Contesting binarisms in Harry Potter : creative rejigging, or gender tokenism?

This paper arises out of curiosity inspired by four Japanese women students' consumption in English of the entire Harry Potter series (five increasingly lengthy books) in 2003, and it asks whether the six novels are regressive or creative on gender grounds. In a series which pivots around binaries and rarely complicates them, does gender come in for the same treatment? In updating the schoolboy/schoolgirl and action/magic genres and locating them in a co-ed setting, does the author of Harry Potter write as a woman or does she cling to regressive gender scripts?

Harry Williams

Harry Williams at Footscray, the first person of Aboriginal heritage to play soccer for Australia, c.1980.

Harry Potter arithmetic

Exercises in arithmetic based on the 'money' used in the first book in the Harry Potter series are provided.