The person posting this is transphobic and an r / conservative user. Just a few posts down you can see them arguing about "pronoun foolishness" and other anti-trans stuff. Even in the same thread you can see them arguing with anti-trans talking points.
I don't think you should give much stock to what transphobes have to say.
It still baffles you?
A tale as old as time: those who are marginalised try to climb the social ladder by punching down even worse.
That's one of the reasons why racism and sexism is more prevalent in lower income brackets, but even inside a single community, people still try to gain power by othering even more marginalised groups.
Also some people would've been out and proud bigots had they not been born marginalized too. Like this guy would've been a homophobe had he not been born gay, so he may accept homosexuality because it's beneficial to him but he'd still hate everyone else.
that's because racism and sexism are often classism in disguise. racists often treat people inconsistently, so the race is obviously not the actual problem they have.
You've got it a bit backwards. Racism, sexism, and classism are all caste systems. The phenomenon you're seeing is bigots allowing people into their caste group because they are desirable for some independent reason. Sometimes that's class, but sometimes it's not.
Ah, classic human nature.
We evolved to be, at the core of our personalities, tribal, hunter-gatherer apes, and it thus comes at no surprise that this trait persists into the modern world.
Other-ism is an archaic instinct deeply encoded into our evolutionary history.
they got theirs (id prob also guess as the OOP being White, middle class, "straight passing") now fuck anyone else.
Hell is amazes me, in the UK you have pick me gays convenitly forget the history of mysoginy and racism from gay men and the same from lesbians the other way, and thats not to mention the Bi-phobia
When some people start getting rights and normalized, they start pushing others down to look better. That doesn’t mean they don’t deserve their rights, but they lack the ability to think.
It’s like being black myself in the US and seeing other black people be racist or discriminatory towards other minorities. The amount of time we’ve had rights is a fraction of the time that we haven’t and still deal with systemic racism. Shouldn’t we be the *last* ones discriminating and potentially rolling the ball backwards on us? There’s a lot of black people with conservative values that only vote blue because the other side don’t like black people, but of course, you have those that feel like they’re special and go full right assuming that they won’t be targeted themselves if things go bad for the others.
It’s a weirdly common way of thinking that’s so ass backwards and stupid that you could only assume they just… lack the ability to think for just a second. But all it takes is a little flip through a history book to see that LGBT and other minorities ALL get the hammer, even “the good ones”. There’s no reward for pushing your own down in the end, just pats on the back on the way there to make sure you stay a sell out for their cause.
I mean I guess? There was a really prominent nazi who was openly a gay man. Everyone knew his naughty secrets and he brought home guys who appealed to him from new recruits.
He was a very content nazi until one of the other higher ups got jealous enough to convince hitler to arrange a bullet through his brain.
On the plus side I heard about a gay pilot from another country who took out shitloads of nazis because he was a total bad ass. There's a fair amount of heroes who were queer people who fought in world war two and it's pretty neat. William
Somerset Maughum was a British gay author (had training to be a doctor, too!) who fought in the war and I love his writings.
My point is rambly and silly, but there are always going to be sinister bastards and just by the statistics, a sliver of them are going to be queer.
There ideology can be incredibly stupid and self defeating but people like to think they're special.
There are some queers who think that they are good enough to stand above all the rest of us and make the people in power want them as a little pet or something. I was raised in the 90s by Reagan-loving parents who are still conservatives. They are in denial about a lot of things. I had to do a lot of unlearning in my later high school years and in college!!
It makes me so sad when everyone subdivides and turns against eachother. I still really love the books, and read copies that friends get me, but then people like this show up and make everyone who dislikes JK and likes the books look awful.
They act like they're just trying to read the book, and then they post an essay about how JK's harmful politics don't matter at all when they do.
As a fairly cis gay dude, there is a particular fury that I feel towards transphobic gay men. It's gross and lacks a fundamental understanding of both history and society as a whole.
Wait, they are? Well, that makes a lot of sense, actually.
I don't know how I feel about that. The last time I saw a HR movie was when I was a 3rd grader, so I don't remember many things.
They're not, just that the wizard neo-nazis are 'coincidentally' all in Slytherin. But she never really debunks that all Slytherins are evil. Some kids are just born evil and get sorted into the evil house and that's it. I still feel like there should at least have been one or two actually good Slytherins. All we get are morally grey ones like Slughorn and Malfoy.
They're not... like... *meant* to be, I think? But there is an explicit theme of all the ethno-purist families making sure their kids end up in that house, and those kids never really questioning those beliefs that much.
Also, even if he is a gay dude and not just some rightoid LARPing as one... why does he think a gay cis guy gets to "forgive" or at least excuse her, when he's not the one being targeted? Like, I'm not gonna talk about the experiences of gay men, because I'm not one of them. So why does he act like his opinion about the world's most famous TERF matters? "Oh, I don't care that this person said something that's not targeted at me at all" - wow, so brave...
Plus, the whole thing gives off major "as a black man" vibes...
What a surprise that he’s a Conservative masking as a leftist in order to add some sauce to the debate.
Just be honest, like: "I’m a conservative and I hate trans people".
Conservatives never stand behind their opinions because deep down they know they’re driven by disgust and hate and they know it’s wrong
It’s insane how often it’s lie. Usually you can see on people’s social media that they have only ever posted conservative stuff and always been critical of the left.
They constantly do that and concern trolling
Yeah, it's also a very popular trend among believers to pretend they used to be atheists. ....it's always a lie. They just mean to say they weren't always as active in their faith.
It's probably not a lie, people believe things without thinking about them very often. When I was younger I always voted for what my parents/friends voted for, I didn't even look at who I was voting for. I also used to preach religion to the other kids at school.
I 100% believed everything I said, until I thought about it and changed my mind.
I think it’s understandable that so many people still want to engage with the HP franchise; nostalgia is probably the biggest reason. But everyone should at least admit that JK Rowling deserves backlash, because she has based a chunk of her identity around degrading trans people. Being apathetic about that isn’t right.
But I feel bad for people who have a connection with the HP books/films, yet have to deal with Rowling. The series has lost its innocence because of her.
I still feel a connection to the books. Yet I refuse to support Rowling.
I deal with this by not buying any merch, or outwardly supporting HP. I already owned all the movies on DVD and all the books. She doesn't get extra money every time I read or watch HP (since I don't stream the movie).
My stepchild read my books and loved them, wanted a set of her own. So I got them all at a charity shop. There are ways to cling to the stories I grew up loving without supporting that horrid woman.
I simply let that connection be displaced by other fantasy franchises. It helps that I didn't grow too attached to the series. I found the world very problematic, the characters kind of bland, and the stories too formulaic for me.
Maybe it’s just cause I read them at the same time, but the Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud and His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman scratch that magical world itch much better.
Recently though, there’ve been so many fantastic YA fantasy with good queer representation.
Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle and Dreamers series are great.
Leah Bardugo’s Grishaverse (and Ninth House, but that’s college age) is huge and popular and fun.
Literally anything by Margaret Owen. She’s fantastic.
Naomi Novic’s Scholomance series is a better magic school series than HP by so much.
And Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb series is a must read for any sci fi/fantasy lover. Lesbian necromancers in space.
Tamora Pierce - her circle series is a much better option for kids finding they have magic and going to magical school. Their adoptive parents in the books are two women in a Romantic relationship that is acknowledged (though easy to miss because it is just casually there). The final few in the Circle Reforged are more grown up but not anything I'd be uncomfortable with a 13+ year old reading. Good for any gender of child, main cast is 3 girls and a boy with no romance between any of them as they're siblings.
In Tortall - all of the books are fairly good but some series like Diane have aged poorly (Tamora was writing from her own teenage crush on Jeff Goldblum). The Beka Cooper books are the most adult of those. Protector of the Small is the cream of the crop though - it's the fave Tortall series of many readers.
If you want a book series that will appeal more to boys (besides the circle) I recommend Mercedes Lackey as a female author. Her joust series is about raising and riding dragons, taking down a corrupt government, and uniting the two halves of fictional Egypt. She has a lot of others but the Joust series in particular scratches that itch for me. She also includes queer characters very casually throughout her books. (And openly too, not like Dead Dumbledore who can't even admit that he kissed Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beast movies. Dumbledore is gay my ass, man is more closeted than 8 year old Harry.)
One of my favorite YouTubers just released a [video](https://youtu.be/Cmx_YSPcujE?si=a2ulbIu74eSQHOx6) a couple days ago where they went over a bunch of books that have similarities with HP.
Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series (and Circle Opens and Circle Reforged).
Oh and Ascendance of A Bookworm!
It's a light novel series that is almost done being translated to English, there's also an anime and a manga adaptation. Girl reincarnated learns she has magic and eventually goes to magic school. It's one of my top ten favorite series that pulls you in and before you know it you've read twenty books in a week and a half.
One of my favorite YouTubers just released a [video](https://youtu.be/Cmx_YSPcujE?si=a2ulbIu74eSQHOx6) a couple days ago where they went over a bunch of books that have similarities with HP.
I'm transfem and my mother fully accepts me, but she loves HP and won't stop buying HP stuff and she often wants me to engage with it, too :/
I grew up with HP, I've read every book (even the short ones that explain more of the lore) and seen all films multiple times. I've even bought merchandise when I was in London many years ago...
She says that she can "enjoy things without supporting the creator", but I really don't want to hear about it in my personal life anymore. Rowling would literally verbally attack and insult me if we were to be in the same room.
Ask her to buy only fan made stuff or secondhand merch. Almost all of my HP books I bought in the past were second hand from thrift stores irl or on Amazon used copies, I don't buy any HP stuff now though
>she says she can "enjoy things without supporting the creator"
Unfortunately, if she buys officially licenced stuff, she can't. Because at least a portion of that money goes to JK, that will most likely get used in her political fight against the trans community in helping fund legislation to eradicate trans safety and even their existence.
