A serious question about Rowling's "Dumbledore" pronouncement...?
I am wondering if there is a predilection of Female fiction writers to feminize the strong, male characters in their books.
Rowling announced that she wrote her strongest grown-up male character as a gay man with a secret past.
Does this suggest a tendency to deny that strong heroic men can exist? By adding a gay subtext, is she admitting to a belief that straight men are dangerous or harmful?
Whether or not you agree with this concept...
Do you think that there are other examples of women writers seeking to feminize their strongest male characters? If so, who are they?
2007-10-20T19:41:36Z
Then you're missing my point and had no reason to answer. Is there something about the terms "strong" "straight" and "heroic" that some writers cannot or willnot deal with...
2007-10-20T19:46:10Z
For goodness sake, this is not a pronouncement against homosexuality. It is a question about psychology and writers and how our experiences color our creative work.
TW K2007-10-20T22:20:21Z
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I wonder what made Rowling do this. This comes as a real surprise, when even she knows that most of the readers are children who would have hardly cared for such a thing,
"It is a question about psychology and writers and how our experiences color our creative work." . . . and how our experiences color our questions on Y!A.
JK did not feminize Dumbledore. She revealed that he is gay. To feminize him, she would have had to give him womanly traits. This is not the same as gay. Gay men are gay MEN, not women.
Your question, "Do you think that there are other examples of women writers seeking to feminize their strongest male characters? If so, who are they?" is a non sequitor.
"Does this suggest a tendency to deny that strong heroic men can exist?" It does not suggest so to me. I'm not sure which adjective you believe conflicts with the word "gay."
If you are asking if female fiction writers prefer to write about gay men, I don't think so. Off the top of my head, I'll cite the uproar created by JK's announcement. If this were common in literature written by women, there would not be this amount of shock and discussion. It would be a non-issue.
I do not see any evidence that she is "admitting to a belief that straight men are dangerous or harmful." Her lead character has now grown into a straight man. She also represents many heroic, flawed, human, straight men - Sirius, Lupin, Kingsley . . .
In short, I believe your question reveals more bias than you realize. The other posters who question your viewpoint deserve a listen.
I disagree with that statement. Dumbledore, no matter what his sexuality, was clearly a strong and heroic character. Perhaps the strongest in the book. Perhaps the statement Rowling was trying to make was that the strongest people don't always have to be straight. And I say this because I don't know of any other examples where female authors "feminize" the male characters.
EDIT: You asked a question, and I gave my answer. I'm sorry if it wasn't the answer you wanted to hear.
Your question: Do you think that there are other examples of women writers seeking....Who are they?
And I answered: ...I don't know of any other examples where authors "feminize" their main characters.
Well, I do differ with your opinion. I think Rowling is extremely secure and she has never had a need to do something to prove her point. Besides, her lead protagonists - Ron/ Harry and Hermione are strong yet as masculine or feminine respectively.
I don't think Rowling is denying existence of strong men at all - she is just balancing her world in a very equally shared role of female counterparts.
Dumbledore being gay is true testimony to the tolerant and accepting tone of the series.
A lot of straight women have some serious misconceptions regarding male homosexuality. They think male homosexuals are fun or entertaining to be around rather than psychotic misanthropes.
It is obvious J.K. Rowling also suffers from the female misconception of dangerous male homosexuality. Just review the sexual abuse scandal plaguing the Roman Catholic Church with all the homosexual priests touching kids and you'll wake up to why it was a big fat mistake to paint Albus Dumbledore as 'gay' as a politically correct fashion statement.