Both Ginny and Bella are focused on one romantic interest to the exclusion of all others. Ginny has fancied Harry since she was eleven and as she admits it herself never got over him despite pretending to date other boys. Bellatrix is married but loves Voldemort, not her husband.

Both Ginny and Bella have interests aside from their loved ones, but the narrative still ties their interests to their romantic interests. Bella has her pureblood politics, which is tied to her work as a DE. Ginny has her Quidditch interest which only serves to bring her together with Harry all the while the author telling us that Harry is actually better at Quidditch than her. 

Both Ginny and Bellatrix are in submissive relationships. With Bella, it’s obvious. With Ginny, she ”bows” to Harry’s every whim once he becomes her boyfriend. He decides when the relationship starts and when the relationship ends. He wants to break up without telling her anything, that’s okay. He wants to go on a secret quest with Ron and Hermione, that’s okay. He wants her to stay put and not fight during DH— she goes anyway but without confronting him and telling him to STFU. (Kind of like Bella going behind Voldemort’s back with the Gryffindor sword.) 

Both engage in hero worship. Again obvious for Bellatrix, whereas Ginny also explicitly states that what she likes about Harry is his heroism. 

“Ginny has fancied Harry since she was eleven and as she admits it herself never got over him despite pretending to date other boys.“

That’s the literal opposite of what Ginny says. She’s not pretending to date other boys, she took Hermione’s (healthy) advice to heart and stopped obsessing over a boy (which she did when she was a child). She has a huge friend group and is barely around the golden trio in most of the books, so I don’t see the “exclusion of all others”. 

Ginny has her Quidditch interest which only serves to bring her together with Harry all the while the author telling us that Harry is actually better at Quidditch than her.

All Weasleys - even Percy - are shown to have an interest in Quidditch and Harry is better than pretty much everyone. That’s his thing, even Krum acknowledges it. 

Both engage in hero worship. Again obvious for Bellatrix, whereas Ginny also explicitly states that what she likes about Harry is his heroism.

What’s wrong in admiring someone for saving the lifes of others - including your own - time and time again? And since when is “liking something about someone” and “worshipping” the same thing?

So I just don’t get why it’s feminist to do what Ginny does but not what Bellatrix does. Even though they’re sort of similar?

Oh yeah, a sadist who happily angages in torture and a racist genocide and someone putting their life on line to fight nazis (even tho they are pureblood themselves) are totally the same thing. 

From The Prince’s Tale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

“Dumbledore just let Draco run around almost killing people without trying to stop him because Draco wasn’t relevant to his plan and he didn’t a shit about him or the people he put in danger.”

Bullshit. No. GOD. 

Dumbledore cared about Draco. He assigned Snape to watch him, offer him help and guidance. Draco rebuffed Snape. He refused to even talk to him, until Snape cornered him after Slughorn’s party. Snape tried and he failed. 

“I am less concerned for myself than for accidental victims”

And he was concerned for Draco himself, for his soul. Draco was out there, however feebly, trying to murder Dumbledore, and Dumbledore’s priority was to save Draco’s soul. To have Snape kill him instead, because he didn’t want a child to rip his own soul in half. He knew that if Snape killed him, Draco wouldn’t be seen to have failed his assignment and he’d be safe from “from Lord Voldemort’s wrath”.

Dumbledore could not risk telling Draco that he knew of his assignment, because if Voldemort found out he would have killed Draco instantly. 

Dumbledore did what he could, under terrible circumstances in which there were no perfect choices. As always.

And having to read Draco say these things to Harry – to HARRY – as if Harry is an idiot for not already realising it… It’s painful to me. Hearing Draco try to damage Harry’s love for Dumbledore. God. 

[Original post found here. All content following is authored by the maker of Big Liberty, the source blog.]

DISCLAIMER: This links list is always in the works, and is not comprehensive or complete. If evidence is not listed, it doesn’t mean it does not exist. If you have any links to add, please insert them in relevant comments and they will be reviewed.

For a general resource on debunking the junk science behind obesity, please see:

Linda Bacon’s resources and blog

Sandy Szwarc’s blog, Junkfood Science

Michelle’s blog, The Fat Nutritionist

ASDAH’s article repository

Debunking Fat Hate and Misconceptions

Doesn’t Obesity Kill?

