Harry Potter: Feminist Friend Or Foe?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is by no means an anti-feminist novel, it’s just a little grey in areas.

Mostly it’s disappointing that JK Rowling lay such wonderful foundations for a well-balanced character base, but in the end, her undoing was in the details. Her female characters are just as likely to be smart and brave, or evil and violent, as the male ones,  yet the majority of the women are subjected to sloppy stereotyping and gendered language. They’re often on the verge of becoming caricatures of themselves. They’re habitually held-back, and it’s frustrating.

As usual, the villains are among the most interesting in the tale.

Dolores Umbridge and Bellatrix Lestrange are the prominent baddie ladies in the final installment. The duo bring a whole lotta freaky to the table, but are undermined in a way the male villains aren’t; by cheesy stereotypes and exaggerated femininity.

For example, the male Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers’ drawers are lined with sneakoscopes, revealers, deluminators and potions, and what do Umbridge’s contain? “A fussy little lace box full of spare hair bows and clips.” Really? Isn’t it enough that she wears pink skirt suits, gains others’ attention only with passive aggressive throat squeaks, resembles a cane toad, obsesses over kittens and has a “soft girlish laugh?” The lacy box of hair clips seems like overkill.

Lestrange is Voldermort’s most trusted sidekick, a pure-blood from way back. She can kill, maim, taunt and torture with the best of them, the only thing setting Bellatrix apart from the male Death Eaters is her overtly sexual attraction to the Big V. When he speaks, she cranes her back to get just inches closer to him, when she speaks to him it is “almost as a lover.” Malfoy certainly doesn’t behave in this way.

The portrayal of mothers in the book is equally cliche.

Lily Potter, although described as a talented and courageous witch, is consistently defined in terms of her relationships with men. She is Harry’s saviour, James’ soul-mate and Snape’s secret love. Never is she just Lily. She is pivotal to the story only because of what she means to these men, and not because of what she did.

Yet the doozy of archetypal mothers is Mrs Molly Weasley. She’s a member of the Order of the Phoenix but, naturally, her house-making duties come first. She misses important meetings to fossick for bedclothes for Harry, and generally has one eye on the “how-to-save-the-world” conversations — and the other on dinner. She cries at weddings, fusses about the Burrow and the first activity she plans with her son’s future mother-in-law is cleaning out the oven. She nags and she worries herself sick. Thankfully, however, Mrs Weasley is awarded a moment in the final battle to exhibit her mad skills and do away with Bellatrix (note: this is prompted by her lioness protection over the endangered Ginny).

At times, poor Hermione Granger isn’t treated very well either.

Ron and Harry are usually out for action but Hermione forever urges caution. We discover in the concluding pages that Dumbledore sent her along as he felt she could cool Harry’s hot head. (Mustn’t go anywhere without a civilizing female force). As a result, Granger misses out on much of the heroics. Although she remains with Harry throughout the entire debacle, providing invaluable insights and injury-repairs every 14 seconds, it is Ron who arrives at the eleventh hour, saves Harry and destroys the Horcrux. Ron who speaks Parseltongue to unlock the Chamber of Secrets and Ron who confronts Death Eaters while Hermione is unconscious, having been recently tortured. Male camaraderie is a powerful thing, even when written by a woman.

Perhaps what is most obvious is the grossly gendered language in the Deathly Hallows. While Ron and Harry shout and bellow, Hermione routinely wails, squeals, trembles, shrieks, sobs and cries. Within the space of a couple of chapters she is shrill, manic, sulky and of course, hysterical. Once you catch onto this, it is difficult to ignore and it really begins to niggle. It’s not just Hermione who cops it. Dumbledore roars and steels himself, but McGonagall is destined to gasp and clutch at her chest like Anne Elliot.

Having said that,  it is easy to pass quick judgments of Rowling, and mourn the lost opportunity to create a whole new world, a magical feminist utopia. But it isn’t quite so simple. The publishing industry is notoriously chauvinistic and women are too often forced to capitulate to unreasonable standards in order to gain distribution. Joanne Kathleen herself was asked to use her initials as a pen name, as publicists didn’t believe young boys would want to read anything written by a woman. So flagrant feminism probably wouldn’t fly, even if a utopia is what Jo had in mind.

There’s no doubting there are some solid women in Harry Potter. Hermione, Luna Lovegood, Tonks, McGonagall, Ginny and Lily exhibit enough courage, brains, loyalty and skill to fill the Black Lake, but it’s not enough. As all of Harry’s heroes are men, and we experience the beloved story through Harry, so too do they become ours.

While I certainly concede that there are worse things children could be reading, it’d be encouraging for our daughters to have someone to look up to.

Contact the author here: brianna@morningquickie.com