Spells and
Stereotypes:
The Gender Bias in Harry Potter
Spells
By
December 17, 2015
Introduction
Gender in popular culture has become a widely discussed topic in the movement to break down
traditional gender stereotypes. When discussing popular culture, it is nearly impossible to
overlook the Harry Potter film franchise that has grossed billions of dollars worldwide and
continues to be beloved to this day. Many would think that the Harry Potter films, with their
strong and intelligent female characters such as Hermione Granger and Professor McGonagall,
would support few gender stereotypes. These characters are a driving force in the narrative, often
filling in where male characters are lacking, and leading the fight against evil. The question I am
asking in this paper is if subversion of traditional gender roles is represented linguistically in the
films. In the magical world of Harry Potter, the greatest source of power and action are the
spells, conjured by all experienced wizards and taught at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry. Do these spells and their linguistic origins reflect this progressive vision of reversed
gender roles or will the female characters be restricted to traditional definitions of a woman’s
place in society? A study of the morphemes of each spell and their Latin origins provide the
material for an experiment about how these spells fit into the perception of gender stereotypes. In
the resulting experiment, participants are asked to assign a gender to spells broken down into
their Latin roots. I hypothesized that there would be no clear consensus as to which gender these
roots represented, thus proving that casters are not restricted to spells that reflect their gender
roles.
Initial Spell Analysis
Methods
To begin this experiment, the first and last two films of the Harry Potter series were selected to
provide a wide sample of filmic tone. Every spell in these four films cast with a simultaneous
verbal component was recorded and divided into two groups according to the gender of their
caster. Each spell was then split into morphemes by their Latin and English roots with reference
to online Latin dictionaries. Spells casts by both male and female wizards were omitted. The
following figures display the lists of spells, their morphemes, and Latin roots separated by
gender.
Results
As seen in Figures 1 and 2 on the following page, most of the morphemes can be identified as
bound morphemes, as they can appear only as a part of a larger word. A majority of the spells
consist of a Latin root plus a suffix giving it lyrical quality. A few of the spells are not derived
from Latin but rather from other languages. These words are denoted by an asterisk. The spell
Avada kedavra comes from an Aramaic spell originally thought to cure illness and the spell
Alohamora comes from a West African Sidiki dialect.
Figure 1: Spells Cast by Females
Spell
Oculus Reparo
Alohamora
Lacarnum
Inflamaree
Pretrificus
Totalus
Lumus Solem
Immobulus
Finite
Incantatem
Salvio Hexia
Confringo
Relashio
Piertotum
Locomotor
Z + Root + X
Oculus
Reparo
Alohamora
Lacar-num
Infam-aree
Petra-ficus
Totalus
Lum-en
Solem
Immobulus
Fini-io
Incant-atem
Salv-io
Hex-ia
Confringo
Relash-io
Pier-totum
Loco-mot-or
Latin Roots
Oculus
Reparo
Alohamora*
Lacerna
Inflammo
Petra
Totalis
Lumen
Solem
Immobilis
Finio/finire
Incanto
Salvus
Hexe*
Confringo
Release
Pietas
Totum
Loco
Motionis
English Definition of Root
Eye
Repair
Friendly to thieves
Cloak
Set on fire
Rock
Entire
Light
Sun
Immovable
Finish, consecrate with
spells
Alive/safe
Witch
Shatter
Release
Loyalty
All together
Place
Motion
Figure 2: Spells Cast by Males
Spell
Evanesco
Brackium
Emendo
Everte Statum
Rictosempra
Z + Root + X
Evanesco
Brachium
Emendo
Evert-o
Stat-um
Rict-o-sempr-a
Serpensortia
Serpens-ortia
Arania Exumai
Arania
Exu-mai
Expecto
Patron-um
Diffindo
Expuls-io
Avada
kedavra
Expecto
Patronum
Diffindo
Expulso
Avada kedavra
Latin Roots
Evanesco
Brachium
Emendo
Everto
Statua
Rictus
Semper
Serpens
Ortus
Aranea
Exuo
Expecto
Patronus
Diffindo
Expulsio
Adhadda
kedhabhra*
English Definition of Root
Vanish
Arm
Repair
Destroy
Image
Jaws
Always
Serpent
Rising
Spider
Cast off
Await
Protector
Divide
Expulsion
Let the thing be destroyed
Experiment: Methods
Each study participant was provided a sheet of paper containing the following two lists labeled
List A and List B. They were asked to read each list and chose which one they believed related
more to men and which list related more to women. They were not given any context about the
nature of these words or their connection to Harry Potter. List A contains the words that were
derived from spells cast by males, and List B contains the words derived from spells cast by
females. Participants were then asked to identify which words stood out to them as informing
their decision and to give a brief explanation of the connection that word has to the chosen
gender. These participants were college students in either undergraduate or graduate studies at
the University of Pennsylvania.
List A
Vanish
Arm, Repair
Destroy, Image
Jaws
Always
Serpent, Rising
Spider, Cast off
Await, Protector
Divide
Expulsion
Let the thing be destroyed
List B
Eye, Repair
Friendly to thieves
Cloak
Set on fire
Rock, Entire
Light, Sun
Immovable
Finish, consecrate with spells
Alive/safe, Witch
Shatter
Release
Loyalty, All together, Place, Motion
Results
As displayed in Figure 3 below, 14 out of 17 people identified List A (spells cast by males) as
relating to the male gender. The other three people identified List A as relating to the female
gender. These results do not support my hypothesis that typical gender roles would be subverted
in films. In fact, these results show the exact opposite, that to the majority of people, these roles
stand out as being obviously divided. To look deeper into why this might be the case, an
examination was done of the words that people called attention to most often.
