Harry Potter: Choices, not your gender-ed qualities

Harry Potter is NOT a hermaphrodite.
No, oh no, he clearly is not.
A little androgynous? Perhaps.
The poster-child for genderlessness?
Okay, maybe that is a little too exaggerated to be right.
Anyway, back to what I was beginning to tell you about,
before my time here elapses,
Harry Potter is a feminist...yes, in all his manness.

Not just him. Him and all the other good J.K. Rowling characters, yes,
the books are filled with feminist symbolism!
Subtle, yes...but powerful, moving images of feminism and bigger-world-equality!
From Neville and his passion for Herbology, to Ginny and her Bat-Bogey Hex.
From Molly Weasley and her kickass feminism,
(She owned everybody else at the Battle of Hogwarts, with her ferocity!)
to Luna Lovegood and...just everything about her!
And then, there is Tonks,
And the Greatest Witch of All Time, Hermione,
And the Greatest Wizard of All Time, Albus Dumbledore!
Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick.
You see it, don't you?

There. Now that I have satiated my poetic whim, let us take a look into my Pensieve tonight.

Yep, that would be my night-beard. It's a rare medical condition.

I remember how a slip of the tongue in a particular class may have brought Harry's gender into new light. (I bet you do, too. Sleep-deprivation makes people say the darnedest things.)  The Harry Potter heptology is a wondrous subject of subtle yet moving and powerful feminism. The books authored by J.K. Rowling are extremely endearing and the characters, even more so. The wide range of female characters who all seem different, distinct and diverse is a showcase of the new focus of feminism: diversity. In her amazing books, the image of the feminist stereotype (who is, by the way, portrayed as a mean, old man-hating spinster who lifts weights...or something like that) is shattered into a gazillion little fragments and shards, just like each of Voldemort's seven Horcruxes. At least, that is what I imagine that goes on in another dimension (you know, a world where all the shards of evil people's souls reside and cohabit) when each Horcrux is destroyed. Digressions!

The Harry Potter book series, with its wide array of female characters and its many feminized and feminist male characters, authored by a feminist herself, J.K. Rowling, is clearly in its own right, feminist. There is currently a large debate on whether or not the books are indeed feminist, with the winning side being the side of the Potterheads who think the books were subtly yet radically feminist. From Hermione Granger to Luna Lovegood, to warrior woman Molly Weasley, to Neville Longbottom, to Mrs. Norris, the cat, the books exude feminism.

Through the story, The Boy Who Lived undergoes transformations and life lessons, and develops into the more mature The Chosen One. He is constantly put at a crossroads, throughout his journey, where he must choose between great power and dark magic, and love and doing the right thing. Through the story, Harry is seen choosing the more traditionally feminine over masculinity, power and greed, and is rewarded richly in the end with the only things that matter in life: a couple of best friends, love and pure bliss. Oh, and the saving of the entire wizarding community from the evil, evil hands and snakelike nose of Lord Voldemort. Point in case: Have you ever seen Harry use a Killing Curse? Harry Potter is all about love and tolerance, both very traditional feminine qualities. He is neither power-hungry nor ambitious like Voldemort or the Malfoys or the Lestranges.

But let me bring your attention to a very important aspect of the Harry Potter series: the characters, both male and female and just the good Order of the Phoenix sort (because Death Eaters are not very human), step out of their sexed (cis) gender roles and accomplish things as human beings. In addition, they step into the opposite gender and accept their other trans-gendered side.

You've got to admit: Tonks is AWESOME!

For instance, Harry never once disowns his own gender, but instead accepts his femininity through the story. As does Neville Longbottom who discovers Herbology, a traditionally feminine subject. Ginny Weasley unlocks her assertive side and develops into a mature character at the end of the series. There seems to be quite a lot of blending of the feminine and masculine characteristics! No more is one better than the other. As the story progresses, we begin to see the tradtionally feminine mingling with the traditionally masculine to produce a wholesome, healthy human being.


This brings in the concept of yin and yang into the story. The feminism in the story allows for a sort of balance between the feminine and masculine. Tolerance, respect, assertiveness, love, higher ambitions become genderless qualities. If a balance can be attained between our masculine and feminine sides and sort of gender equilibrium can be established within each of us, gender disparities would not be so much of a problem as they are now.

So, there ends my train of thoughts.
Do tell me how feel about my poetic gesture! :)