It's a GIP, really, but I tried to mask it by talking about sex

[donnaimmaculata]

Lookit! The lovely la_mort_noir made me an icon to go with the promenade cheekbones from that badfic I mentioned. Isn't he pretty? *cuddles Sandsy*

Actually, I've wanted to see Johnny in a Sands kinda role since, oh, 1992, when John Waters said in an interview: "Johnny could play a wonderfully sexy mass murderer." Yep. That he could. And that he did.

*~*

I was planning to talk about immortality in HP, but decided to talk about sex instead. Who needs immortality anyway, eh?



The advantage of writing fanfiction in a fantasy fandom is that I can ignore certain rules of our society and pretend that they don't apply in the fictional universe. When writing HP fanfiction, I make my characters cheerfully bisexual, mainly because I can't be bothered to deal with Gay Issues. While one can argue that the HP universe is in many respects rather old-fashioned, there is also another point of view (the one I adopt): Obviously, in HP, men and women have equal rights and there are much worse sexual perversities one can commit than sleeping with a member of one's own sex. An equality of sexes (which goes as far back as to the time of the founders, two of whom were female) indicates that traditional gender roles are non-existant. For many centuries, witches have been receiving the same education as wizards and they also have equal job opportunities as wizards.

The fact than rather than being forced into the quintessential female role of housewives and mothers women interact with men as equals, indicates that wizards have not assumed the quintessential male role of hunters and protectors. What's that got to do with sex? Well, wizards are not trained to be the stronger sex. They're not trained to be dominant and in charge.

I'll get back to that point, but first I want to say a few words about the "worse sexual perversities" business: In a society where sex with giants, werewolves, (possibly) vampires, Veela and whatnot is, if not socially accepted than at least possible, sex with a member of the same species seems like the lesser evil.

To elaborate the sex issue: I derive large portions of what I write about sexual interaction from my personal experience. And I am lucky enough to move in a society where homo and bisexuality are considered as normal. And by 'normal' I mean that people don't feel the need to discuss the issue: I never came out as bisexual, because, really, I never came out as sexual in the first place. Seeing as I never went to my parents telling them that I started to sleep with men, I never went to tell them that I started to sleep with women, either. I know quite a few people who are bisexual to some degree, and it is not something that defines who they are in social terms (as in: members of the gay community) or how they are perceived by others.

Now, since we do live within a society where men have traditionally assumed the dominant role, many men don't easily reconsile with assuming the submissive part. It's the old top vs. bottom discussion. As a (likewise cheerfully bisexual) friend of mine put it: A man is not supposed to get fucked. Said friend does all manner of things with other men, but he would not let them fuck him, and he does not want to fuck them. It's a psychological thing, and it's based on that ingrained assumption that men are quintessential tops. (Note to self: Should ask him what he thinks of the whole prostate stimulation business.)

So in a nutshell what I do is: I take my RL experience of sexual versatility and combine it with sexual equality in HP and make my men bisexual. Because I can.

Comments

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Word, man. I was not initially convinced by your point about equality in HP fandom – and I was going to post it too, but an unfortunate computer accident (I, er, pulled out the plug) allowed me to think about it some more. And the more I think, the more I am convinced – JKR has tried to portray a society that has more gender equality than ours, despite the fact that women still play some very conventional roles in the society (ref. Molly Weasley). And she has also forestalled all questions about the unrealistic (is that the right word? I'm referring to a discussion some time back, which insisted that the so-called equality in the WW is not quite believable) nature of this state of equality by making the witches get equal education and job rights a few centuries back, which points to a society much advanced than ours in this specific aspect. I'd also think that the fact that two out of four of the Hogwarts founders were female only points to this.

Well, wizards are not trained to be the stronger sex. They're not trained to be dominant and in charge

This was the bit I couldn't agree with, initially. But then I realised that I was confusing canon with fanon, specially, fanon!Purebloods, who are as racist and misogynist our very own chauvinists in RL. It is, perhaps, another example of how we impose our RL views in analysing the WW. It is not to say that the WW cannot be interpreted in the other way – it can; but I'd need more convincing.

And Remus is so bisexual.