Obesity does not kill 400,000 Americans a year (in fact, it ‘contributes’ to fewer than 30,000).

Fit Over 60s Live Longer Regardless of Body Fat

No tenable link between obesity and breast cancer type

No tenable link between diet and weight control and remission of type II diabetes

The J-curve relationship between BMI and mortality

Mortality risk for overweight and obese is no greater than for ‘normal’ when hypertension and diabetes are controlled for, (Anthony Jerant, Peter Franks. “Body Mass Index, Diabetes, Hypertension, and Short-Term Mortality: A Population-Based Observational Study, 2000–2006″ J Am Board Fam Med July-August 2012 vol. 25 no. 4 422-431)

Low-Calorie Diet Doesn’t Prolong Life (New York Times, August 29, 2012)

Shouldn’t Fat People Should Simply Eat Less and Move More?

In controlled settings people lose 10% of their weight on a diet, but one third to two thirds of the weight is regained within 1 year, and almost all is regained within 5 years. (“Methods for voluntary weight loss and control. NIH Technology Assessment Conference Panel.” Ann Intern Med. 1992 Jun 1;116(11):942-9.)

The preponderance of evidence shows that diets don’t work

No weight loss intervention shown generally effective post 5 years

Fat people as a whole metabolically the same as lean people, except that they’re bigger

Eating and weight gain not necessarily linked, study shows

Evidence for a bodyweight setpoint (energy homeostasis)

Medicare’s search for effective obesity treatments: Diets are not the answer. (Mann, Traci; Tomiyama, A. Janet; Westling, Erika; Lew, Ann-Marie; Samuels, Barbra; Chatman, Jason. American Psychologist, Vol 62(3), Apr 2007, 220-233. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.3.220 ) (PDF)

Isn’t There An Obesity Epidemic?

Americans have only gained an average of 14 lbs (women) and 16 lbs (men) since 1990 (Gallup)

Obesity: An Overblown Epidemic

The 1998 BMI definition changes made 30 million Americans overweight or obese OVERNIGHT

The Myth of the Obesity “Tsunami”

One-third of American Adults are Obese, but Rate Slows

Yeah, But What About the Children? Isn’t Fat Killing Them?

Childhood famine (that includes dieting and starvation) increases risk of type 2 diabetes

Adolescents who engage in unhealthy weight-control behaviors such as dieting and binge eating are three times more likely five years later to be overweight than adolescents who did not engage in those behaviors

Isn’t Weight a Lifestyle Choice?

Obesity largely determined by genetics, says study

Obesity is 77% heritable

Thin parents pass on skinny genes to children (October 4, 2011, The Independent, UK)

Insulin resistance. A multifaceted syndrome responsible for NIDDM, obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. DeFronzo RA, Ferrannini E. Diabetes Care. 1991 Mar;14(3):173-94.

But Doesn’t the Idea that People are Different Sizes Though Consuming/Exercising the Same Violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics?

In fact, in principle, the suggestion that a “calorie is a calorie” — all human metabolisms are the same Bunsen Burner — violates the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

Isn’t there a Study that Disproves the Claim that You Can Be Fit and Fat?

That study is junk science. The preponderance of evidence shows that in fact, one can be fat and fit.

Is there Discrimination Against Fat People?

Brownell Obesity Discrimination Study (2001)

Health Professionals Specializing in Obesity Aren’t Immune from Weight-Bias

The surprising reason why being overweight isn’t healthy

Obesity bias based on disgust, study says (2010)

Isn’t Fat Unhealthy?

Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift (Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor, Nutrition Journal 2011, 10:9, 24 January 2011)

Higher BMI can lower risk for Alzheimer’s

Metabolic syndrome associated with decelerated cognitive decline in the very elderly

The case against the Type II diabetes “epidemic” in kids

You can’t eat your way to diabetes

‘Obese’ BMI does not harm current health of young adults, study says

Obesity not always tied to higher heart risk (Reuters, May 24, 2012)

Shouldn’t Fat People Try to Diet Anyway?

Although long-term follow-up data are meager, the data that do exist suggest almost complete relapse after 3-5 yr. (Miller, W. C. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1999 Aug;31(8):1129-34.)

In fact, size acceptance and health at every size may be a better approach to health than chronic dieting. (Bacon L, Stern JS, Van Loan MD, Keim NL. J Am Diet Assoc. 2005 Jun;105(6):929-36.)

