Feminism, Women, and Potterverse (original) (raw)

new community	[Feb. 3rd, 2006|11:05 am]Feminism, Women, and Potterverse
feminisms is a new community for feminists of all persuasions. It was created as a place for discussion, advocacy and fellowship and is for all feminists; including, faith feminists, Republican feminists, Southern US feminists, academic feminists, pro-life feminists and any one else who supports the idea that all people are equal.Please join!
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Essay recommendation	[Jan. 29th, 2006|04:58 pm]Feminism, Women, and Potterverse
[**Emotional range is** |calm]Hi all! I hope this is allowed here: schemingreader has written a fantastic essay on the benefits of fandom, particularly for women writers and artists. _Fandom creates multi-generational communities of women who work together to overthrow patriarchal suppression of women's erotic impulses... Though we don't all agree about what it should look like, fandom provides a model for pro-sex feminism, for women reclaiming control over their sexuality, minds first._Here, here. Thought it might be of interest to the discussions in this comm. :)Something Good about Fandom
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A rec, and a game...	[Jan. 10th, 2006|07:01 pm]Feminism, Women, and Potterverse
In hopes of reviving discussion around here, I wanted to post a link to fernwithy's post about Negative Images of Femininity in the Popular Harriet Potter Series -- an amusing look at what people might be saying if the gender roles in the books were reversed.Since it's an older post, I also thought it might be fun to speculate about what a post-HBP version might look like. Any takers?
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Femslash	[Sep. 26th, 2005|11:52 pm]Feminism, Women, and Potterverse
[Emotional range is** |contemplative] [Rock on with your frock on!**	Dar Williams - Beautiful Enemy]This is a bit of a rant, but I'd love some feedback on some issues that have been bothering me. I want to ask you wonderful smart ladies about fandom and femslash. Now, notwithstanding the fact that maleslash far outnumbers femslash, and that one of the reasons given for this is that the writers don't know how to write female genitalia without being squeamish [ the validity or connotation of this is a noble discussion as well, but I fear would overshadow my point ], ignoring all that, what do you all think about femslash?I primarily read femslash. This may be because, as a lesbian, endless cock has limited appeal for me. However, I'll read a good Harry/Draco story if its recced, or Het or Gen. I'm open. In the femslash I have read, it seems disproportionally PWPW. I'm all for the smut [the one story i've written certainly had a lot of it] but it seems we have more trouble imagining the girls actually having a relationship than having sex. Well, sex does not orientation make. When there IS a relationship, it is sometimes a heterosexual ideal with the gender being irrelevant. I've seen plenty of stuff where Hermione and Ginny are married and sharing each others names and waiting until their wedding night to have sex, etc. This seems to me to de-sexualize the characters more than anything else, because they seem to be so far from what we see as canon, or even fanon. Also, they are acting in concert with the christian heterosexual ideal despite being lesbians. What does this say about the role of lesbian relationships in a fairly non-christian HP world? [What I mean by non-christian is that religion is rarely or never mentioned, and thus we don't know if those mores apply]I've also seen many many stories where Pansy basically forces Hermione into sex, and Hermione ends up liking it and does nothing to protest. This is very uncharacteristic for Hermione as well. She's always protesting things she doesn't like, even if it's futile (SPEW). Why is passivity from one partner required? Why does one character have to be 'the man'?Other stories have characters - Cho/Hermione, Ginny/Pansy, etc... hooking up because they have both been with a particular guy - Harry, Draco, and now want to see what he saw in the other one. Despite being femslash, these are very male centric. The most disturbing sub-genre, for me, are the hurt/comfort stories. These usually take the form of Draco raping or trying to rape a character, usually Hermione. The character becomes a shell of her former self, and only another character can bring her out of it, though she is never assertive like she used to be. The other trend in those fics where one of the characters hates herself for having feelings for the other and hurts herself. This time the guy doesn't even have to do it for her. So what is it about femslash that dissuades writers? We don't seem to have any novel-length femslash works like we have for maleslash. On hogwarts_today, femslash is rarely recced. Today, a Hermione/Umbridge fic is up there. I'm not even clicking. This is less coherent than I meant it to be, but I think my main drift gets across. What do you think are the main problems facing femslash, how does femslash relate to the rest of fanon, and how do you (as feminists) feel about how the characters are portrayed in femslash?Update I am so happy at the healthy and robust debate here and I want to keep replying to everyone's comments, but I am leaving for Sweden this friday (my girlfriend is studying abroad and I am going to visit), so I will not be able to reply or participate much while I am there. But please, everyone, keep debating and commenting. Just getting people thinking about this makes me happy.
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Feminism & Fanfic Cliches	[Sep. 24th, 2005|06:05 pm]Feminism, Women, and Potterverse
Hello! Glad to see so many people have found their way to this comm already! slytherincesss opened up this can of worms in her earlier post, and since it is a topic I find most interesting, I'd like to further explore fanfic cliches and feminism.So my question is:**What cliches in fanfic (or fanon representations) pertaining to either female or male characters really rub you the wrong way? And why?I'll go first, since it seems only fair.( The Damsel in Distress... oh, spare me!Collapse )**So what cliches do you find in fanfic that force you to look gender stereotypes straight in the face? What sort of cliches have developed in fanfic that challenge gender stereotypes?
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What Is Feminism To You?	[Sep. 18th, 2005|08:43 pm]Feminism, Women, and Potterverse
[Tags**|definitions, feminism, what is feminism] [Emotional range is**	curious]Welcome to everyone who has decided to check out hp_feminism. I've been around fandom long enough to recognize there is a steady undercurrent of discontent with many fandomers regarding the portrayal of the female characters in the Harry Potter series. JKR has been approached in interviews about the alleged lack of strong female characters in HP, and she has defended her female characters as strong and tenacious, particularly Hermione Granger as JKR's main female protagonist. I've read a lot of disdain for Molly Weasley being "only a housewife." Personally, I don't have any problem with Molly being a housewife; I take issue more with how Molly relates to people, her children in particular -- I myself find Molly to be rather dismissive of her children and their emotional needs, which to me is a character issue rather than any kind of occupational offshoot of her being a stay-at-home mother. Conversely, I've read a lot of fic that characterizes Minerva McGonagall as a lesbian -- is this simply because she is (presumably, going from what we know in canon) unmarried/unpartnered and employed? What cliches have you seen represented in fic, when it comes to female HP characters? Which female HP characters do you adore? Why?Which female HP characters do you loathe? Why?Do writers tend to villify female characters in fic, while giving male characters a wide characterization berth? If so, is this a conscious effort?What does the term 'feminism' mean to you? Any on-topic issues for discussion are welcome and encouraged. Please feel free to post to the community with your thoughts on feminism and Potterverse.
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Welcome to hp_feminism -- Community Guidelines	[Sep. 18th, 2005|06:00 pm]Feminism, Women, and Potterverse
[Tags**|community guidelines, welcome] [Emotional range is**	chipper] [Rock on with your frock on!	Sixteen Candles]Welcome to hp_feminism, a community for the discussion of feminism and the female gender as it pertains to the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Let's talk about the representation of women in Goblet of Fire. Let's talk about female sexuality in erotic fanfic. Let's talk about what it's like to be a feminist negotiating a canon constructed through the eyes of a teenage boy. Let's talk about the maternal image of Molly Weasley versus that of Petunia Dursley. Let's talk about body politics and Nymphadora Tonks. Let's talk about promoting positive images of women in the fandom.But let's get talking.Let's create dialogue. Let's discuss. Let's deconstruct.( Community GuidelinesCollapse )
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