Swatkat

[caesia390.livejournal.com]

your real society is my ideal society. :} i write bisexuality because i was raised in Hetero-country, and I cannot stand gender politics, be they the hetero variety i witness every day or the fringe element that has to be a joke to even be included in polite conversation.

as for wizards and witches... I think there is a slight tendency toward 'separate but equal' - women are portrayed as intelligent (ravenclaw, hermione) and caring (hufflepuff, weasley) and men are the passion-driven risk-takers (gryffindor, the naked ambition of slytherin, harry, ron). Witches are perhaps even more respected because they (probably) live a bit longer, might not get so much immediate glory but tend ot have more wisdom. In general, mind - we also have people like Bellatrix and Ginny (passionate risk-takers; Ginny's more of an assumption on my part) and any multitude of less-flamboyant males I can't think of at the moment. Remus Lupin, there you go! Intelligent and very into self-preservation, anyway. :} I think the difference is much less marked in the WW, but I still think a slight difference between averages exists.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about Molly Weasley, too, but I think that witches in general have the choice of what they want to do with their lives. You know? The fact alone that witches have for many centuries been admitted to the same education standards as wizards (in a time, I might add, when in our society women were assumed to not have souls and be generally inferior to men) shows that their status within the society differs from the status of women in our world. Additionally, physical strength does not seem to be quite as important in the wizarding world, because physically strenous activities are carried out by means of magic. That makes a hell of a difference in, for example, all physical abuse matters: it's not the physically weaker ones who fall victim but those with weaker magical powers.

But then I realised that I was confusing canon with fanon, specially, fanon!Purebloods, who are as racist and misogynist our very own chauvinists in RL.

The problem is that most of the major characters we've met are male. And Lucius Malfoy's interpretation as uber-abusive husband and father has certainly tinted our view on traditional wizarding households. But I don't think this is what Rowling tried to imply. (She certainly didn't want to imly Malfoycest.)

Anyway, I don't claim that my reasoning is entirely accurate. It's merely the foundation I created for my own writing in order to be able to not have to bother with Teh Gay Issues.

And Remus is so bisexual.

Yep.

[donnaimmaculata.livejournal.com]

your real society is my ideal society

I probably should have written 'community' or something. It's not that the entire society accepts homosexuality as perfectly normal; but I happen to move about among young(-ish) artsy people with academic and film background, and we are just, well, open-minded. I am also fortunate enough to have parents who are absolutely OK with Teh Gay, and so it's sometimes hard to imagine that there are people who have serious problems with the whole homosexuality business.

I think there is a slight tendency toward 'separate but equal'

I agree that there are differences between witches and wizards, but I don't think that they are enforced by society. The difference to our world is, witches are allowed to make their own choice. If they choose to be housewives and mothers, that's fine, but they're not forced to do it. Girls at Hogwarts do the same stuff as boys; take Quidditch, for example. It's a viciously brutal sport with a high rist of injuries, and yet girls play it alongside boys and women alongside men. I don't think something like that exists in our world - we don't have mixed professional hockey or rugby or football teams. And I also think that the question of education is decisive. We have only very recently discovered co-education and equal rights for girls; in the wizarding world, it goes all the way back to the Middle Ages.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

I was wondering about Molly Weasley, too

I've been thinking about this - I've heard many people say that Molly is the archetype of the mother figure. If that is the case, then JKR has tried to give her all the equality she can have within the framework of the mother, i.e she is clearly the one who calls the shots in the family, the children look up to her (despite the fact that they're at times quite annoyed by all the attention), and so on. Molly Weasley probably became a housewife by choice (necessity, in fact - in a family like theirs, a homemaking mum would be more economical), something that women in our society still do not have.

The fact alone that witches have for many centuries been admitted to the same education standards as wizards (in a time, I might add, when in our society women were assumed to not have souls and be generally inferior to men) shows that their status within the society differs from the status of women in our world.

Yes, exactly. That, for me, refutes any argument that female equality in the WW is essentially a fantasy, and not realisticaly drawn.

And Lucius Malfoy's interpretation as uber-abusive husband and father has certainly tinted our view on traditional wizarding households.

I don't quite get AbusiveHusband!Lucius, considering that we've seen Lucius and Narcissa appear together only once (GOF, Quidditch match, and they seemed quite happy back then) in all the five books. I also don't agree with the interpretation that Lucius abuses Draco in that scene in CoS, although I know most will disagree.

But I don't think this is what Rowling tried to imply.

It is, I guess, fanfiction authors' way of filling in a character. We don't know a lot about Lucius' personality in canon, so the authors have to resort to known archetypes while portraying him in a story.

Swatkat