Within the first twenty-four hours following its release, the final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, sold 15 million copies worldwide (Gibbs). The increase in popularity the series saw over its seven-book life was colossal. For comparison, British publisher Bloomsbury initially printed just 1,000 copies of Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone in U.S. markets), the series’ first book. Author J.K. Rowling famously went from being a single mother struggling to make ends meet to being one of the wealthiest people in Britain today, surpassing even the Queen (“JK Rowling ‘richer than Queen’”). Although the appeal of this book series covers a broad spectrum of ages, marketing by its publishers focuses most of its efforts on children with everything from toys to clothing being geared at this younger demographic.

The entire Harry Potter series is filled with positive, empowering messages for children: that good can triumph over evil, that friends and family are vitally important, that love is a powerful force. Rowling’s engaging and immersive style makes readers all the more apt to swallow whatever message she might deliver. In a literary context, this makes it easy for readers to trust things characters tell them so that the author can jump in at the end to reveal some twist that we had been too preoccupied to notice. In a social context, however, this makes the books’ over-arching ideals easy to absorb and, perhaps, to eventually become part of a reader’s subconscious. For children, an important part of growing up is the discovery of a personal identity. Childhood is also a time in development when kids are extremely susceptible to the influences of the outside world. With such an enormous portion of the population exposed to the Harry Potter series, it is important to consider whether the books provide a positive example of social norms during these formative years. Without these positive examples, problems that exist in the outside world (which are reflected within the books) will be the only example on which children can model their own ideas about how the world works. These social problems will likely be perpetuated unless children are presented with more than a single way of structuring society.

In this blog I am looking to examine whether the Harry Potter series challenges or sustains gender stereotypes, as well as rather Rowling herself subscribes to those stereotypes. I will also further address the implications any potential stereotypes on such a young audience.