As a generation that always has something to complain about and takes everything to the next level, it’s no surprise that one of the greatest and most popular book series in world would get mixed up in the cross fire. As of late the topic of discussion is Feminism. As a woman myself I do believe that some people are gender bias, however, I don’t think J.K. Rowling is one of those people. However, Elizabeth Heilman and Trevor Donaldson point out in their chapter on gender in the Harry Potter series, that Harry Potter does in fact reinforce gender stereotypes and put woman second to men. I, on the other hand, completely disagree. J.K. Rowling once said, “Very early on in writing the series, I remember a female journalist saying to me that Mrs Weasley, ‘Well, you know, she’s just a mother.’ And I was absolutely incensed by that comment. Now, I consider myself to be a feminist, and I’d always wanted to show that just because a woman has made a choice, a free choice to say, ‘Well, I’m going to raise my family and that’s going to be my choice. I may go back to a career, I may have a career part time, but that’s my choice.’ Doesn’t mean that that’s all she can do. And as we proved there in that little battle, Molly Weasley comes out and proves herself the equal of any warrior on that battlefield.” People make it seem as if these aspects of the book make the series sexist. Rowling chose to make the lead role a male. So what? It was a 50/50 chance it was going to be female or male… The fact is that articles and critical evaluations of literature just find someone to point the finger at. Everything in this world can be taken offensively if you work hard enough to find it that way. J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, and Emma Roberts, the leading female role in the Harry Potter films, are both widely well known for their stance on feminism. If the Harry Potter series were gender bias or anti-feminist any true way, I think something would have been done about it. The simple truth is that gender bias and anti and pro feminist parties will always create a divide in our society, as long as we continue to point a finger at everything and cause havoc. To say that Harry Potter is a sexist representation of society and genders is like saying my cats a psychotic murder for killing the blue jay and putting it on our front steps for us to see. Hunting is in my cats genes, just like each and everyone of us has gender specific genes.

Sources: Heilman, Elizabeth E., and Trevor Donaldson. n.d. “From Sexist to (sort-Of) Feminist: Representations of Gender in the Harry Potter Series.” In Critical Perspectives on Harry Potter, 2nd ed., 139–61. New York, USA: Routledge. https://harrypottersummer2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/from-sexist-to-sort-of-feminist-representations-of-gender-in-harry-potter.pdf.

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/557375-very-early-on-in-writing-the-series-i-remember-a