If that's true though why can neither you, madderbrad nor I name more than three instances of Ginny being called good-looking/pretty?
Three instances is already a lot! Ginny's a supporting character and the author goes out of her way to have characters state that she is pretty--this in a storyline where the hero wants to date her and is worried about someone else getting her etc. It seems like you're arguing against all of these straightforward things, demanding more proof that she's pretty because it's not enough to have a number of people say so or do other things that are shorthand for her being pretty. You ask above why Pansy would compliment Ginny by calling her pretty--she would call her pretty because Ginny's being pretty is an accepted fact in her world.
As Madderbrad said, there's no reason to drag in Hermione or compare romantic history etc. to counteract people saying that Ginny is pretty. Why would I not think she's pretty when the author has a number of people tell me she is? It really seems to go beyond personal taste here. Not everyone is attracted to her but she seems to be conventionally pretty based on people casually saying so.
"A lot of boys like her," said Pansy, watching Malfoy out of the corner of her eyes for his reaction.
"I wouldn't touch a filthy little blood traitor like her whatever she looked like," said Blaise coldly, Pansy looked pleased.
I didn't misremember, actually, I was giving my own interpretation of the response here that he wouldn't touch her whatever she looked like as sour grapes. I don't know why you feel that Pansy's looking at Draco proves that Ginny isn't pretty--I know she's saying it for Draco's reaction. I think she's stating the obvious fact that Ginny is pretty and seeing if Draco agrees too much for comfort--she's got reason to be insecure. She's pleased that Blaise puts Ginny down by saying he doesn't care what Ginny looks like because she's a blood traitor. He's not saying she's not pretty, he's saying her looks don't count as much as her being a blood traitor. He clashes with her personally despite her being pretty.
This is a book and Ginny is a supporting character that the author has limited time to sketch out. One of the things JKR finds time to mention is that she's pretty. If the word "pretty" is used to describe a character with this much page time not once but several times in one book, I see no reason to look for reasons it doesn't count each time or decide that she needs to also have X more boyfriends than Hermione. This also goes for things like her brothers worrying about her popularity--you say what we get in canon (the twins mentioning her dating guys in the shop and Ron later getting protective) is not enough. It is, imo, an efficient way of establishing the fact. Three of her brothers discuss her popularity with boys in a scene--it doesn't matter if the twins that there's no follow-up story of the three of them trying to fit her with a chastity belt. The conversation informs us about Ginny. Bringing in factors like the size of the school making popularity meaningless seem like yet another way of erasing what was put in the book for a reason. (And I believe JKR very clearly meant Ginny was like Lily meaning sought after for dates and not popular as a Quidditch player. Within the text itself it's her popularity with boys that's brought up.) Show don't tell is better, but sometimes you just get tell. We get told a lot about Ginny.
You may argue with every time other people get from the text that Ginny is conventionally pretty or not agree with it, but it's not a fanon invention. It comes from canon.
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Three instances is already a lot! Ginny's a supporting character and the author goes out of her way to have characters state that she is pretty--this in a storyline where the hero wants to date her and is worried about someone else getting her etc. It seems like you're arguing against all of these straightforward things, demanding more proof that she's pretty because it's not enough to have a number of people say so or do other things that are shorthand for her being pretty. You ask above why Pansy would compliment Ginny by calling her pretty--she would call her pretty because Ginny's being pretty is an accepted fact in her world.
As Madderbrad said, there's no reason to drag in Hermione or compare romantic history etc. to counteract people saying that Ginny is pretty. Why would I not think she's pretty when the author has a number of people tell me she is? It really seems to go beyond personal taste here. Not everyone is attracted to her but she seems to be conventionally pretty based on people casually saying so.
"A lot of boys like her," said Pansy, watching Malfoy out of the corner of her eyes for his reaction.
"I wouldn't touch a filthy little blood traitor like her whatever she looked like," said Blaise coldly, Pansy looked pleased.
I didn't misremember, actually, I was giving my own interpretation of the response here that he wouldn't touch her whatever she looked like as sour grapes. I don't know why you feel that Pansy's looking at Draco proves that Ginny isn't pretty--I know she's saying it for Draco's reaction. I think she's stating the obvious fact that Ginny is pretty and seeing if Draco agrees too much for comfort--she's got reason to be insecure. She's pleased that Blaise puts Ginny down by saying he doesn't care what Ginny looks like because she's a blood traitor. He's not saying she's not pretty, he's saying her looks don't count as much as her being a blood traitor. He clashes with her personally despite her being pretty.
This is a book and Ginny is a supporting character that the author has limited time to sketch out. One of the things JKR finds time to mention is that she's pretty. If the word "pretty" is used to describe a character with this much page time not once but several times in one book, I see no reason to look for reasons it doesn't count each time or decide that she needs to also have X more boyfriends than Hermione. This also goes for things like her brothers worrying about her popularity--you say what we get in canon (the twins mentioning her dating guys in the shop and Ron later getting protective) is not enough. It is, imo, an efficient way of establishing the fact. Three of her brothers discuss her popularity with boys in a scene--it doesn't matter if the twins that there's no follow-up story of the three of them trying to fit her with a chastity belt. The conversation informs us about Ginny. Bringing in factors like the size of the school making popularity meaningless seem like yet another way of erasing what was put in the book for a reason. (And I believe JKR very clearly meant Ginny was like Lily meaning sought after for dates and not popular as a Quidditch player. Within the text itself it's her popularity with boys that's brought up.) Show don't tell is better, but sometimes you just get tell. We get told a lot about Ginny.
You may argue with every time other people get from the text that Ginny is conventionally pretty or not agree with it, but it's not a fanon invention. It comes from canon.