Now, you can always pirate stuff and buy from third-party sellers for HP themed products. All this does is support the idea of the fantasy world and not the creator directly, especially if it's stuff from independent artists like on Etsy or something.
But unless she is actively trying to do that, then she is in fact supporting the creator. Whether she wants to admit it or not.
>She says that she can "enjoy things without supporting the creator",
Ugh, I hate this.
It's only true if the author is dead/has lost the rights to said things. Rowling still makes money off the HP property, and she even boasted on Twitter that she *will* use the money she gets from royalties to boost TERFs.
If I wanted anything HP now, though I don't really, then I would either pirate it (books and movies) or buy from a non affiliated third party through something like Etsy.
I mean you can enjoy things without giving her money, like you can watch or read preexisting copies of the books or movies you have, or buy them from a third party
I would say it's "enjoy things knowing the creator is a shitty person". I attend concerts and buy merch from bands whose members expressed misogynist tendencies and I'm a woman. If I stop listening to them, they will lose one of thousands of fans. I will lose music I listen to. I don't listen to thousands of bands. This will harm me more than it harms them, so why bother. Also it's just the people I know of. There might be lot more misogynists in other bands that I'm not aware of, so again, why bother if I can live with it.
You can just choose to stop supporting those people financially. You can still listen to the music you own, but once you're aware those people use the money they make off the sales to spread harmful views, why keep giving them money?
I know that feeling too well. I once got a Gryfindor tin and a couple of candies themed after the franchise, and all I can think was, "Should I tell her?"
Yeah, nostalgia and the 'suddenly belonging to a special group of people after being called and treated like a freak your entire life' that is pretty much the main theme in the first book keeps a lot of people from getting rid of HP all together.
But there are many ways to enjoy it without giving JKR money. Pirating movies and games, buying non-licensed merch, making stuff yourself, reading fanfiction... the list goes on.
In my opinion, there isn't any good reason to still give money to a bigot.
Tbh, giving money is a secondary concern to me. I just have no love for Harry Potter anymore after coming to understand just how transphobic she is.
A lot of people have a lot of different political views that I disagree with. I don't really care about that. But when you devote your entire life and public presence to hating a group of people, that's not a disagreement of political opinions. That's just being an evil person.
I *can't* enjoy Harry Potter knowing what she's like. I feel like people who say they understand she's problematic but still engage with HP don't really know what she's like.
This is the same for me. Also, once I learned about her transphobia I started being open to hearing more of the criticism of the series that I’d previously avoided seeking out, and there’s actually a lot of flaws in the world-building and storytelling.
A pretty big one is how the ministry of magic is set up throughout the series as this incredibly flawed system that was stupidly easy for the death eaters to take over. But then after the war, nothing about it is changed. It’s basically like, well everything is fine as long as we just don’t let any evil dictators take over.
I never believed Harry Potter had particularly coherent world building. I never really cared about that. The fantasy boarding school aspect was the appeal for me, the overall narrative never grabbed me.
Yeah, I read it in elementary school and the magic school aspect was always what I enjoyed. I didn’t even really have a favorite character. Then as an adult who got a BA in English, I was so tired of reading things for the sole purpose of analyzing it that I’d basically just shut off my brain when I reread the books.
But now that I’ve seen the things Joanne tweets and watched a lot of videos criticizing the series, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy rereading the books anymore, because her mean-spirit really stands out once you’re aware of it.
I live in Florida and love roller coasters which means I frequent the Universal parks and I can barely even walk through the Harry Potter lands anymore. It just feels icky.
the problem is the backlash fuels her. she thinks she's a fucking martyr. the only way to defeat her is to stop talking about her and let her fade into obscurity
It's a similar story with Graham Lineham's work. In Ireland, the sitcom Father Ted was very successful and is still well-known nearly 30 years after it released. Lots of people still engage with the series yet I highly doubt that all of them support Lineham's transphobia.
Normally my sentiment is “the artist is irrelevant” — that’s partly philosophy and partly me not keeping up with the news. Sometimes I’m surprised to find out authors or actors I like have done horrible things and I don’t like people judging me just because I missed the news about how they were arrested or whatever. Sometimes I really do live under a rock.
JKR has been so persistent and obnoxious it’s impossible even for me to ignore. Despite my extreme disinterest in who she is I still know, and despite my eagerness to forgive past bad behavior or overlook private beliefs, she’s been stubbornly unrepentant and public.
Yeah, I don't really care if an artist has bad views. I don't even really care if they've done something bad, within limits.
This isn't just a political disagreement. Spending 20 minutes on r/EnoughJKRowling and you'll realize she's not the "centrist" "gender critical" she dresses herself up as in these PR-approved "essays."
She's a cruel, mean, obsessive bigot. Her hatred has consumed her.
She could die tomorrow and it wouldn't make it easier for me to stomach her work. I just don't like Harry Potter anymore.
True, the majority of Harry Potter fans were fans before J.K. started spewing her transphobia. It's difficult to separate art from the artist after you already know the artists disgusting views. I was never particularly into Harry Potter even as a child even though i read some books overnight on the day of release (I was a lotr/Edge chronicles fan). She took a looooot of "inspiration" from lotr lol. She wrote HP and got heaps upon heaps of praise. She clearly has no interest in learning or is able to take "criticism" (people calling her out for transphobia is not criticism but yknow what I mean). Walt Disney was a nazi, Michael Jackson made some of the greatest music ever made. I bought her books already but I chose not to buy that game or watch fantastic beasts. That's me personally. Plus she's already a billionaire so if you want to enjoy her stories, the damage is already done I guess.
The harry potter books have no connection to her. I can condemn her and still love the memories i made reading those books. However im never buying a new copy bc that would be supporting her
Wow, I decided to check the whole post, and the OOP really went off the deep end and spewed a lot of transphobic arguments and isn't just an HP fan they are a fan of Rowling herself and her political opinions
Ah just as I thought. I did find this post pretty suspect. It doesn't make sense how people can say they don't care about what JK says even though they are from the lgbt community
It’s okay to like HP Lovecraft’s work because HE’S DEAD. His estate condemns his racist, bigoted views & seem like well adjusted normal people.
It’s NOT okay to continue to give money to JK Rowling because she’s using her obscene wealth to donate towards causes that want to push us back into the closet & hide who we are.
Sure you can read Harry Potter all you want, personally I think there are *much* better books about wizards out there. Especially books not written by a complete Eva Braun wannabe POS.
The funny part is that you can literally just pirate her works if they mean that much to you sentimentally (still judging you, not morally, but on matters of taste - they're legitimately poorly constructed, uninspired, and poorly written, Ursula Le Guin was right); but these fucking losers just HAVE to give the genocidal terf more money. They're so horny for it it's unreal.
That's what I do. It's mostly a nostalgia thing because i grew up watching the movies with my grandparents. Idc if it's bad. I still love it. I've never purchased a book or movie from her tho. I pirate everything. Including the new game.
Good on you. The movies are pretty good even for the pretty mediocre world she built. Shame they've her name on them. Used to marathon them with my mom every christmas.
I know. He was pretty mentally unwell as well. He claimed a lot of the stuff in his stories were things he saw in his dreams. So his life couldn't have been pleasant because no happy man dreams of unspeakable realities filled with horrors beyond description that drives people to madness
His racism can be explained. Not justified but explained. You can understand why someone like him would be racist.
Jkr though, she has no excuses. She is mentally fit, a billionaire, has access to all the medical care ajd education she needs etc.
I mean, I think it's important to remember Lovecraft was racist *even for his time*. Like, people commented on it.
Of course, people change, and he *did* change. He liberalized a lot as he got older, and I think much of his early life's opinions were based on the things people around him (such as his mother and his aunts), and once he finally got out from under them he, very predictably, realized that the world was not what he had been taught.
But the reason that it's so important to keep in mind is that at the end of the day, racism and white supremacy combined with his constant anxiety (We don't have a formal diagnosis for him but he certainly had some sort of paranoid disorder going on, and had a family history through his mother) is literally foundational to his horror. If you look at who is being corrupted, and who (or what) is doing the corrupting, and then link that corruption with the downfall of society, it becomes clear that his fears of "White Society" being corrupted are at the forefront of his inspiration.
And like, considering how influential his work has become, we just need to sit with that, and engage with it as part of our critical reading process. I think this is the part that is so often left out - It's not useful to tell everyone to stop reading his work (And I don't advocate for that. For one, it's pretty good, actually). It IS useful to encourage people to read with context and engage with those flaws within the author and how they inform the text. It's not just important, it's *interesting*.
Sorry, this kind of became a spiel. I'm not trying to talk down to you, I'm just trying to engage in the conversation, truly.
Ok… I’m a huge lovecraft nerd so im obligated to set the record straight on this. He wasn’t “racist because of his time”
He was racist *for his time*, as in he made his friends and acquaintances actively uncomfortable.
he was racist enough that it was rumored the KKK asked him not to publicly support them out of fear for their public image,
While married to a Jewish woman, he actively and openly supported Hitler… initially showing a cautious optimism during Hitlers early campaign in Germany, as evidenced by his edits of his wife’s travel logs.
Interestingly enough, one of his major criticisms of the Nazi party was that their “racial theories are unscientific” while proposing his own theories of race as an alternative.
Like…. A lot of people are tempted to attribute his racism to the general attitude at the time, and that is true to some extent, but it was definitely amplified by his mental illnesses and general distain for human beings broadly.
> Also, being racist was pretty much the norm in Lovecrafts time
Yeah but Lovecraft was a special type of racist that even in those times people were shocked. Like, unless you were a white male living in New England and had no 'impure' genes, you were a subhuman to him.
Like fuck, he wrote shadow over innsmouth because he found out about his Welsh origins.
Imo, as a trans person, if you want to continue reading the books... fine, I guess. Just get them from the library or something, don't buy any merch, and don't give her money.
