McCauliff
WMST 2010
25 April 2008
Hermione: A Victim of Sexism in the Magical World of Harry Potter
On November 21, 2008 at 12:01 a.m., millions of Harry Potter fans around the world will pour into movie theatres for the release of the 6th movie in the book-based series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. J.K. Rowling, the author of the books, has been awarded for creating a book series responsible for taking millions of children, and even adults, away from their televisions and into seven several-hundred page books. As a huge fan of the series, I include myself in this group as well. The storyline includes three best friends, Harry, Hermione, and Ron, who all attend the school of magic, Hogwarts. Harry is a boy-wonder that nearly destroyed an evil villain, Voldemort, as a baby, which hundreds of adult witches and wizards had tried to kill for many years. The result of this was the infamous lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead that forever marked him as Harry Potter. One of the best friends, Ron, is a cowardly red-head who overcomes his fears throughout the series to help destroy Voldemort. Last, but certainly not least, is Hermione who is the only female member of their circle. She is extremely intelligent, witty, and strong, but in the beginning she is a social outcast. She is described as bossy and uptight because she often preaches the school rules. This essay will focus on Hermione and the lack of feminist issues addressed when it comes to this character. Moreover, I will argue that the rhetoric used when it comes to Hermione constitutes a system of patriarchy and sexism in the magical world of Harry Potter.
I will start by addressing the opposing argument. That is, that Harry Potter should be considered a feminist text. Harry Potter is like a sacred cow that no one can say anything bad about because it is so dearly loved. As a result, many people label this as a feminist text because they do not want to see the sexism in it (“Hermione” 1). They might argue that Hermione is an example of the strong female characters that are becoming more popular in the media today (Gauntlett 42). They might also argue that because Hermione is an example of this strong female character, it is impossible that equal opportunity among the sexes is not offered in the story. At Hogwarts, women certainly do not have to worry about being educated to the fullest and Hermione is an example of that (Baggett 249). One might also argue that this text represents feminist ideas because there are many other women leaders at Hogwarts and in the Ministry of Magic, which is their form of government. While all of this is true, my goal is to bring attention to the system of sexism and patriarchy that is established by the rhetoric used when talking about these strong women, especially Hermione.
First, I will illustrate that the way that Hermione’s personal traits are talked about in the books establishes her as a social outcast from the beginning. Hermione is a strong, smart girl, but when we first meet her, these positive traits are not what the author brings your attention to. She is instead defined by her “bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth (Schoefer 1).” Most of the smart girls in the book are described in this way. When Hermione attempts to help Ron in their levitation class, his masculinity takes over as he refuses to take help from a smarter female. He then says to Harry, “It’s no wonder no one can stand her. She’s a nightmare, honestly.” For some reason, the other girls in the school, usually the less intellectual ones, have the privilege of being described as physically attractive. This supports the stereotype that a woman is either beautiful or smart, but can not both because the male characters only seem to be attracted to the beautiful ones. Later in the series, as Hermione gets older, she discovers how to be beautiful alongside her intelligence, but it is not until then that Ron starts to notice her as more than a friend. This sets up the idea that you must be beautiful to be what a man wants. Hermione is brilliant in all areas of magic, but especially in potions, which is the magical form of science. Our culture defines science for a female to be masculine, anti-social, and nerdy (Inness 31). This is exactly the portrayal we get of Hermione in the beginning. She is not beautiful, but instead she is an antisocial book-worm. She is only socially acceptable because someone of higher status, the male figured Harry Potter, brings her into the story (Bradshaw 1).
While Hermione’s intelligence by far overshadows that of the boys, the author still feels the need to have them rescue her several times in the series as she is depicted as a “typical girl” (Bradshaw 1). The language used to describe her behavior in these scenes sets up the idea of patriarchy and sexism that translates into: Hermione’s bookish knowledge can only go so far, and she needs a male to make up for her shortcomings. Halfway into the first book, when Harry and Ron save Hermione from a troll, the system of hierarchy in the trio’s friendships is established, with Harry at the top and Hermione and Ron as his accomplices (Schoefer 1). By being made into a ‘friend-figure’ and a helper, she is kept out of the hierarchy of heroism (The Sexual Politics Behind Harry Potter 1). In this scene, like any good damsel in distress would do, Hermione “sinks to the floor in fright” at the sight of the troll, “her mouth open with terror (Schoefer 1).” The author shows a lack of faith in this character and ignores her strength and intellect by not letting her stand up for herself. In this scene, and many others, Rowling has Hermione ‘shriek,’ ‘squeak,’ ‘wail,’ ‘squeal,’ and ‘whimper,’ verbs that are never performed by her male cohorts (Bradshaw 1). This sexist description of Hermione’s role stereotypically makes her the most hysterical, fearful, and whiny member of the trio, even though she is just as capable as the others. Despite the fact that she is intellectually superior, she is stereotypically seen as inferior because of her emotions (Bradshaw 1). Over the course of the series, Hermione becomes ‘Hermonie’ as her hormones overtake her intellect time and time again (“The Sexual Politics Behind Harry Potter." 1).
Harry Potter’s fictional world of magic perfectly “mirrors the conventional assumption that men do and should run the world (Schoefer 1).” In this series, J.K. Rowling resorts to sexist stereotypes of femininity and masculinity, when there is no need. Hermione has the potential to stand as an equal part of the three friends and, as strong of a character as she is, it is not really believable that she would do nothing to challenge this. I can not speak for the author, but this might reflect her inability to view the male heroes of her story as sexist (“Hermione” 1). It is important to note that sexism is conditioned into our society, and that Rowling may have unconsciously written the characters into their gender roles (Bradshaw 1), but society is comforted by this world in which these roles are firmly in place (Schoefer 1). Unfortunately, considering the wide audience that consumes this text, the Harry Potter series is not a step forward in the feminists’ fight to end sexism and patriarchy.
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