Figure 3
Chosen Gender for List A
Participants who Identified List A as Male
Participants who Identified List A as Female
18% 82% Discussion
With this experiment I set out to answer the question of whether or not the linguistic backbone of
the spells in the Harry Potter films reflected traditional gender stereotypes. I hypothesized that
the presence of the strong female characters in this contemporary series and the active role they
play in the films would remove the boundaries set by society restricting women’s place in the
world. The data that I collected do not in fact support this hypothesis, and instead showed strong
evidence to the contrary. The Latin roots that make up the morphemes of these spells appear to
point toward traditional female and male architypes that match the gender of the caster. The
reasons the participants gave to explain this gender divide provide an interesting window into the
perception of gender through a linguistic standpoint.
When asked which words supported their choice of gender, many participants identified similar
groups of words that stood out to them (as seen in Figures 4 and 5), but often outlined different
reasons in support of their choice. Frequently words were identified that described character
traits seen as desirable for the chosen sex. For those who identified List A as male, there was a
gravitation toward words that represent strength. A few of the most identified words included
“Arm, Repair” and “Expel, Equipped”. On the female side, participants who cited “Alive/safe”,
commented on the nurturing, motherly aspect of the female.
Other participants cited negative, undesirable character aspects as evidence. More than half of
the people that cited “Immovable” for proof of the female gender choice included the word
“stubborn” in their reasoning. When describing the choice of the phrase “friendly to thieves” to
support the decision, “gullible” was also popular, and two participants related it to the cautionary
tale of Little Red Riding Hood. The words “Destroy, Image” and “Jaws” were identified by
almost every participant who argued that List A was male, followed closely by the similar “Let
the thing be destroyed”. These words were explained with reasons relating to the male
inclination toward aggression, violence, and war.
In fact, an examination of all of the reasons given for either gender showed that there was a
definite leaning toward describing the negative aspects of the chosen gender, rather than a focus
on the positive aspects. Many of the words such as “immovable” and “friendly to thieves” could
be explained by positive attributes such as determination or compassion, but rarely were. These
negative responses came both from female and male participants equally. This says something
interesting about the way this society views gender roles but that will need to be expanded on in
another experiment.
Another intriguing discovery was that the gender of the participant didn’t have a noticeable
effect on the choice of list gender. Both groups of participants, those who followed the gender
bias, and the few who didn’t, were split almost equally into male and female respondents.
As can be seen in Figures 4 and 5, the minority who chose to label the lists against the gender of
the caster cited many of the same words in their responses, just as the other group did. All three
participants mentioned “Await, Protector” as a feminine indicator, and “Immovable”, “Rock,
Entire” and “Shatter” as a male indicator. Despite the fact that they chose the opposite lists as
being male and female, many of their responses seemed to follow the same thread as those of the
other seventeen participants. Women were described as the weaker sex, waiting for someone to
come and protect them and were associated with inactivity in asking for something to be
destroyed rather than doing it themselves. Men, on the other hand, were described as being
strong and determined.
Figure 4
List A: Frequency Words were Identified as
Signifiers for Chosen Gender
12 11 7 Chosen Male
Serpent, Rising
3 2 Spider, Cast off
0 1 0 2 Vanish
4 2 Let the thing be
Destroyed
0 Jaws
0 1 Expulsion
0 2 Expel, Equipped
1 4 Divide
1 2 Destroy, Image
3 Await, Protector
0 2 Benumb
5 Arm, Repair
FREQUENCY 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 Chosen Female
Figure 5
9 1 Loyalty, All
together, Motion
Chosen Male
0 Light, Sun
0 Friendly to
Thieves
0 6 3 1 Fire, Cloak
0 1 Finish,
Consecrate with
Spells
2 6 2 1 Chosen Female
2 3 3 1 Shatter
4 Immovable
5 Rock, Entire
7 Release
9 Eye, Repair
10 8 6 4 2 0 Alive/Safe
FREQUENCY List B: Frequency Words were Identified as
Signifiers for Chosen Gender
Conclusion
It is clear that a majority of the participants saw a bias in these lists toward traditional gender
roles. While the Harry Potter films themselves present a progressive image of women and
highlight the potential they possess, the spells that they cast reveal that there is a lingering
tendency toward stereotyping and gender prejudice even today. Further experiments studying
every spell in the film series or the book series and with a larger sample size of various ages
would help develop this experiment further and encourage others to ask this same question for
other types of media.
References
Cawley, Kevin. Latin Dictionary and Grammar. University of Notre Dame Archives, 2015.
Web. Nov. 2015.
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, 2015. Web. Nov. 2015.
Katamba, Francis. Morphology: Critical Concepts in Linguistics. Vol. II. London: Routledge,
2004. Print.
"List of Spells." Harry Potter Wiki. Web. Nov. 2015.
Mahoney, Kevin D. Latdict. Kevin D. Mahoney, 2015. Web. Nov. 2015.
"Warner Bros Entertainment, Inc. and J.K. Rowling v. RDR Books." The Center for Internet and
Society. Stanford Law School, 14 Apr. 2008. Web. Dec. 2015. Worley, Michele L. "Encyclopedia of Spells." The Harry Potter Lexicon. Densaugeo, 3 Jan.
2014. Web. Nov. 2015.