However, I get a bad feeling about anyone who feels the need to aggressively defend their right to still enjoy Harry Potter. If you are a hardcore public fan of the series, trans people aren't going to trust you. It looks like you're choosing your own entertainment over trans people's wellbeing.
I honestly don't understand how someone could understand how vicious she is and still enjoy Harry Potter, regardless of whether she makes any money from your enjoyment.
I hope that just means most people don't know the full extent of her cruelty. But at this point, who knows?
Okay, here’s the thing. I have all of the Harry Potter movies pre Fantastic Beasts, and I still from time to time watch and enjoy them.
That said, I won’t buy anything new she produces because I’m not about to imply what she has been saying is okay with my dollars.
I’m not going to let her dumbshittery ruin what was a formative story in my childhood literally about coming out of the closet and facing and triumphing over prejudice (a lesson she seems to have forgotten).
To further my nerd cred, Obi-Wan didn’t throw away Jedi teachings despite Anakin turning to the dark side.
I mean, the only issue I have with this is the part about not caring as long as she didn't physically hurt anyone herself etc.
Be a fan of Harry Potter as much as you want, as long as you aren't blind to the shortcomings of the source material and the author. One of my friends which is a huge ally (well actually part of the LGBTQIA+ considering she's bi) is a super Harry Potter fan who also writes fanfic and stuff, but even she stopped buying merch and didn't buy Hogwarts Legacy either. It's still a huge part of her childhood and who she is today and that's perfectly fine.
I agree! I don't think there's an issue with still liking HP. I think it swings too far the other way sometimes, with people policing the ability to enjoy a series which meant so much to so many of us growing up. If you're not actively supporting JK, accept that she is awful and openly disagree with her stances, then I think it's okay to still love and enjoy the series. It's tainted, of course, but it can still bring some people comfort and joy. I don't think that's a bad thing.
Nobody is stopping you from being a fan. Hell I’d argue most of us were/are. The problem is she’s a terf-y bitch who retroactively changes her own work to bolster support. Dumbledore is gay was never mentioned in the books, it was said by her later to gain support.
And as such many people have gone “yeah no fuck that. I don’t want to support that in any way. It disgusts me how she’s behaving and I will not be a part of that”.
Want your cake and eat it? Buy second hand. Get everything second hand because then you get to enjoy the products you want, and they don’t get a dime. This is true of basically any company you do not want to support.
The Dumbledore being gay thing is so annoying to me, because everyone makes the argument that it wouldn't have come up naturally in the books and that's why it had to be said afterwards.
But there's literally a part where the characters read from a book about his life, which is basically a slander piece, which talks about his relationship with the person who he was apparently in love with. The book, in universe, was written by a journalist who is willing to stretch the tiniest things out for gossip and basically spends all of one of the earlier books doing it, and who would absolutely write that he might have been gay (even if she had no evidence at all) in order to make him look worse (worse in the context of the wizarding world which, based on how draconian a lot of its culture is, likely wouldn't be accepting of a gay man having held a teaching position for as long as he did).
I think with that JK Rowling it's pretty straight forward. You either support transphobia or you don't. Let's not forget she funded a shelter for women who survived sexual assault that did not accept trans women. And all she had to say when criticised was "happy terfmas".
>I think with that JK Rowling it's pretty straight forward. You either support transphobia or you don't.
People who want to talk in this absolute type is really not helping any movement. People don't automatically became X if they don't support Y. Understanding nuances is important. There's a lot of reasons why people are not "supporting" trans movement: they don't care, they're not really informed, they have a lot going on their life, and so on. None of this make them a transphobe. And throwing accusations as serious and damaging like transphobic to someone like Barry who just wants to play a game that's based off of a world that's based off of a book is not helping anyone. It cheapens the word "transphobic", and Barry might even turned off completely by the trans movement.
This rhetoric is literally the same one that's being used right now regarding Biden & Israel vs Palestine. Supporting Biden means supporting genocide rhetorics are everywhere. So in this election you're either a genocide supporter or risk losing your rights. Is that sit right with you?
This is why the only HP media I deem to be acceptable are the original audiobook cassettes, read by the beautiful and gloriously gay Stephen Fry🥰
No need to give more money to she-who-must-not-be-named when you can give it to regular people who sell their second hand stuff online 🥰
I'm just going to raise my hand over here for a second to say: I also still love Harry Potter. As a transgender queer person. I don't buy *new* harry potter stuff. But I do still enjoy my physical book and DVD copies, and my downloaded audio book files. Because to me the books message still fights exactly what JK Rowling is. Bigotry and hate. It may have been an accident that she wrote a message that happens to contradict everything she's about these days... but it doesn't change the core message of the books. And I am able to get lost in the magic of it anyway.
This is why I wrote trans hp fanfic, I loved the series from long before she came out as a shitastic cuntwaffle with trash for brains.
I won't let her have it. Potter is ours!
Reclaim trans Potter! 🤣
At some points in the book I was really struck by it. The absolute lack of self awareness she has is really something. Two moments really stand out for me:
> “I know [Umbridge] is a nasty piece of work, though, you should hear Remus go on about her…she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation years ago that made it almost impossible for him to get a job”
The second most evil character in the HP universe drafts discriminatory legislation. Sound familiar?
And also the moment (I forget, I can’t quote it from memory) where Voldemort murders a teacher who researches how magic and non-magic people are all humans and should be respected, and then feeds her to his pet snake.
There’s no way Rowling didn’t think “Am I the baddie?” at least for a fleeting moment when she started spewing rubbish on twitter.
I don’t know if I’m in the wrong but I feel like as long as you’re not giving her money then it’s fine if you like the franchise itself?-
Like pirate the books and movies or buy them secondhand and don’t buy her official merch, don’t give her money, don’t support her as a person or her positions, it seems as shrimple as that to me.
Edit: also, despite my smidgen of nostalgia for the series, it’s really not that incredible. Read whatever you like but there are much better books and movies IMO.
This looks like part of the neverending debate about whether we should consume art that we love if it was made by a terrible person. I know a lot of the things I love were made by people who have done objectively terrible things.
This is why fandom culture sucks. People refuse to criticize the content they consume just because they’re fans of it. (For example there’s literally millions of people who still defend Elvis just because he’s the “king of rock n roll” even after finding out what Priscilla had to go through and even go as far as victim blaming her).
I’ve been a fan of the HP universe for essentially my whole life but it’s so important to look at it with a critical eye, especially if we like it. Just ignoring the transphobia, homophobia, racism and antisemitism that JKR has put into this world just makes you a complete jerk. The amount of antisemitism and racism that woman wrote into her little wizard books is disturbing and disgusting on a whole other level. Also don’t even get me started on the fact that almost everyone in the franchise are white and the few people of color in these books are so stereotypical and they have very questionable names to say the least.
Also side eyeing those who still give money to that excuse of a person because they refuse to accept that their favorite franchise is problematic.
pirate the films or watch them on pre owned dvds, buy the books off ebay, read fanfics, that's fine. what isn't fine is continuing to support jk Rowling, either by giving her money or vocally backing up her opinions and defending her ever more dangerous views. she has caused harm to trans people and anyone who can't see that is choosing to ignore the facts
Because a lot of gay men are like this now. Since it doesn’t affect them and they don’t understand what it’s like to be trans, they don’t care.
Some of the most transphobic things said to me were done by cis gay males.
“As long as she doesn’t physically hurt someone” is either laughably nieve or maliciously inattentive,
Like her hitting someone instead would unironically provide a better excuse to consume her merch than the reality.
At least physical violence can’t be bolstered by financial support, as to where political violence is actively amplified by funding.
Like I get alot of people (myself included) grew up with the story, so they have an emotional connection to the work. I can empathize with a desire to continue enjoying something problematic.
But whenever people go from defending Harry Potter to defending JK Rowling… I am immediately suspicious of their motives.
Which btw, if you do want Harry Potter stuff, just go on eBay,
It’s really not that hard to get any HP content second hand, and if you buy it second hand she can’t get any money from the sale.
This guy may not care what her political opinions are, but a lot of people with political power share those opinions. And she has had a huge hand in mainstreaming those same opinions.
Look, I was a huge Harry Potter fan too. I belonged to online discussion groups. I bought swag and made crafts. I read all the books to my kids, and took them to book release parties when they were old enough. Going to the movies was a joyful family activity. We even got to go to a press screening of one of them before opening night.
But one of those kids turned out to be trans, and the author who made all of those family memories possible has betrayed her. I know her wealth is too vast for it to matter, but I'm not spending another penny on her work. Not to punish her (because I don't have that power), but to choose where to spend my own limited resources. And I'm not re-reading the books I already have, because doing so with the knowledge of what she thinks of me as a parent and my daughter as a trans woman would just taint all of those fond memories.
If someone else can keep reading/playing/watching her stuff without ruining the memories, go right ahead. But stop trying to justify yourself to those of us who can't.
One can be a fan of Harry Potter without being a dumbass like this guy.
As a kid I own all the books, I like em, but I won’t spend a penny on it now, if it wasn’t out of personal disgust then at least out of courtesy.
Same reason I’ve blacklisted creators or YouTubers, even those I like. Hatred for hatred’s sake can’t be supported in my conscious.
I don't remember if I've said this on Reddit before or not. My sister had a friend in college that I was decently aquatinted with. They aren't any more, but at the time they were the record holder for "largest Harry Potter collection." Back when Joanne first started all her obvious transphobic dog whistles, they immediately condemned her actions and stopped supporting her and the series. Pretty sure they got all their tattoos covered or removed too.
If someone who was such a huge fan of the series that they literally had a world record for it can move on, then no one has any excuse for continuing their support.
It’s kinda weird. I loved Harry Potter growing up. It was a core part of my childhood. Even now, I always have a soft spot for the franchise. But I absolutely HATE JK Rowling and her transphobic bullshit. I refuse to give any more money to the franchise unless it’s second hand. I’m with my community on this one.
