Self-Identity, Voice, and Power in Female Muggles and Wizards:

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Self-Identity, Voice, and Power in Female Muggles
and Wizards

• A Feminist Analysis of Fan Avatars in Two Harry
  Potter Fan Sites

Jennifer L. Bowie Fem Rhet 2007
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Females, Technology, and Self

• Much of the scholarship has found women
  marginalized in computer use
• But females can be at the center
• Girls are weaving the web (Takayoshi, Huot, and
  Huot)
• The Web is a productive venue for girls
  self-expression.. Gives girls a place for
  self-expression while intimately involving them
  in the working of technology (104 Takayoshi,
  Huot, and Huot)
• The web gives us heightened possibilities for
  self-representation (271 Hawisher and Sullivan)
• The body and representation are key feminist
  issues and online spaces are a new venues for
  these issues
• According to DeVoss and Selfe
• We need to pay attention to how individuals are
  establishing identities online
• We need to see women as agents and authors of
  their own identities

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Method

• Examined the forum of two popular Harry Potter
  Fan sites
• Site 1 was avatar heavy and the majority
  disclosed their sex
• Site 2 had less avatars and few disclosed their
  sex
• Gathered 40 female avatars
• Analyzed the avatars for self-identity, voice,
  and power

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Findings

• Of 101 unique avatars
• 59 do not disclose their sex (only 1 from site 1)
• 2 self-identified as male (both on site 2)
• 40 self-identified as female

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Findings Types of Avatars

• 23 photo based
• 16 are drawings of some type
• 3 are text
• 17 include text with an image
• 24 are Harry Potter related

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Warning!

• Spoiler on the next page!

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More Findings XX, XY, ?

• 17 have a feminine theme
• 4 have a masculine theme
• 15 are of females
• 16 are of males
• 9 have multiple people (3 are all male, the rest
  male female)

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Findings Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

• 23 are human
• 8 are animal
• 2 are of alien/other intelligent being
• 8 are of nature
• 7 are other non-animate things
• 3 in nature
• 2 tech
• 1 abstract
• 1 seems to be the real person

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Findings Attributes

• 14 are strong
• 10 are powerful
• 6 are weak
• 1 is sexy
• 9 are pretty
• 8 are cute
• 8 are childlike
• 6 have attitude
• 4 are smart

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Findings Feelings and Connections

• 14 have emotional themes
• 5 are aggressive
• 11 show connections
• 14 show individuals
• 5 show romances or friendships
• 15 express a message/make a statement

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Findings Traditional Depictions?

• 18 had traditional feminine depictions
• 6 had non-traditional depictions
• 5 of those also had traditional elements

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Summary of Interesting Findings

• 42 are feminine only 10 masculine
• Females were slightly more likely to choose male
  avatars than a female (16 to 15)
• 28 included or were of nature, but only 2 tech
• 35 were strong, 25 powerful, and only 15 weak
• Only 2 were sexy, but 23 pretty and 20 are
  cute
• 23 were childlike, but 15 had attitude
• 45 are traditional depictions of the female,
  only 15 had non-traditional depictions, but 13
  include both traditional and non-traditional
• Many females may not be disclosing their sex
• Females are much more likely to have avatars than
  males

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Self-Identity, Voice, and Power

• Self-identity
• Traditional feminine or male
• Multiple
• Strong connections to nature
• Outside self Harry Potter, movies, other things
• Females more likely to give visual identity
  through avatars
• Voice
• Did present messages
• May speak in non-traditional ways, but most with
  elements of the traditional
• Speak in the voices of others
• Emotional with a strong focus on relationships,
  connections, and love
• Power
• May use Harry Potter and males to get power
• Expressed in masculine ways
• Showed weakness

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Summary

• Many females are choosing to represent themselves
  in either traditional methods or as males
• When females choose non-traditional depictions
  they often include traditional aspects
• Although strong and powerful are included, so are
  pretty and cute
• Self-identity feminine or male, multiple,
  outside self
• Voice emotional, focused on relationships, spoke
  through others, often traditional (even when
  being non-traditional)
• Power sought through Harry Potter images and
  images of males, expressed in more masculine ways
  or showed weakness
• Some females are weaving and authoring strong
  feminist identities online, but too many stay
  with the traditional and thus reinforce the
  problematic

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Questions

• How can we empower females to visualize and
  identify themselves in feminist ways?
• Why are self-identifying females more likely to
  use avatars?
• What do these avatars suggest about the
  body/machine female cyborg and representation?
  Where is the body?
• Why do they choose their avatars and what are
  they trying to say/do with them?
• What do these avatars say about females as
  authors and agents of their identity? What does
  it mean that they are using outside images?

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• Barry states that single messages may have great
  clarification and directional impact, as well as
  a progressively cumulative impact (336).

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Thank you!

• jbowie_at_gsu.edu
• www.screenspace.org