Oh, I do think it was truthful: Ginny's proved to be correct, as Ron's instant hooking-up with Lavender proves. And I definitely see Ginny's point - I hate people using the word 'slut'.
But I don't think encouraging people to use others (and Ron is clearly using Lavender. Hermione openly admits to using McLaggen to get Ron's attention. Harry arguably uses Cho, having no investment in dating her beyond her looks, while Ginny appears to be using Dean and Michael.) and saying people with no sexual experience need to get that and use someone before they realise they want more than that isn't any better than the usual repressive 'People shouldn't so much as shake hands with someone they're not going to marry!' Using people is normal, I'm sure - in your teens especially, when people have a variety of very fuzzy reasons for dating or not dating, but it's not presented as a mistake to hurt the Lavenders, Chos, McLaggen (LOL. That dude seems pretty armour-plated at any rate) and Deans of this world, it's very insular - I wish I'd noticed Hermione/Ginny in front of me (the girls obviously having noticed the guys all along.) The opposite - JKR describes Ron's experience with Lavender as making him more 'worthy' of Hermione, even though he appears to have taken a backward step as far as thinking of others goes.
The Ginny-as-a-user appears to get debated heavily (I've no idea why, as opposed to any of the others) but imho, JKR's laid it out fairly plainly - Ginny never seems to like Michael or Dean (the former is mainly described in negative terms by her, the latter is chosen 'vaguely' which would seem to signify disinterest, as does their break-up where Dean looks 'unhappy' and Ginny is 'the opposite'.), she never reacts to other boys the way she does with her crush on Harry, and she flat-out says that dating other guys was in the hope Harry would notice her.
And yeah, the wording was: 'I never really gave up on you... Not really. I always hoped... Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you...And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more - myself.'
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Date: 2006-11-17 07:35 pm (UTC)But I don't think encouraging people to use others (and Ron is clearly using Lavender. Hermione openly admits to using McLaggen to get Ron's attention. Harry arguably uses Cho, having no investment in dating her beyond her looks, while Ginny appears to be using Dean and Michael.) and saying people with no sexual experience need to get that and use someone before they realise they want more than that isn't any better than the usual repressive 'People shouldn't so much as shake hands with someone they're not going to marry!'
Using people is normal, I'm sure - in your teens especially, when people have a variety of very fuzzy reasons for dating or not dating, but it's not presented as a mistake to hurt the Lavenders, Chos, McLaggen (LOL. That dude seems pretty armour-plated at any rate) and Deans of this world, it's very insular - I wish I'd noticed Hermione/Ginny in front of me (the girls obviously having noticed the guys all along.)
The opposite - JKR describes Ron's experience with Lavender as making him more 'worthy' of Hermione, even though he appears to have taken a backward step as far as thinking of others goes.
The Ginny-as-a-user appears to get debated heavily (I've no idea why, as opposed to any of the others) but imho, JKR's laid it out fairly plainly - Ginny never seems to like Michael or Dean (the former is mainly described in negative terms by her, the latter is chosen 'vaguely' which would seem to signify disinterest, as does their break-up where Dean looks 'unhappy' and Ginny is 'the opposite'.), she never reacts to other boys the way she does with her crush on Harry, and she flat-out says that dating other guys was in the hope Harry would notice her.
And yeah, the wording was: 'I never really gave up on you... Not really. I always hoped... Hermione told me to get on with life, maybe go out with some other people, relax a bit around you...And she thought you might take a bit more notice if I was a bit more - myself.'