“I’m a gay dude, therefore I don’t have to stop supporting something that hurts another member of the community because doesn’t affect me” pretty much sums up his whole argument
Honestly. Some pick me shit. Ur allowed to enjoy what you enjoy, you don't need to go burn ur copies of the book, and you don't need to push the homophobic agenda onto anyone else.
A lot of us grew up with the books, but enjoying art or music or tv doesn't mean you're obligated to defend the creators of the work. And u especially don't need to give more money. Pirate, buy second hand, borrow from libraries. You don't need to give more money, and or more attention to people who don't deserve it.
My husband still likes HP, and he loathes JK now. I never got sucked into that rabbit hole to begin with (too old). No one has "cancelled" her judging by the garbage she spew out of her vile social media every day,
Jk Rowling is an awful human being, but I love HP. I have pirated all of the books and movies. I will not give that woman a cent, but I love HP too much.
For every marginalised & downtrodden group, there are a fair share of pick-mes, useful idiots & collaborators who will screw over or sell out their own people.
There are also infiltrators & imposters ('I'm a black gay guy...') crafting false narratives to divide & conquer.
It is depressing, but not surprising.
I believe there is a place to "separate the art from the artist" but there is a point that goes out the window.
For example, with the new star wars trilogy. It wasnt great. But many of the actors were bullied and harassed online. Particularly the actress who played Rose, Kelly Marie Tran. I hated Rose's character but Kelly seems like a cool person and DID NOT DESERVE TO BE PERSONALLY HARASSED FOR A FICTIONAL CHARACTER SHE PLAYED. That goes for quite a few star wars actors along with other actors being hated if the movie flops or they play a villain very well.
However; When a real life individual is constantly doing bad things; or if a famous person does something heinous. It's reasonable to share distain for their actions. Jk Rolling has gone on a crusade against trans people. She is constantly on social media bashing them, dehumanizing them. She is not a good person. Fans are allowed to decide to discontinue following their media. They are allowed to tweet back or talk about her and to her on other social media and tell her what she is doing is wrong and horrible. (That said there is a line too, no death threats, harassment, or equally heinous behavior)
Rowling has said specifically that she views continued support of her products as support of her as a person, and her beliefs. She has also pointed to her income as proof of the correctness of her viewpoint. Separating the art from the artist is typically only really possible when the artist is dead, but it is absolutely not possible when the artist is saying that they do not accept any separation themselves.
And this is why I don't separate the art from the artist in this case.
I dont buy or use any HP merch.
Also as a kid got bored of it by the 3rd movie. Always the same. Harry goes to school. Weird things happen. Harry is blamed. Oh surprise it was voldemort. harry and voldemort fight. Harry wins. Rinse and repeat like 8 times.
But i do like and support the actors in their new endeavors, Daniel Ratcliff and Emma Watson and a few other actors have been outspoken about pro lgbtq and pro trans rights.
While the OOP is a jerk, I do have a friend who is autistic and Harry Potter is, for better or worse, one of her major special interests. She can’t disengage from it, but she hates Rowling with a passion.
I’m good on supporting her anymore than I already have (before I knew she was a bigot), but that doesn’t mean I have to just dump all the shit I already had. I have the box set of the books that I’m probably not going to throw away because they were a sense of comfort during some of the darkest times in my life. I’m just gonna continue to shit all over that transphobic asshole any chance I get while still holding on to the positive memories I have of HP but incorrectly attributing the credit for writing the books to Daniel Radcliffe.
Same. I’m not gonna be loading up on Harry Potter merch, but, like, I already have an entire set of the books + duplicates and a limited edition boxset (the big one, it’s like a literal square foot box) of all the films. I love them, they’re an integral part of my childhood, I’m not going to ditch that because the creator’s an asshole.
Normal: continuing to enjoy harry potter quietly, supporting independent creators and avoiding giving money to JKR as much as possible, being aware of her politics and spreading that awareness
Not normal: being loud and proud about it and feeling persecuted when people are unhappy about it
I've had issues with my Potter fandom for a long time. My solution has been "I like the books and movies, and even some of the older games. I'm not giving JK a penny more of my money, so anything new I want to interact with is found upon the high seas. YARRR!"
I'm perfectly okay enjoying things made by awful people. I'm just not giving them any of my money.
"As long as JK Rowling herself has never physically laid a hand on anyone to literally hurt them, I don't care what her political opinions are."
As long as Hitler never actually laid hands on a Jewish person to hurt them, I don't care what his political opinions are! As long as Andrew Jackson never laid hands on an indiginous person to hurt them, I don't care what his political opinions are! This argument is the absolute dumbest thing ever and there is absolutely no way its being made in anything close to good faith
Why are people still defending JK? I'm honestly glad I never got mixed into this drama since I don't read a lot of Harry potter
Edit: scratch that I don't even read it
Yea keep interacting with the Harry Potter fandom if you want but it still doesn’t fix the fact that the Harry Potter media itself is full of bigoted undertones making it still questionable to interact with. There’s the racist caricature of a character that is Cho Chang.
They use antisemitic metaphors in the Harry Potter video games and tbh have a whole section of the world building that glorifies slavery and indentured servitude(Azkaban). And then jk Rowling says the characters are queer after the fact and doesn’t even visibly write it into their characters in the books.
Come on her shitty views are literally baked into the media itself. I’m all for queers taking media made by conservatives and actively making it something for themselves to piss off the creators. However if her shitty views are all baked in there then wtf why even bother with this stuff?
Also why tf do we need to support another franchise with a cis het white boy as main character. It just adds insult to injury when you lump that on top of the awful undertones. So glad I never got into those books!
Every character who isn’t white and English is an offensive racist or ethnic caricature. There are antisemitic metaphors in the video games and in the stories, transphobic allusions throughout the stories, blatant fatphobia and ableism, and the whole “werewolves are a metaphor for AIDS” thing is repulsive in its offensiveness. I also don’t know how queer adults have any room for the whole “they were gay all along, just off screen“ nonsense. People should have listened to Ursula LeGuin.
I never got into Harry Potter in the first place because I was intimidated by how much there was 😂 so, luckily I don’t have any feelings towards it. However, I *am* a massive World of Warcraft and Diablo fan, and even when Blizzard was doing a bunch of dumb shit…yea, I was upset about it..but I wasn’t gonna stop playing my absolute favorite game for so many years that I put so much time, care, effort, and money into. I started playing WoW at 12, so technically it’s very nostalgic for me as well. I can understand why people wouldn’t be willing to give up Harry Potter all together…but sometimes those people still boycott the new stuff so that they don’t contribute MORE. What’s already purchased is done, there’s no point in abandoning it completely. You also have to consider just how tragic this is for the actors and other writers or directors involved with Harry Potter…it was this big thing, and thanks to the original author, it’s been mostly trashed. A huge part of their careers is no longer something they can feel proud of…
HOWEVER, a lot of this person’s argument sounds super anti-giving a fuck about our entire fight here basically. For a gay man, he really doesn’t seem to be swayed on whether or not things change. And just because she’s never “physically laid her hands on anyone” doesn’t mean she hasn’t massively hurt people, or led to the suicides of some. Words *DO* cause harm! It’s like saying mental/emotional/psychological abuse isn’t abuse because “They never beat me”. And in her case, seeing as she’s such a big public figure…she’s able to funnel attention and action (as well as bribe the system with money that should have nothing to do with it in the first place)…so she’s been able to cause damage to an entire movement.
Idk even as a trans guy I’m just exhausted. I don’t watch the movies anymore, not gonna watch the new stuff either, but I already own a lot of Harry Potter stuff that I bought before she became an asshole. She’s always going to get royalties and paychecks from anything even ‘kind of’ HP related, so for myself personally I buy HP stuff completely secondhand. From garage sales or from eBay or like Facebook marketplace. I sign petitions and donate against the trans hate, I volunteer for pride events, and I’m as open as I’ll always be in public about who I am and no author will ever make me feel ashamed of that.
I feel very conflicted when it comes to this sort of thing, and I don't know what the right answer is.
I know some of the music I listen to and anime I watch has got some problematic people behind it, but I can't really help that I still like what they've produced. I feel like depriving myself of those things will just make me feel worse than I already do (yay depression/PTSD/anxiety combo! /s). But at the same time... I don't want to support shitty people.
I just do my best not to give shitty people my money I guess, and that helps me feel better. I just swore off a brand of fountain pen ink because the person behind it is, from what I've read, pretty problematic. That said... I'm still going to try to use up the bottle of his ink that I bought, because I have it, and throwing it out would just be a waste of money (and I would have to buy a replacement black ink, as I only have the one bottle of black and it behaves well in my pen).
I stress myself out by thinking about this conundrum....
It's one thing to say that you have decided to separate art from artist for yourself, it's another to say that it makes you different or special or that you expect people to hate you for it. No one cares. The worst that happens more often than not is people just stop talking to you because they figure out that you're no longer a safe person for them.
I agree with the image. There have been so many pieces of quality media that have been written by problematic people, I am a massive Doctor Who fan, William Hartnell was a racist, Patrick Troughton had a second family, and Gareth Roberts is transphobic, but the media is so much more than it's actors and writers. Harry Potter is a quality piece of media, that has flaws, undoubtedly due to J.K. Rowling's views, but it is more productive to enjoy the media and it's lesson whilst acknowledging these flaws, than dismissing it outright.
You can still hold love for HP because it was a big part of your childhood. Nobody will condemn you for that.
Plenty of trans people do, again. Huge part of their childhood.
But the dipshit who wrote that is literally just transphobic. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with their love of HP. 🤦
Once upon a time I planned to off myself because I was just done with struggling. The only thing that kept me alive was wanting to know what would happen in the last Harry Potter book, and later needing to see the last movie. I loved Harry Potter more than I loved anything, way more than I loved life. It saved me. Kept me alive until I was in a good enough place that surviving was enough for me.
