So I’ve been idly reading some of the old books (actually listening to them on tape) to remind myself of all the story so far in preparation for the final book. And I start thinking about Polyjuice Potion. For those who don’t know or forgot, Polyjuice Potion is a magical formula that, when taken, will temporarily transform someone into the body of another person or animal (provided you have a little something that belongs to that person). And I start wondering about some of the interesting ways one could use this potion, and suddenly it occurs to me how it could be used in the bedroom. Suppose Mr. and Mrs. Weaseley wanted to throw some spice into their love life, they could, if they were so inclined, transform into, say, Gilderoy Lockhart and a veela, and act out some of each of their fantasies.
Okay. But from there, of course, the mind quickly reels to more disturbing uses: suppose the Weaseley’s wanted to act out some of their more verboten sexual kinks, and have one or the other turn into a child…an animal…a relative… You can proceed from there. The question is, would this be morally wrong? If so, why? It wouldn’t actually be abusing a child; just an adult in a child’s body. And if you think this is all irrelevent because, after all, it’s just a book, here’s a sorta kinda real world analogue: the question about what to do with virtual pedophilia on things like Second Life.
I imagine this question has occurred to some of the more hardcore HP fans (I can’t imagine there’s any corner of the HP-iverse that hasn’t been thought of); if not, I apologize if it seems like an unredeemably freaky question to ask – my brother thought so, when I made the mistake of asking him (though it did spur him on to an unexpected witticism: “You’d better call Tod Browning, because you are a FREAK!!”) At the least I suppose it marks me a geek.
I think the morally wrong aspect would be from the invasion of privacy it entails; it would not (IMHO) be wrong for someone to use the potion to have sex as a small child (though extremely icky, obviously), but it would be wrong in that those two people would be seeing the child naked without their permission. Same goes for a relative, while an animal would be morally neutral (though technically the Polyjuice Potion doesn’t work with animals).
That taken into account, it seems like a good use of it, to me. If wizard pedophiles could have sex with consenting adults in the form of children, I imagine it would stop them having sex with real children.
It gave her whiskers and a tail, IIRC. So she sort of got stuck halfway between the two. And it took a good time to wear off. I suppose furries could well be interested in that, though.
Interesting point. Really not even identical twins are going to be totally identical, especially as they get older. I suppose, technically, it is, but it’s pretty much unavoidable. And unlike with Polyjuice Potion, there would be no mens rea; the likeness isn’t a deliberate choice.
It doesn’t have to be magical. It’s really just a major extension of fantasizing/role playing; would it be sick if you fantasized about a child/animal/relative while masturbating or having sex with another person?
I cannot remember the details, but years ago there was a case involving the discovery of extremely graphic and sexually explicit drawings of children in sexual situations (not Mapplethorpian but fully sexual acts= i.e., were it photography rather than drawings the photographer would have been looking at a sentence of many years in prison). It was ultimately decided that though clearly indicative of a very sick mind they did not constitute child pornography as the artist could not be proven to have actually harmed children or to have based the sexual acts in the drawings on anything in life and they were not publicly displayed (he sold them via a catalog), and he was not charged. I think this is similar: very sick and offensive and you may want to somehow tag the person using the polyjuice potion for future tracking, but not in and of itself harmful or unethical.
Hm. The intimate use of the potion which most struck me, was that a couple could use it to turn into each other. I suspect that’d be an interesting bonding experience, to see what it’s like for your partner.
So if you were a man and you converted into a woman for the sake of a sexcapade, could you (no pun intended) conceivably get pregnant? (Or could you impregnate if you were a woman who became a man?)
Polyjuice potion is only supposed to last for an hour. Furthermore, if you were pregnant with a child, does the Polyjuice potion affect it too? Does it turn into the same thing you do?
What about conjoined twins, for that matter? There’s a pair of conjoined twins in Minnesota who have two hearts but share a circulatory system… what if they took a Polyjuice potion?
I’m picturing all manner of “Snapes” or “Professor Binns” being forced to do bizarre sexual things from this thread…
Thanks!
I don’t think you could get pregnant while under the influence of PJP. Come to think of it, Hermione took female “bits” (Millicent Bulstrode, if memory serves) and the boys got Draco’s henchmen. Perhaps you can’t switch genders with PJP? Hermione’s feline characteristics were a mistake–a potentially dangerous one, so I doubt one can switch species, either.
The polyjuice potion is just the tiip of the iceberg for ethical problems with the use of magic. I’d be surprised if the third year Defense against Dark Arts class didn’t include a warning to young witches about certain highly unethical magics that wizards can potentially use- “date rape” potions, etc.
The books imply that some spells are much harder than others, that individuals’ ability and power varies widely. Apparently the best the Ministry of Magic can do is proscribe some spells entirely (the three unforgivable curses) and tightly regulate others (the registration of animagi). In book six the British PM says something like “but… it’s MAGIC. I mean, you can do ANYTHING!”. To which the former MoM head says “so can the opposition”.
In a way I guess it’s like in real life where there’s nothing physically stopping you from killing people, committing rape or dealing drugs… except the brutal retribution of society.
And vice-versa. In the Muggle world, it’s difficult for a woman to rape a man, but for magical sorts, rape by love potion (such as what Voldemort’s mother did to his father) is probably distressingly common.
I seem to recall in book 6, Ron ate some chocolates that had a love potion in them, and Harry had to stop him from chasing after the girl who made them before he did something he’d regret later.
