# How is J.K. Rowling handling Harry Potter's developing sexuality? (OPEN SPOILERS) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063 "2005-10-06T16:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/1 "2005-10-06T16:12:04Z")
[J.K. Rowling rival labels Harry Potter “gay”](http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051006/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_potter) The other writer was being an ass, and I haven’t read the latest book the “Half Blood Prince”, but it did make me wonder about how well J.K. Rowling’s writing is working re the characterization of a 17 year old boy. I was a teen aged boy and I was very umm… “distractible” Sometimes I was so distracted I had to hold my book bag in front of me when getting up from the desk in the classroom. Granted, it was less of an issue when he was younger, but now that he’s 17 or so are the sensibilities of middle aged woman like Rowling able to accurately capture how a 16-17 year old (presumably heterosexual and perpetually horny) teen aged boy would look at the world, or is he still completely rated G? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/2 "2005-10-06T16:15:55Z")
Harry’s magic wand is 13 1/2 inches long and has a core substance that perpetually rejuvenates itself. Nope. Nothin’ too graphic there. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/3 "2005-10-06T16:16:44Z")
The gay rumor might be why she’s calling Book Seven _Harry Potter and the Shiny Muscle Shirt_. Though he certainly didn’t seem gay with Ginny, did he? I think even for a 17 year old, if the entity who killed your parents and your surrogate father is now trying to kill you and everybody you love, it’d be sort of a boner killer. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/4 "2005-10-06T16:23:54Z")
Oh, good grief. He began noticing his developing attraction for Cho Chang in book 3, when he was 13. He asked her to the dance, and displayed typical (heterosexual) adolescent awkwardness around girls, at age 14. He was heavily snogging Ginny Weasley at 16. Perhaps he lags a bit behind the typical American teenager in the sexual-experience department, but I certainly think she’s developing him at a pretty reasonable pace. And gay? Sure, Harry, line up behind the gay muppets… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/5 "2005-10-06T16:24:08Z")
I’m not seeing him as being gay myself. He had a crush on Cho after all…he was just kind of inept in handling it. And his actions with Ginny were anything but those of someone just going through the motions…especially the when he was so jealous. He seems to be reacting as a normal 17 year old to me…a 17 year old who’s folks were killed and who is constantly in danger of being wacked himself by said killer at any time and who is embroiled in a series of increasingly desparate events that effect his entire world. I mean lets see…one of his class mates died in his arms practically, his god father was killed and he blames himself for it…and then Dumbledor, the rock he rested on is killed. How is any of this conducive to Harry wanting to scrump anything in skirts is beyond me. THAT, to my mind, wouldn’t be ‘normal’. -XT ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/6 "2005-10-06T16:31:13Z")
I just had a thought about how useful the Room of Requirement would be when one was looking to score. “Let’s see - I’ll need a soft 4-poster bed, scented candles, and a closet full of exciting undergarments for Ginny…” ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/7 "2005-10-06T16:35:01Z")
Well, these are children’s books, so JKR does kinda have to skirt around the issue. She does obliquely address the point in one passage(Note: legilimency is essentially the ability to read minds, although Snape would have my head if he heard me characterize it like this:) > [@](#): > > Harry [was] still trying not to think about Ginny any more than he could help, despite the fact that she kept cropping up in his dreams in ways that made him devoutly thankful that Ron could not perform Legilimency ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/8 "2005-10-06T16:35:30Z")
Why do you need Ginny? It’s supposed to fill _all_ your needs. Might as well make it a full harem while you’re at it. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/9 "2005-10-06T16:38:36Z")
I’d say that Harry and company are some of the most realistically-portrayed teenagers I’ve ever read, when it comes to stuff like love and relationships. Rowling really has the teenage mind pegged. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/10 "2005-10-06T16:38:55Z")
It sounds like the other writer wasn’t actually calling him gay, if that makes any difference. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/11 "2005-10-06T16:54:49Z")
> [@](#): > > “As for Harry Potter, well, he’s not the only gay in the village,” the former Anglican priest told children at Penair School in Truro, referring to a catchphrase from the popular comedy TV show “Little Britain”. Any Brit or Brit-com watching Dopers get this reference? How is it used on the show? ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/12 "2005-10-06T17:08:32Z")
Is it always necessary to deal with someone’s sexuality? We can’t have a good story without sex? The kid’s a wizard, for Pete’s sake. That’s what’s interesting. I don’t care how he gets off. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/13 "2005-10-06T17:13:22Z")