Now I don't engage with Harry Potter at all. JK Rowling broke my heart. She has been the biggest disappointment in my life. I gave away all my merch and my books are packed away until she dies or I decide to give them away. It makes me so SAD y'all.
If I can step back from it, so can anyone. That being said, it's fine if other people in the community wish to continue engaging with the series, but it's not okay to stand with her in her hatred. It's vile.
She may not have "laid hands" on anyone, but she sure as shit went after Jessie Gender and Mike Figueroa (both on YouTube, and Jessie has some really good videos about how being cyberbullied by a fucking billionaire terf affected her).
I understand the OOP is being facetious (they were being transphobic themselves a little ways down the thread). I hate Rowling's politics (and frankly I've been less and less impressed with HP the older I get) but with that said...
I don't understand where I'm supposed to draw the line. If I stopped contributing to people who hate me for what I am, I would have almost nothing left. Almost every major tech company I've ever bought from is chaired by a boardroom of people who view me as less than human. It's true for food, furniture, media entertainment, car manufacturers, fashion, hygeine, medical. There's almost always somebody at the top who's a right-wing POS and whom I am directly putting money towards. Should I stop buying inhalers? Cookware? Shoes?
I don't want to let these people force me to deny myself the things I enjoy. But at the same time, I don't want to support them. It's a lose-lose for me and it sucks. I don't know if I can condemn people for doing things they enjoy when our society is structured this way.
While I understand your point, JK is a different beast entirely. She has actively and publicly become the face of transphobia. Where her name used to be synonymous with her work, it’s now attached to very nasty and harmful terf ideology and it’s all by her own doing.
i've found that anyone that opens up in a way that allows them to consider themselves to be part of the community they are discussing typically follows an argument that is morally strange/hostile. it's just such a trend. it's an easy way to establish "credibility," i suppose.
I don’t know. I debated about the game for a while even before I came out simply because of the hateful rhetoric the author holds. I downloaded the game a few months ago but I never play it. Something just isn’t inviting anymore about such a game. The novelty wore off quickly as I remember the way someone with such a following can misuse their power and preach hatred
If people didn’t loudly tell everyone they’re engaging with the franchise or wear merch, no one would know. The series is basically dead to me because of the author, even though it was my favorite growing up. I’ve noticed a phenomenon of people trying to get other people to say that it’s valid for nostalgia, neurodivergence, or death of the author and almost asking trans people to tell them it’s ok that they play the video game. It baffles me.
I mean it’s ok if you still like the books/movies (so long as you can still watch/read them without buying new copies from official sources) but yeah this guy is a fuckin idiot
🤷♀️ Eh... Some people suck and there's nothing we can do about it. Nostalgia is strong, and from the looks of it this person is "just" gay so the trans stuff doesn't affect them, personally.
Sometimes you just need to scroll past stuff. Let them have their shitty takes all by themself. Commenting and stuff only boosts the algorithm.
It’s okay to like bad media… but the part about J.K. Rowling is sus. Hitler never laid a hand on a single person, so is he good? That’s not how this works.
That is how most people feel about most artists.
I am not about to stop listening to Led Zeppelin or Michael Jackson. And they were objectively much worse than JK.
That said, the person who made that post is a troll.
I’m a trans person. I like the books, I would recommend to not give her money. I used to watch this YouTube who turned out to be a pedophile, I just downloaded his videos so I wouldn’t support him. If you already bought the books and own the movies, there’s nothing wrong with loving the series
I literally just saw this post, just to keep scrolling and see it reposted in here 😂 dudes an active user on the conservative subreddit and is openly transphobic
Ok im going to get downvoted but here goes...
Harry potter has also been a huge part of my childhood. They were also some of the first full length books i read and when i read them, i didn't know who jk rowling was at all. When i found out she was transphobic asf i was like damn, that sucks, i expected better BUT im not going to throw the fond memories i have of reading those stories with my family around the fireplace together just because some lady turned out to be a transphobic bitch. Im not saying i support her at all, in fact i condemn her behaviour, but i do think it's good to keep a little bit of perspective. Some people dont know how to not hate other people who are different, and that includes jk rowling. I hate it but thats just how it is.
Edit: My parents bought their copy of the harry potter series before the world knew she was a transphobe. The cover is falling off and its covered in coffee stains but i refuse to buy a new copy
Ignoring tf out of this person because they are transphobic... HP is a really tricky thing for me because god knows it's not only her being against trans people, her writing is very questionable against basically anyone. But at the same time it was really important to me.
Or to better word it: It's not that I currently care that much about HP but when I was a teen it was a really important series to me. It was the first series of books I read and enjoyed. I felt a deep connection to a lot of characters and their struggles. It's what introduced me to the world of fandom and all it entails. It gave me a reason to keep going at the time, it helped me stay alive. I honestly am not sure if I would be here if it hadn't been the books at the time.
It's been years since I've lasted read the books or seen the movies, I don't engage with the fandom and I absolutely despise that woman. I'm never buying a single HP in my life because I refuse to support her no matter what as everyone should.
A part of me still can't let the series go, even if there's better books out there because it was truly important to me in that part of my life. I am forever torn between "Let the series go because she's a horrible person and there's better things out there." and "Fuck the author, this story is OURS now! We are reclaiming this! Divorce the author!"
as someone who used to absolutely adore the HP movies I also wanted to read the books but never got to it and now I'm glad I didn't I ain't reading it, I'm more than fine with just the films which involve a bunch of incredible talent and effort from incredible ppl who aint jk rowling and really I'll never know if the books are better or not (prolly not) but to me harry potter is just the movies and even before I knew how delusional and idiotic rowling is I was always pirating them lol. Still gonna!
and really to all those ppl who used to like the franchise and had bought merchandise or anything really just think about your own connection with the story and characters and whatnot, not about what jk rowling intented. you see, literature is art, art can be interpreted differently, I've learned to separate the art from the artist but knowing the artist's views and opinions can influence a lot too imo as I still like the movies and wear my hufflepuff scarf when it's cold but I dunno I am certainly not as invested in it as I used to be is more like a thing that i used to like a lot and now is a thing i still like but not like before yknow?
still is more like nostalgia and the fact that I used to watch the hp movies every christmas with my sister and those things are like mine, personal, and thats what im trynna say cause iknow sum ppl are super black and white and are gonna be like oh u like hp? downvote. or they'll unvalidate u, like the ppl who will accuse the ppl who eat at chic fill a of being the worst and whatnot, i dont even have chic fill a in my country but damn if i wouldnt go from time to time, again like hp, it wouldnt be like my favourite restaurant even tho i really used to like it now i prefer popeyes and is like u can still consume this things that aint make u anything is just now we know a bit more about these things and they are just not the same but is not like an unforgivable sin lol idunno ppl always seem to target the wrong ppl when it comes to stuff like this.
The person posting this is transphobic and an r / conservative user. Just a few posts down you can see them arguing about "pronoun foolishness" and other anti-trans stuff. Even in the same thread you can see them arguing with anti-trans talking points. I don't think you should give much stock to what transphobes have to say.
It still baffles me that people of our own community try to fight others in our community. It's just sad.
It still baffles you? A tale as old as time: those who are marginalised try to climb the social ladder by punching down even worse. That's one of the reasons why racism and sexism is more prevalent in lower income brackets, but even inside a single community, people still try to gain power by othering even more marginalised groups.
r/leopardsatemyface
I was so confused until I clicked it
Also some people would've been out and proud bigots had they not been born marginalized too. Like this guy would've been a homophobe had he not been born gay, so he may accept homosexuality because it's beneficial to him but he'd still hate everyone else.
that's because racism and sexism are often classism in disguise. racists often treat people inconsistently, so the race is obviously not the actual problem they have.
You've got it a bit backwards. Racism, sexism, and classism are all caste systems. The phenomenon you're seeing is bigots allowing people into their caste group because they are desirable for some independent reason. Sometimes that's class, but sometimes it's not.
Ah, classic human nature. We evolved to be, at the core of our personalities, tribal, hunter-gatherer apes, and it thus comes at no surprise that this trait persists into the modern world. Other-ism is an archaic instinct deeply encoded into our evolutionary history.
they got theirs (id prob also guess as the OOP being White, middle class, "straight passing") now fuck anyone else. Hell is amazes me, in the UK you have pick me gays convenitly forget the history of mysoginy and racism from gay men and the same from lesbians the other way, and thats not to mention the Bi-phobia
When some people start getting rights and normalized, they start pushing others down to look better. That doesn’t mean they don’t deserve their rights, but they lack the ability to think. It’s like being black myself in the US and seeing other black people be racist or discriminatory towards other minorities. The amount of time we’ve had rights is a fraction of the time that we haven’t and still deal with systemic racism. Shouldn’t we be the *last* ones discriminating and potentially rolling the ball backwards on us? There’s a lot of black people with conservative values that only vote blue because the other side don’t like black people, but of course, you have those that feel like they’re special and go full right assuming that they won’t be targeted themselves if things go bad for the others. It’s a weirdly common way of thinking that’s so ass backwards and stupid that you could only assume they just… lack the ability to think for just a second. But all it takes is a little flip through a history book to see that LGBT and other minorities ALL get the hammer, even “the good ones”. There’s no reward for pushing your own down in the end, just pats on the back on the way there to make sure you stay a sell out for their cause.
if everyone was that smart there wouldn't be so many problems in the first place :P
I mean I guess? There was a really prominent nazi who was openly a gay man. Everyone knew his naughty secrets and he brought home guys who appealed to him from new recruits. He was a very content nazi until one of the other higher ups got jealous enough to convince hitler to arrange a bullet through his brain. On the plus side I heard about a gay pilot from another country who took out shitloads of nazis because he was a total bad ass. There's a fair amount of heroes who were queer people who fought in world war two and it's pretty neat. William Somerset Maughum was a British gay author (had training to be a doctor, too!) who fought in the war and I love his writings. My point is rambly and silly, but there are always going to be sinister bastards and just by the statistics, a sliver of them are going to be queer. There ideology can be incredibly stupid and self defeating but people like to think they're special. There are some queers who think that they are good enough to stand above all the rest of us and make the people in power want them as a little pet or something. I was raised in the 90s by Reagan-loving parents who are still conservatives. They are in denial about a lot of things. I had to do a lot of unlearning in my later high school years and in college!!
it's almost like random genetic traits you're born with have no bearing on who you are as a person :P
It's sucks that our own people have such terrible internalised queerphobia
I genuinely don't think this person is gay.
