VanderSigned | Chapter : 22 | Date : 21/09/09
First off good story, I'm really enjoying it so far.
However I'm not so sure you quite understand the ramifications of everything that was described in this chapter. Pre-marital sex is done by every culture on the planet, and in many cultures (like the US) it's actually quite strange for someone to not do it before they get married.
Basically what I'm saying is that it's completely unrealistic to assume that teenagers could refrain from having sex regardless of how much they are told not to do it. If you go back in time, it was quite normal for 15 year olds to get pregnant simply because people didn't live much beyond 40. Teenagers have raging hormones and to say that somehow an entire culture is able to keep their teenagers from having sex is not just unrealistic, but it's an immersion killer.
Now if you would have just left it at the fact that marriage is forever, that would have been completely fine. However you had sex be the thing that binds two people together. I mean are you honestly going to sit there and claim that no wizards and witches EVER have sex before marriage? Do you not realize how ridiculous that sounds?
Also I do rather fail to see why Hermione's single sexual assault warrants counseling, while Harry's years and years of abuse and neglect warranted nothing. That's not to say that Hermione doesn't deserve counseling, but the fact that Harry received nothing is a little disturbing. |
Author Feedback: Vander,
First off thanks for leaving your review.
Yes I do understand the ramifications of what I described in my story. While pre-marital sex happens it is actively discouraged by both Judeo-Christian and Islamic cultures. In the past it was much less common when the mores of the soceity provided social consequences for what was considered unacceptable behavior. That is why the Victorian era is now considered "repressive".
I don't think it is unrealistic for a culture, especially one policed by magic, to effectively operate without pre-marital sex. Especially one where the inhabitants have so much to lose by engaging in it. That is the basis for the conflict between McGonagall and Sprout. While it was true that fifteen year olds were getting pregnant in earlier times, they were most often married at the time because of the social restrictions in place. The raging hormones argument is specious at best, that is what self dicipline is all about. I never engaged in pre-marital sex so I know it can be done.
If you read carefully I never claimed pre-marital sex among wizarding folk didn't happen, it was just very rare. It may sound ridiculous, but hey!, it is my story. I was trying to present a different culture, not merely a reflection of ours.
As to the counseling thing, I don't get it either, blame JKR. It wasn't part of canon, so as an inexperienced author I didn't think to include some for Harry in my story.
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