the least likely of sources...

[rivendellrose]

I never thought I would say this.

J.K. Rowling has said something worth linking to. Something not directly related to the HP books, and which I actually agree with and feel the need to applaud, despite regarding it as something of a case of 'too little too late,' given her generally less than stellar treatment of female characters in recent books.

Color me shocked - so she's not completely oblivious to feminist issues, just incapable of writing them very well. Go figure.

Gacked off feminist.

Comments

[lovelies.livejournal.com]

I first saw that on ohnotheydidnt, of all places, and it really is deserving of a bagful of Word.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

So that community is useful for more than the occasional link to nude pics of hot men. Who'd have thought? I'm just learning things all over the place today. ;)

And yes. I hope this gets out to more than just the twenty-some-odd and older fans who already agree with her on the subject.

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely worth reading, and applauding! Thanks for the link, because I haven't been reading feminist lately (been avoiding the headache) and I might have missed it.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

No problem! I get what you mean about avoiding the comm - I just kind of skim, and look into only what looks interesting and non-wanky. ;)

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

I'm torn. On one hand, it is a good message. On the other hand... she has a habit of using fatness in her books to exemplify negative characters and to emphasize negative traits.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I know. Myrtle, Umbridge, Marge... Rowling being a hypocrite is nothing new to any of us who pay attention. But I'm not about to gripe about her writing something like this, since a lot of teenage girls might actually notice it.

Doesn't stop me from bitching about the way she portrays women, mind you. But I'm not going to complain about it when she gets something right for a change.

[miss-arel.livejournal.com]

But let's not forget she also has lots of chubby or fat positive characters (Molly Weasley, Hagrid and Neville... plus the Weasley twins are described as 'stocky' and I always imagined Madame Maxime as a big girl all over). And her thin unpleasant characters (the Malfoys, Rita Skeeter, Bellatrix, Petunia, and Voldemort, to name a few.) It's just that when an unpleasant character is fat, she uses much less pleasant terms -- 'fat' and 'porky' as opposed to 'plump', for instance. The same can be said for the thin characters; some of them are described as looking downright unhealthy, like Snape. So I think her characters have a whole range of body types, and yes, some of the bad guys are fat; but a lot of them aren't. So I don't really see it as that hypocritical, really.

Wow, that was long. XD

*sees your pink Winry and raises you another pink-haired cutie*

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

I read that this morning on "the other site".

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I thought you might've, after what lovelies said. It's definitely a new side to her.