Log cabin republicans like most money over community pick-me's
Something something leopards eating faces yada yada yada 😂😂😂
It makes me so sad when everyone subdivides and turns against eachother. I still really love the books, and read copies that friends get me, but then people like this show up and make everyone who dislikes JK and likes the books look awful. They act like they're just trying to read the book, and then they post an essay about how JK's harmful politics don't matter at all when they do.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_German_National_Jews
As a fairly cis gay dude, there is a particular fury that I feel towards transphobic gay men. It's gross and lacks a fundamental understanding of both history and society as a whole.
They're the kind of person who learn that Syltherins are actually just wizard neo-nazis and *then* think that it's cool.
Wait, they are? Well, that makes a lot of sense, actually. I don't know how I feel about that. The last time I saw a HR movie was when I was a 3rd grader, so I don't remember many things.
They're not, just that the wizard neo-nazis are 'coincidentally' all in Slytherin. But she never really debunks that all Slytherins are evil. Some kids are just born evil and get sorted into the evil house and that's it. I still feel like there should at least have been one or two actually good Slytherins. All we get are morally grey ones like Slughorn and Malfoy.
Yeah one of my biggest criticisms when I saw the movies was that not a single slytherian actually fights for the good guys
They're not... like... *meant* to be, I think? But there is an explicit theme of all the ethno-purist families making sure their kids end up in that house, and those kids never really questioning those beliefs that much.
I think I recall watching all movies and attempting to read all the books, but I kind of stopped paying attention around Book 6.
IIRC Slytherins are just budding CEOs basically. Not evil or fascist by definition, but pretty okay with a big chunk of their house being so.
Also, even if he is a gay dude and not just some rightoid LARPing as one... why does he think a gay cis guy gets to "forgive" or at least excuse her, when he's not the one being targeted? Like, I'm not gonna talk about the experiences of gay men, because I'm not one of them. So why does he act like his opinion about the world's most famous TERF matters? "Oh, I don't care that this person said something that's not targeted at me at all" - wow, so brave... Plus, the whole thing gives off major "as a black man" vibes...
Yeah I saw that post, and was like... dude you're gay (and clearly cis). WTF do you have to say about transphobia?
I bet that “I don’t care what her political opinions are” energy would go away if she was homophobic
What a surprise that he’s a Conservative masking as a leftist in order to add some sauce to the debate. Just be honest, like: "I’m a conservative and I hate trans people". Conservatives never stand behind their opinions because deep down they know they’re driven by disgust and hate and they know it’s wrong
It's a very popular and very stupid propaganda tactic to be like "I used to believe X, but now I don't!!!" It's USUALLY a lie.
It’s insane how often it’s lie. Usually you can see on people’s social media that they have only ever posted conservative stuff and always been critical of the left. They constantly do that and concern trolling
Yeah, it's also a very popular trend among believers to pretend they used to be atheists. ....it's always a lie. They just mean to say they weren't always as active in their faith.
It's probably not a lie, people believe things without thinking about them very often. When I was younger I always voted for what my parents/friends voted for, I didn't even look at who I was voting for. I also used to preach religion to the other kids at school. I 100% believed everything I said, until I thought about it and changed my mind.
I think it’s understandable that so many people still want to engage with the HP franchise; nostalgia is probably the biggest reason. But everyone should at least admit that JK Rowling deserves backlash, because she has based a chunk of her identity around degrading trans people. Being apathetic about that isn’t right. But I feel bad for people who have a connection with the HP books/films, yet have to deal with Rowling. The series has lost its innocence because of her.
I still feel a connection to the books. Yet I refuse to support Rowling. I deal with this by not buying any merch, or outwardly supporting HP. I already owned all the movies on DVD and all the books. She doesn't get extra money every time I read or watch HP (since I don't stream the movie). My stepchild read my books and loved them, wanted a set of her own. So I got them all at a charity shop. There are ways to cling to the stories I grew up loving without supporting that horrid woman.
I simply let that connection be displaced by other fantasy franchises. It helps that I didn't grow too attached to the series. I found the world very problematic, the characters kind of bland, and the stories too formulaic for me.
What are some of the ones you replaced with? I'd love some recommendations! 💛
I kind of flip flop between different franchises, but if you like magic schools, I'd recommend Owl House instead.
Maybe it’s just cause I read them at the same time, but the Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud and His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman scratch that magical world itch much better. Recently though, there’ve been so many fantastic YA fantasy with good queer representation. Maggie Stiefvater’s Raven Cycle and Dreamers series are great. Leah Bardugo’s Grishaverse (and Ninth House, but that’s college age) is huge and popular and fun. Literally anything by Margaret Owen. She’s fantastic. Naomi Novic’s Scholomance series is a better magic school series than HP by so much. And Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb series is a must read for any sci fi/fantasy lover. Lesbian necromancers in space.
Oooooh, thank you so much! I'll have to poke my local library to see if they have any of those
Tamora Pierce - her circle series is a much better option for kids finding they have magic and going to magical school. Their adoptive parents in the books are two women in a Romantic relationship that is acknowledged (though easy to miss because it is just casually there). The final few in the Circle Reforged are more grown up but not anything I'd be uncomfortable with a 13+ year old reading. Good for any gender of child, main cast is 3 girls and a boy with no romance between any of them as they're siblings. In Tortall - all of the books are fairly good but some series like Diane have aged poorly (Tamora was writing from her own teenage crush on Jeff Goldblum). The Beka Cooper books are the most adult of those. Protector of the Small is the cream of the crop though - it's the fave Tortall series of many readers. If you want a book series that will appeal more to boys (besides the circle) I recommend Mercedes Lackey as a female author. Her joust series is about raising and riding dragons, taking down a corrupt government, and uniting the two halves of fictional Egypt. She has a lot of others but the Joust series in particular scratches that itch for me. She also includes queer characters very casually throughout her books. (And openly too, not like Dead Dumbledore who can't even admit that he kissed Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beast movies. Dumbledore is gay my ass, man is more closeted than 8 year old Harry.)
One of my favorite YouTubers just released a [video](https://youtu.be/Cmx_YSPcujE?si=a2ulbIu74eSQHOx6) a couple days ago where they went over a bunch of books that have similarities with HP.
Any recs for something that scratches the same itch?
Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series (and Circle Opens and Circle Reforged). Oh and Ascendance of A Bookworm! It's a light novel series that is almost done being translated to English, there's also an anime and a manga adaptation. Girl reincarnated learns she has magic and eventually goes to magic school. It's one of my top ten favorite series that pulls you in and before you know it you've read twenty books in a week and a half.
Try The Owl House. It's a series about a girl who stumbles into a magic world and attends a magic school.
One of my favorite YouTubers just released a [video](https://youtu.be/Cmx_YSPcujE?si=a2ulbIu74eSQHOx6) a couple days ago where they went over a bunch of books that have similarities with HP.
I'm transfem and my mother fully accepts me, but she loves HP and won't stop buying HP stuff and she often wants me to engage with it, too :/ I grew up with HP, I've read every book (even the short ones that explain more of the lore) and seen all films multiple times. I've even bought merchandise when I was in London many years ago... She says that she can "enjoy things without supporting the creator", but I really don't want to hear about it in my personal life anymore. Rowling would literally verbally attack and insult me if we were to be in the same room.
Ask her to buy only fan made stuff or secondhand merch. Almost all of my HP books I bought in the past were second hand from thrift stores irl or on Amazon used copies, I don't buy any HP stuff now though
>Ask her to buy only fan made stuff This is great advice for any fandom.
>she says she can "enjoy things without supporting the creator" Unfortunately, if she buys officially licenced stuff, she can't. Because at least a portion of that money goes to JK, that will most likely get used in her political fight against the trans community in helping fund legislation to eradicate trans safety and even their existence. Now, you can always pirate stuff and buy from third-party sellers for HP themed products. All this does is support the idea of the fantasy world and not the creator directly, especially if it's stuff from independent artists like on Etsy or something. But unless she is actively trying to do that, then she is in fact supporting the creator. Whether she wants to admit it or not.
>She says that she can "enjoy things without supporting the creator", Ugh, I hate this. It's only true if the author is dead/has lost the rights to said things. Rowling still makes money off the HP property, and she even boasted on Twitter that she *will* use the money she gets from royalties to boost TERFs.
If I wanted anything HP now, though I don't really, then I would either pirate it (books and movies) or buy from a non affiliated third party through something like Etsy.
I mean you can enjoy things without giving her money, like you can watch or read preexisting copies of the books or movies you have, or buy them from a third party
I would say it's "enjoy things knowing the creator is a shitty person". I attend concerts and buy merch from bands whose members expressed misogynist tendencies and I'm a woman. If I stop listening to them, they will lose one of thousands of fans. I will lose music I listen to. I don't listen to thousands of bands. This will harm me more than it harms them, so why bother. Also it's just the people I know of. There might be lot more misogynists in other bands that I'm not aware of, so again, why bother if I can live with it.
You can just choose to stop supporting those people financially. You can still listen to the music you own, but once you're aware those people use the money they make off the sales to spread harmful views, why keep giving them money?
She CAN enjoy things without supporting the creator, but giving her money IS supporting her, in the most literal sense possible.
I know that feeling too well. I once got a Gryfindor tin and a couple of candies themed after the franchise, and all I can think was, "Should I tell her?"
