up in a different culture than I, since she finds so much fault with books that seem to me to treat both sexes with equanimity.

At Harry Potter's school, Hogwarts, girls play alongside boys on the house quidditch (a sport that sounds sort of like airborne soccer; the players ride broomsticks) teams. Even at the exalted level of the Quidditch World Cup, females play on the national teams next to their male counterparts.

Despite what Harrington-Lueker calls Hermione's unappealing traits, Harry and the other member of their triumvirate, Ron, never resort to what was once the ultimate insult: "You're acting just like a girl!"

Outside the school board meeting Monday night, I approached a real expert on adolescents - and a woman who would make a darn good role model for any girl in search of one.

Fairview Principal Sue Nations is charmed by the Potter books, and she said she hasn't noticed any gender bias. She's savoring the wonderful new words and images, like "howlers," magical messages (delivered via owl) that allow parents to fuss at their children from a remote location, and "disapparate," which is what grown-up witches do when they want to travel.

Besides, Sue said, "Professor McGonagall (the head of Harry's house and assistant director of his school) is a woman, and she has all sorts of power."

As for me, I'm too busy wishing for some of Harry's culinary magic to be looking for male chauvinist wizards. When Harry and his friends and schoolmates (of both genders) sit down to eat, a wonderful array of food appears. They eat off golden plates, and, when they're done, the scraps disappear (or maybe they disapparate to a pigpen somewhere), the plates get clean and shiny, and the table is set for the next meal.

Sounds like just what we need here at the Cafe.

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