Except that dieting can kill you, even when you’re fat and dieting down to a ‘normal’ weight.

And there are suggestions that frequent (intentional) weight loss diets reflect susceptibility to weight gain, rendering dieters prone to future weight gain. (August 9, 2011, K H Pietiläinen, S E Saarni, J Kaprio and A Rissanen. “Does dieting make you fat? A twin study” International Journal of Obesity | doi:10.1038/ijo.2011.160)

Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index.  (Eric M. Matheson, MS, MD, Dana E. King, MS, MD and Charles J. Everett, PhD. J Am Board Fam Med January-February 2012 vol. 25 no. 1 9-15)

And adolescents who engage in unhealthy weight-control behaviors such as dieting and binge eating are three times more likely five years later to be overweight than adolescents who did not engage in those behaviors.

There are even further suggestions suggest that for many adolescents, dieting to control weight is not only ineffective, it may actually promote weight gain. (Alison E. Field, ScD, S. B. Austin, ScD, C. B. Taylor, MD, Susan Malspeis, SM, Bernard Rosner, PhD, Helaine R. Rockett, RD, Matthew W. Gillman, MD, Graham A. Colditz, MD. “Relation Between Dieting and Weight Change Among Preadolescents and Adolescents” PEDIATRICS Vol. 112 No. 4 October 1, 2003 pp. 900 -906)

Weight Regain Following Sustained Weight Reduction is Predicted by Relative Insulin Sensitivity, Trudy J. Yost, Dalan R. Jensen, Dr. Robert H. Eckel*, Obesity Research, Volume 3, Issue 6, pages 583–587, November 1995

But Aren’t Food Deserts/Lack of Access/Poor Choices/Lack of Time Making Poor People Fatter?

Studies question the pairing of food deserts and obesity (Gina Kolata, The New York Times, April 17, 2012)

General Sites Debunking the Junk Science About Obesity

Big Fat Lies

General Science

The Problem With Peer Review

When the population approach to prevention puts the health of individuals at risk

Food Science

Canned foods are as nutritious as fresh foods

Evidence for the Moral Panic

ADOPTION AND FERTILITY

Australian woman told she was too fat to adopt (January 2003, The Age, Australia)

In the UK, fat women can’t adopt (June 2006)

Kylie Lannigan told she was ‘too fat to adopt’ (June 2007, Australia)

Gary Stocklaufer denied adoption request because he was fat (July 2007, United States)

New Zealand bans fat woman from entering the country (November 2007, Big Fat Blog, NZ)

Obese women not allowed to get IVF treatments (December 2008, BBC News, UK)

Charlotte and Damien Hall denied for adoption because of their BMI (January 2009, The Guardian, UK)

CHILD ABUSE

Couple accused of starving baby so she doesn’t get fat (January 28, 2010, Fox News, USA)

Grandad arrested over Grand Canyon hike (September 2, 2011, The Age, Australia)

Parents allegedly starved baby because of obesity concerns (November 8, 2011, ABC News, USA)

Grandmother to face capital charges in granddaughter’s death (March 1, 2012, CBS News, USA)

CHILD REMOVAL

Oz parents to be held responsible for their kid’s obesity (February 2, 2009, The Indian Express, India)

Parents of fat children told they may be put up for adoption (September 5, 2011, Mirror News, UK/Scotland)

Ohio puts 200-lb third grader into foster care (November 27, 2011, MSNBC, USA)

‘Obese’ 5 year old taken from parents (December 5, 2011, iOL News, UK)

DEMONIZATION OF FAT PARENTS, AND PARENTS OF FAT CHILDREN

Is childhood obesity a symptom of neglect? (July 16, 2010, TIME Magazine, USA)

Study: Children are likely to become overweight by mimicking behaviors of obese parents NOTE: The study did not in fact show that children become overweight by mimicking the behaviors of fat parents, despite that scare-headline. It just showed that fat parents are much more likely to have fat children — which makes sense, given body weight is 77% heritable (July 13, 2009, NYDailyNews, USA)

MEDICINE AND HEALTH CARE

Doctors’ ultimatum to kidney transplant wife: Lose 42lb in nine months or watch your husband die (March 2009, Daily Mail, UK – h/t richie79)

TAXATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

Fat people should have their food taxed to ‘pay for healthcare’

