One of the worst ideas for a romance fic I ever read

[fpb]

I am, as my friends know, a Harry-Ginny fan, and was so long before HBP. However, there are things one simply should not do. I just read a story in which a twelve-year-old Harry falls in love with a ten-year-old Ginny during his summer at the Burrow. Apart from the gruesome unlikelihood of that, does the writer even realize that the emotions ascribed to Harry are paedophilic?

Comments

[izhilzha.livejournal.com]

I haven't read this fic, so I'm guessing wildly and may be somewhat off the mark: if there are actual sexual thoughts or actions involved, I'm totally with you on this.

Otoh, it is entirely possible (and even likely, depending on the personality of the person involved) for a 12 year old to fall in love with a 10 year old, or vice versa. By which I mean the emotions of Eros: the sole focus on the Beloved, etc. And I don't believe that's emotionally unhealthy--it's a version of "puppy love."

Mind, if even that makes you uncomfortable you are in pretty good company: CS Lewis was grossed out by any such suggestion.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Does it count as "paedophilia" if both parties are around the same age? It's fairly common for pre-teens to have romantic feelings for one another, though they usually don't do much about it physically.

Note: I haven't read the fic, so I don't know exactly how sexual are the emotions or actions involved.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

That would depend on the definition of paedophilia, which can be a bit blurry when referring to children with only a small difference in age. Plus, if there are no sexual feelings involved, I think a story like that could be pretty innocent (though having not read the story in question, I obviously can't judge it!) I mean, there's a big difference between a post-pubertal Harry having vivid sexual fantasies about 10-year-old Ginny and a still-child Harry deciding he loves her!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

That seems to be the consensus. (And let me tell you, anything on which the three people who commented here agree, is a consensus, as well as an effin' miracle!) Perhaps I have reacted to a personal squick rather than to anything objective. All I can say is that when I came to that passage in that fic, I performed the electronic equivalent of throwing the book across the room. I was immediately annoyed and disgusted. I already disliked the fic on other grounds (in particular, belonging to the unfortunately huge crop of "I think I'm cleverer than Dumbledore, oh yeah, and wiser and nicer too" stories), so perhaps that just counted as the last straw.

[headnoises.livejournal.com]

In defense of your response... 12 year old boys, these days, are usually...um...to the level of looking through Victoria Secret catalogs, although not all the way through it.

10 year old girls almost NEVER are.

12 is old enough to babysit younger siblings, generally.

Ten is just barely more than a baby, responsiblity-wise....

Depends on how they figured Harry-- if they did the "Assume that anyone under 15 is still a little kid" thing or not-- but...yeah, a bit odd.

Two years is a LOT longer when you're under 20!

[pathology-doc.livejournal.com]

There is too little information to go on here. IIRC from vague clinical memory, kids within three (four?) years' age of each other don't count, and a late-teenager in an ongoing relationship with a 12-13 year old doesn't count (DSM-IIIR definition). That's if there's any genital contact at all. "I'll show you mine if..." games are more of a grey area, and YMMV.

If it's just emotional, or confined to hand-holding, kissing, hugging and snuggling together on couches etc., to accuse a childish crush, even of a 12 year old for a ten year old (who is in canon known to idolize him without any pressure on his part to 'like her'), of being paedophilic appears disproportionate.

Remember also that with his social isolation, Harry-at-twelve / Ginny-at-ten is hardly a question of a more sophisticated older boy taking advantage of an innocent, naive little girl (this is the girl who's already spent four years stealing and using her brothers' brooms behind their backs). If anything, Ginny could well be the more sophisticated of the two (even if, in canon, she's lovestruck to stupidity).

If, in the fic, they were doing the horizontal dance at that age, you could seriously wonder about the motivations of the author. But a romantic besotted crush? No; let it be. And we need more information.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I am afraid that this is not to the purpose. Harry's reaction to Ginny is presented as a mature falling-in-love, with all its contextual elements of physical attraction and emotional enchantment - for a child of ten. What you say about Harry's lack of sophistication is not wrong in itself, but has nothing to do with what happens in the fic.