So, I wonder if Harry is the witch or the warlock… ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/14 "2005-10-06T17:44:18Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > Is it always necessary to deal with someone’s sexuality? We can’t have a good story without sex? The kid’s a wizard, for Pete’s sake. That’s what’s interesting. I don’t care how he gets off. \*\*Mastabatum \*\*! Its in the forbidden book section at Hogwarts. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/15 "2005-10-06T18:02:26Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > Is it always necessary to deal with someone’s sexuality? We can’t have a good story without sex? The kid’s a wizard, for Pete’s sake. That’s what’s interesting. I don’t care how he gets off. It is apparently now required that every story has sex in it. [RANT]LoTR gets the same garbage leveled at it. I guess the Hardy Boys would now need to both seduce Nancy Drew. I think there is no shortage of Sex in the media, and I appreciate an awful lot of it, but lay off the books that can and do work without it. [/RANT] ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/16 "2005-10-06T19:31:29Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Any Brit or Brit-com watching Dopers get this reference? How is it used on the show? [Little Britain](http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/littlebritain/) is a sketch show that uses repetitive characters/catchphrases, etc. One of the characters is [Daffyd](http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/littlebritain/characters/characters8.shtml) , a flaboyant homosexual who openly flaunts his sexuality against the prejudice that one would expect in an small insular community. The twist being that everyone else in the village, from the vicar to staid old ladies, is actually engaging in homosexual practices, which Daffyd completely refuses to acknowledge as he has convinced himself that he is ‘the only gay in the village’. Not really sure how the guy was tying that in with Harry Potter… ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/17 "2005-10-06T19:34:34Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Any Brit or Brit-com watching Dopers get this reference? How is it used on the show? [_Little Britain_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0358856/) is a pretty decent sketch comedy show that follows several differend situations. One of the gags is about an extremely strange-looking\* Welshman in a small Welsh village. His name is Daffyd Thomas. He is quite open about being gay (or “a gay,” as he puts it), but is also in some type of denial about anyone else being gay. So much so, that, when a lesbian couple were celebrating their wedding, he was sitting in the corner at the reception yammering on about being the “only gay in the village.” Everyone in the village is quite supportive of him in his orientation, but any time anyone suggests that he’s being unreasonable in his insistence that he is “the only gay in the village,” he goes into a hissy fit, and flounces off, wailing that this is the sort of homophobic talk he expects to put up with, as “the only gay in the village.” \*[Here](http://www.littlebritain.tv/characters_main/daffyd_thomas/img003a.jpg) [are some](http://www.littlebritain.tv/characters_main/daffyd_thomas/img002a.jpg) [pictures of Daffyd.](http://www.littlebritain.tv/characters_main/daffyd_thomas/img001a.jpg) If you have access to BBC America, you can watch _Little Britain_ on some weeknights. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/18 "2005-10-06T19:39:42Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > Why do you need Ginny? It’s supposed to fill _all_ your needs. Might as well make it a full harem while you’re at it. Gee, no offense, but maybe Harry has a bit more depth to him than that? Maybe he actually cares about Ginny? Maybe he wants to have Feelings for a girl and not just hygienic release of bodily substances? What the hell would a 17 y/o do with a “harem”? Stutter and blush, most likely. Just a thought. Frankly, I find Ron and Hermione’s relationship alot more interesting. Rowling sees these characters as real–and she knows teens very well, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/19 "2005-10-06T19:41:05Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > Is it always necessary to deal with someone’s sexuality? We can’t have a good story without sex? The kid’s a wizard, for Pete’s sake. That’s what’s interesting. I don’t care how he gets off. I’m with kelly, and I love reading about sex. There’s one more book, it’ll all be done before he gets into it, and honestly I am not really interested in reading about clumsy teen sex. Who cares how his sexuality is being dealt with? I want to know how Voldemort is being dealt with. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063/20 "2005-10-06T19:54:15Z")
Well, for that matter, how does Voldemort deal with sex? He’s (chronologically) about seventy years old, and with a body that one might expect to be in the condition of a 54 year-old man. Ya think maybe he and Bellatrix play _le droit du seigneur_ behind Mr. LeStrange’s back? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-j-k-rowling-handling-harry-potters-developing-sexuality-open-spoilers/325063.md?page=2)