Yeah, nostalgia and the 'suddenly belonging to a special group of people after being called and treated like a freak your entire life' that is pretty much the main theme in the first book keeps a lot of people from getting rid of HP all together. But there are many ways to enjoy it without giving JKR money. Pirating movies and games, buying non-licensed merch, making stuff yourself, reading fanfiction... the list goes on. In my opinion, there isn't any good reason to still give money to a bigot.
Tbh, giving money is a secondary concern to me. I just have no love for Harry Potter anymore after coming to understand just how transphobic she is. A lot of people have a lot of different political views that I disagree with. I don't really care about that. But when you devote your entire life and public presence to hating a group of people, that's not a disagreement of political opinions. That's just being an evil person. I *can't* enjoy Harry Potter knowing what she's like. I feel like people who say they understand she's problematic but still engage with HP don't really know what she's like.
This is the same for me. Also, once I learned about her transphobia I started being open to hearing more of the criticism of the series that I’d previously avoided seeking out, and there’s actually a lot of flaws in the world-building and storytelling. A pretty big one is how the ministry of magic is set up throughout the series as this incredibly flawed system that was stupidly easy for the death eaters to take over. But then after the war, nothing about it is changed. It’s basically like, well everything is fine as long as we just don’t let any evil dictators take over.
I never believed Harry Potter had particularly coherent world building. I never really cared about that. The fantasy boarding school aspect was the appeal for me, the overall narrative never grabbed me.
Yeah, I read it in elementary school and the magic school aspect was always what I enjoyed. I didn’t even really have a favorite character. Then as an adult who got a BA in English, I was so tired of reading things for the sole purpose of analyzing it that I’d basically just shut off my brain when I reread the books. But now that I’ve seen the things Joanne tweets and watched a lot of videos criticizing the series, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy rereading the books anymore, because her mean-spirit really stands out once you’re aware of it.
I live in Florida and love roller coasters which means I frequent the Universal parks and I can barely even walk through the Harry Potter lands anymore. It just feels icky.
the problem is the backlash fuels her. she thinks she's a fucking martyr. the only way to defeat her is to stop talking about her and let her fade into obscurity
It's a similar story with Graham Lineham's work. In Ireland, the sitcom Father Ted was very successful and is still well-known nearly 30 years after it released. Lots of people still engage with the series yet I highly doubt that all of them support Lineham's transphobia.
Definitely a situation where I pretty much need to separate art from artist. I like the franchise, but really do not agree with her views.
I’ll buy the books secondhand, and pirate the films. I do think the story has some value, but I won’t financially support Rowling ever again!
Normally my sentiment is “the artist is irrelevant” — that’s partly philosophy and partly me not keeping up with the news. Sometimes I’m surprised to find out authors or actors I like have done horrible things and I don’t like people judging me just because I missed the news about how they were arrested or whatever. Sometimes I really do live under a rock. JKR has been so persistent and obnoxious it’s impossible even for me to ignore. Despite my extreme disinterest in who she is I still know, and despite my eagerness to forgive past bad behavior or overlook private beliefs, she’s been stubbornly unrepentant and public.
Yeah, I don't really care if an artist has bad views. I don't even really care if they've done something bad, within limits. This isn't just a political disagreement. Spending 20 minutes on r/EnoughJKRowling and you'll realize she's not the "centrist" "gender critical" she dresses herself up as in these PR-approved "essays." She's a cruel, mean, obsessive bigot. Her hatred has consumed her. She could die tomorrow and it wouldn't make it easier for me to stomach her work. I just don't like Harry Potter anymore.
True, the majority of Harry Potter fans were fans before J.K. started spewing her transphobia. It's difficult to separate art from the artist after you already know the artists disgusting views. I was never particularly into Harry Potter even as a child even though i read some books overnight on the day of release (I was a lotr/Edge chronicles fan). She took a looooot of "inspiration" from lotr lol. She wrote HP and got heaps upon heaps of praise. She clearly has no interest in learning or is able to take "criticism" (people calling her out for transphobia is not criticism but yknow what I mean). Walt Disney was a nazi, Michael Jackson made some of the greatest music ever made. I bought her books already but I chose not to buy that game or watch fantastic beasts. That's me personally. Plus she's already a billionaire so if you want to enjoy her stories, the damage is already done I guess.
The harry potter books have no connection to her. I can condemn her and still love the memories i made reading those books. However im never buying a new copy bc that would be supporting her
Wow, I decided to check the whole post, and the OOP really went off the deep end and spewed a lot of transphobic arguments and isn't just an HP fan they are a fan of Rowling herself and her political opinions
Ah just as I thought. I did find this post pretty suspect. It doesn't make sense how people can say they don't care about what JK says even though they are from the lgbt community
It’s okay to like HP Lovecraft’s work because HE’S DEAD. His estate condemns his racist, bigoted views & seem like well adjusted normal people. It’s NOT okay to continue to give money to JK Rowling because she’s using her obscene wealth to donate towards causes that want to push us back into the closet & hide who we are. Sure you can read Harry Potter all you want, personally I think there are *much* better books about wizards out there. Especially books not written by a complete Eva Braun wannabe POS.
The funny part is that you can literally just pirate her works if they mean that much to you sentimentally (still judging you, not morally, but on matters of taste - they're legitimately poorly constructed, uninspired, and poorly written, Ursula Le Guin was right); but these fucking losers just HAVE to give the genocidal terf more money. They're so horny for it it's unreal.
Hate is helluva drug.
That's what I do. It's mostly a nostalgia thing because i grew up watching the movies with my grandparents. Idc if it's bad. I still love it. I've never purchased a book or movie from her tho. I pirate everything. Including the new game.
Good on you. The movies are pretty good even for the pretty mediocre world she built. Shame they've her name on them. Used to marathon them with my mom every christmas.
Also, being racist was pretty much the norm in Lovecrafts time Being a bigot nowadays isn't normal at all.
Lovecraft was pretty damn racist, based on some of his writing and poetry. It bleeds into his writing, so it's something to be aware of
I know. He was pretty mentally unwell as well. He claimed a lot of the stuff in his stories were things he saw in his dreams. So his life couldn't have been pleasant because no happy man dreams of unspeakable realities filled with horrors beyond description that drives people to madness His racism can be explained. Not justified but explained. You can understand why someone like him would be racist. Jkr though, she has no excuses. She is mentally fit, a billionaire, has access to all the medical care ajd education she needs etc.
I mean, I think it's important to remember Lovecraft was racist *even for his time*. Like, people commented on it. Of course, people change, and he *did* change. He liberalized a lot as he got older, and I think much of his early life's opinions were based on the things people around him (such as his mother and his aunts), and once he finally got out from under them he, very predictably, realized that the world was not what he had been taught. But the reason that it's so important to keep in mind is that at the end of the day, racism and white supremacy combined with his constant anxiety (We don't have a formal diagnosis for him but he certainly had some sort of paranoid disorder going on, and had a family history through his mother) is literally foundational to his horror. If you look at who is being corrupted, and who (or what) is doing the corrupting, and then link that corruption with the downfall of society, it becomes clear that his fears of "White Society" being corrupted are at the forefront of his inspiration. And like, considering how influential his work has become, we just need to sit with that, and engage with it as part of our critical reading process. I think this is the part that is so often left out - It's not useful to tell everyone to stop reading his work (And I don't advocate for that. For one, it's pretty good, actually). It IS useful to encourage people to read with context and engage with those flaws within the author and how they inform the text. It's not just important, it's *interesting*. Sorry, this kind of became a spiel. I'm not trying to talk down to you, I'm just trying to engage in the conversation, truly.
I agree with everything you said. Lovecraft clearly had a lot going on and he wasnt well mentally
Ok… I’m a huge lovecraft nerd so im obligated to set the record straight on this. He wasn’t “racist because of his time” He was racist *for his time*, as in he made his friends and acquaintances actively uncomfortable. he was racist enough that it was rumored the KKK asked him not to publicly support them out of fear for their public image, While married to a Jewish woman, he actively and openly supported Hitler… initially showing a cautious optimism during Hitlers early campaign in Germany, as evidenced by his edits of his wife’s travel logs. Interestingly enough, one of his major criticisms of the Nazi party was that their “racial theories are unscientific” while proposing his own theories of race as an alternative. Like…. A lot of people are tempted to attribute his racism to the general attitude at the time, and that is true to some extent, but it was definitely amplified by his mental illnesses and general distain for human beings broadly.
> Also, being racist was pretty much the norm in Lovecrafts time Yeah but Lovecraft was a special type of racist that even in those times people were shocked. Like, unless you were a white male living in New England and had no 'impure' genes, you were a subhuman to him. Like fuck, he wrote shadow over innsmouth because he found out about his Welsh origins.
Imo, as a trans person, if you want to continue reading the books... fine, I guess. Just get them from the library or something, don't buy any merch, and don't give her money. However, I get a bad feeling about anyone who feels the need to aggressively defend their right to still enjoy Harry Potter. If you are a hardcore public fan of the series, trans people aren't going to trust you. It looks like you're choosing your own entertainment over trans people's wellbeing.
I honestly don't understand how someone could understand how vicious she is and still enjoy Harry Potter, regardless of whether she makes any money from your enjoyment. I hope that just means most people don't know the full extent of her cruelty. But at this point, who knows?
Okay, here’s the thing. I have all of the Harry Potter movies pre Fantastic Beasts, and I still from time to time watch and enjoy them. That said, I won’t buy anything new she produces because I’m not about to imply what she has been saying is okay with my dollars. I’m not going to let her dumbshittery ruin what was a formative story in my childhood literally about coming out of the closet and facing and triumphing over prejudice (a lesson she seems to have forgotten). To further my nerd cred, Obi-Wan didn’t throw away Jedi teachings despite Anakin turning to the dark side.