Don’t operate on smokers and the obese, says NHS Health Secretary (February 2007, Daily Mail, UK)

City government promotes lie to motivate weight loss via fear; anti-obesity agenda is to blame

The 1998 BMI definition changes made 30 million Americans overweight or obese OVERNIGHT

Obesity bias based on disgust, study says (2010)

Global governments must get ‘tough on obesity,’ in which the commentariat helpfully suggests plus-size clothing be ‘prescription-only,’ amongst other astoundingly panicked and bigoted replies (August 25, 2011, BBC Health, UK)

TRANSPORTATION

Southwest, Sizism, and Institutionalized Oppression (Athia, YouTube, August 2011)

On Kevin Smith and Flying Fat (BigLiberty, February 15, 2010)

WORK AND EMPLOYMENT

Obesity can mean less pay

Libertarian/Anarcho-capitalist Arguments Against the Obesity Moral Panic

The freedom to be fat

The new obesity pandemic, as same as the old obesity pandemic

The assault on food

Public health and the tyranny of the common good

Are food trucks really like child molesters?

I've been overweight for all my life but I don't delude myself about the reasons. Just go and look how little food 300 cal of noodles are. Or 100 cal of oil. And then be honest with yourself if you really think you stay around your TDEE on most days - which is closer to 1600 cal for most women, not 2000 cal.

Diets don't fail. Dieters fail, because they think they can stick to a plan for a month and two and then go back to their old shitty eating habits.

Fruit and Vegetable Carving by Daniele Barresi, on Instagram

But I also think that Percy, even when it was obvious that Moldyshorts was back, alive, and causing problems, was still blinded by his ambition. He could have easily made amends before the last possible second*** but let his pride and ambition stand in the way.

It was all ego that he thought he was doing the right thing and only later on that he actually had an enormous chance to do the right thing, including right by his family.

First, it was being played for a fool by Barty Crouch, Jr. Then he was being an absolute prat when his father was severely injured - especially trying to get Ron to abandon Harry, thinking him an attention seeker. *snort*

Then he willingly let himself be used again, this time as a pawn for the new Minister, all so the Minister could try and use Harry as a positive mascot. (And I fully endorse that the twins, along with Ginny, all claimed to hit Percy in the face with mashed parsnips.)

The thing is….. For the longest time, Percy was acting Lawful Neutral - doing what he thought was right - at the expense of looking behind the Ministry Propaganda and seeing what was actually happening - which was immoral incarcerations, impotent actions in crackdowns, etc.

What you think is right might be utterly and completely wrong.

*** My HC is that Percy ended up being in a perfect position during the Coup as a mole, somewhat like Oskar Schindler***. I write in fic that he documented every bit of atrocity and every illegal execution that the Toad enacted. I write that he was tormented with loyalty oaths to continue his position (since Umbridge wouldn’t trust the Weasley family much, especially one who was still working honorably for the Ministry.) His work and his courage - seeing how utterly wrong the perpetrators of the Coup acted and behaved - made him want to do what he thought was right - staying put and making tons of parchment. Only when the fighting made it to Hogwarts did he go ahead and leave his position to fight for the right side.

I think afterward he and Ron would have something important to bond over - but unlike Ron, Percy would have extreme difficulty overcoming his reputation professionally at the Ministry - or his guilt over his myopic hubris towards his parents and family.

I was just thinking this morning about how Percy’s abandonment of his family just doesn’t fit.  Like, yeah, he’s ambitious, but he’s still a Weasley.  He still values his family.  In Goblet of Fire, even when he’s all pompous and climbing the ranks, he still forgets to be Mr. Perfect when it’s about is family:

“Dumbledore and Ludo Bagman stood beaming at Harry and Ron as they swam nearer, but Percy, who looked very white and somehow much younger than usual, came splashing out to meet them” GoF, pg 549 (UK paperback)

Like, this kid (because, let’s be real, he’s still a kid) has spent the whole book trying to look like he’s The Most Professional Ever and is so sorry for his embarrassing younger brothers, goes splashing in after Ron, even though as a judge he almost certainly knew he was in no actual danger, and holds him so tightly for two pages that Madam Pomfrey has to “rescue Ron from Percy’s clutches” (551).

Day 28 of #31daysofharry the Hungarian Horntail!