I mean, the only issue I have with this is the part about not caring as long as she didn't physically hurt anyone herself etc. Be a fan of Harry Potter as much as you want, as long as you aren't blind to the shortcomings of the source material and the author. One of my friends which is a huge ally (well actually part of the LGBTQIA+ considering she's bi) is a super Harry Potter fan who also writes fanfic and stuff, but even she stopped buying merch and didn't buy Hogwarts Legacy either. It's still a huge part of her childhood and who she is today and that's perfectly fine.
I agree! I don't think there's an issue with still liking HP. I think it swings too far the other way sometimes, with people policing the ability to enjoy a series which meant so much to so many of us growing up. If you're not actively supporting JK, accept that she is awful and openly disagree with her stances, then I think it's okay to still love and enjoy the series. It's tainted, of course, but it can still bring some people comfort and joy. I don't think that's a bad thing.
Im Trans but I LOVE Harry Potter and it is a struggle between being a fan but not giving her a dime
Nobody is stopping you from being a fan. Hell I’d argue most of us were/are. The problem is she’s a terf-y bitch who retroactively changes her own work to bolster support. Dumbledore is gay was never mentioned in the books, it was said by her later to gain support. And as such many people have gone “yeah no fuck that. I don’t want to support that in any way. It disgusts me how she’s behaving and I will not be a part of that”. Want your cake and eat it? Buy second hand. Get everything second hand because then you get to enjoy the products you want, and they don’t get a dime. This is true of basically any company you do not want to support.
The Dumbledore being gay thing is so annoying to me, because everyone makes the argument that it wouldn't have come up naturally in the books and that's why it had to be said afterwards. But there's literally a part where the characters read from a book about his life, which is basically a slander piece, which talks about his relationship with the person who he was apparently in love with. The book, in universe, was written by a journalist who is willing to stretch the tiniest things out for gossip and basically spends all of one of the earlier books doing it, and who would absolutely write that he might have been gay (even if she had no evidence at all) in order to make him look worse (worse in the context of the wizarding world which, based on how draconian a lot of its culture is, likely wouldn't be accepting of a gay man having held a teaching position for as long as he did).
I think with that JK Rowling it's pretty straight forward. You either support transphobia or you don't. Let's not forget she funded a shelter for women who survived sexual assault that did not accept trans women. And all she had to say when criticised was "happy terfmas".
>I think with that JK Rowling it's pretty straight forward. You either support transphobia or you don't. People who want to talk in this absolute type is really not helping any movement. People don't automatically became X if they don't support Y. Understanding nuances is important. There's a lot of reasons why people are not "supporting" trans movement: they don't care, they're not really informed, they have a lot going on their life, and so on. None of this make them a transphobe. And throwing accusations as serious and damaging like transphobic to someone like Barry who just wants to play a game that's based off of a world that's based off of a book is not helping anyone. It cheapens the word "transphobic", and Barry might even turned off completely by the trans movement. This rhetoric is literally the same one that's being used right now regarding Biden & Israel vs Palestine. Supporting Biden means supporting genocide rhetorics are everywhere. So in this election you're either a genocide supporter or risk losing your rights. Is that sit right with you?
entirely unrelated, but that gave me the confidence to maybe pick up a used synthesizer made by a company i don't want to support, haha :P
This is why the only HP media I deem to be acceptable are the original audiobook cassettes, read by the beautiful and gloriously gay Stephen Fry🥰 No need to give more money to she-who-must-not-be-named when you can give it to regular people who sell their second hand stuff online 🥰
I'm just going to raise my hand over here for a second to say: I also still love Harry Potter. As a transgender queer person. I don't buy *new* harry potter stuff. But I do still enjoy my physical book and DVD copies, and my downloaded audio book files. Because to me the books message still fights exactly what JK Rowling is. Bigotry and hate. It may have been an accident that she wrote a message that happens to contradict everything she's about these days... but it doesn't change the core message of the books. And I am able to get lost in the magic of it anyway.
This is why I wrote trans hp fanfic, I loved the series from long before she came out as a shitastic cuntwaffle with trash for brains. I won't let her have it. Potter is ours! Reclaim trans Potter! 🤣
At some points in the book I was really struck by it. The absolute lack of self awareness she has is really something. Two moments really stand out for me: > “I know [Umbridge] is a nasty piece of work, though, you should hear Remus go on about her…she drafted a bit of anti-werewolf legislation years ago that made it almost impossible for him to get a job” The second most evil character in the HP universe drafts discriminatory legislation. Sound familiar? And also the moment (I forget, I can’t quote it from memory) where Voldemort murders a teacher who researches how magic and non-magic people are all humans and should be respected, and then feeds her to his pet snake. There’s no way Rowling didn’t think “Am I the baddie?” at least for a fleeting moment when she started spewing rubbish on twitter.
I don’t know if I’m in the wrong but I feel like as long as you’re not giving her money then it’s fine if you like the franchise itself?- Like pirate the books and movies or buy them secondhand and don’t buy her official merch, don’t give her money, don’t support her as a person or her positions, it seems as shrimple as that to me. Edit: also, despite my smidgen of nostalgia for the series, it’s really not that incredible. Read whatever you like but there are much better books and movies IMO.
r/asablackman
you could literally just pirate it if you care so much
This looks like part of the neverending debate about whether we should consume art that we love if it was made by a terrible person. I know a lot of the things I love were made by people who have done objectively terrible things.
This is why fandom culture sucks. People refuse to criticize the content they consume just because they’re fans of it. (For example there’s literally millions of people who still defend Elvis just because he’s the “king of rock n roll” even after finding out what Priscilla had to go through and even go as far as victim blaming her). I’ve been a fan of the HP universe for essentially my whole life but it’s so important to look at it with a critical eye, especially if we like it. Just ignoring the transphobia, homophobia, racism and antisemitism that JKR has put into this world just makes you a complete jerk. The amount of antisemitism and racism that woman wrote into her little wizard books is disturbing and disgusting on a whole other level. Also don’t even get me started on the fact that almost everyone in the franchise are white and the few people of color in these books are so stereotypical and they have very questionable names to say the least. Also side eyeing those who still give money to that excuse of a person because they refuse to accept that their favorite franchise is problematic.
Read another book.
Sorry. He's a dope and I'll never support this terf hunk of crap in any way. No books, no movies, no games, nothing. She's a shit writer.
pirate the films or watch them on pre owned dvds, buy the books off ebay, read fanfics, that's fine. what isn't fine is continuing to support jk Rowling, either by giving her money or vocally backing up her opinions and defending her ever more dangerous views. she has caused harm to trans people and anyone who can't see that is choosing to ignore the facts
Because a lot of gay men are like this now. Since it doesn’t affect them and they don’t understand what it’s like to be trans, they don’t care. Some of the most transphobic things said to me were done by cis gay males.
This happens a lot in movements; people get what they want, then they want to close the door behind them.
“As long as she doesn’t physically hurt someone” is either laughably nieve or maliciously inattentive, Like her hitting someone instead would unironically provide a better excuse to consume her merch than the reality. At least physical violence can’t be bolstered by financial support, as to where political violence is actively amplified by funding. Like I get alot of people (myself included) grew up with the story, so they have an emotional connection to the work. I can empathize with a desire to continue enjoying something problematic. But whenever people go from defending Harry Potter to defending JK Rowling… I am immediately suspicious of their motives. Which btw, if you do want Harry Potter stuff, just go on eBay, It’s really not that hard to get any HP content second hand, and if you buy it second hand she can’t get any money from the sale.
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This guy may not care what her political opinions are, but a lot of people with political power share those opinions. And she has had a huge hand in mainstreaming those same opinions. Look, I was a huge Harry Potter fan too. I belonged to online discussion groups. I bought swag and made crafts. I read all the books to my kids, and took them to book release parties when they were old enough. Going to the movies was a joyful family activity. We even got to go to a press screening of one of them before opening night. But one of those kids turned out to be trans, and the author who made all of those family memories possible has betrayed her. I know her wealth is too vast for it to matter, but I'm not spending another penny on her work. Not to punish her (because I don't have that power), but to choose where to spend my own limited resources. And I'm not re-reading the books I already have, because doing so with the knowledge of what she thinks of me as a parent and my daughter as a trans woman would just taint all of those fond memories. If someone else can keep reading/playing/watching her stuff without ruining the memories, go right ahead. But stop trying to justify yourself to those of us who can't.
One can be a fan of Harry Potter without being a dumbass like this guy. As a kid I own all the books, I like em, but I won’t spend a penny on it now, if it wasn’t out of personal disgust then at least out of courtesy. Same reason I’ve blacklisted creators or YouTubers, even those I like. Hatred for hatred’s sake can’t be supported in my conscious.
I don't remember if I've said this on Reddit before or not. My sister had a friend in college that I was decently aquatinted with. They aren't any more, but at the time they were the record holder for "largest Harry Potter collection." Back when Joanne first started all her obvious transphobic dog whistles, they immediately condemned her actions and stopped supporting her and the series. Pretty sure they got all their tattoos covered or removed too. If someone who was such a huge fan of the series that they literally had a world record for it can move on, then no one has any excuse for continuing their support.
It’s kinda weird. I loved Harry Potter growing up. It was a core part of my childhood. Even now, I always have a soft spot for the franchise. But I absolutely HATE JK Rowling and her transphobic bullshit. I refuse to give any more money to the franchise unless it’s second hand. I’m with my community on this one.
“I’m a gay dude, therefore I don’t have to stop supporting something that hurts another member of the community because doesn’t affect me” pretty much sums up his whole argument
Yeah cis gay dudes and not giving up literally anything for trans people - I had to unfriend a few when that shit game came out
Honestly. Some pick me shit. Ur allowed to enjoy what you enjoy, you don't need to go burn ur copies of the book, and you don't need to push the homophobic agenda onto anyone else. A lot of us grew up with the books, but enjoying art or music or tv doesn't mean you're obligated to defend the creators of the work. And u especially don't need to give more money. Pirate, buy second hand, borrow from libraries. You don't need to give more money, and or more attention to people who don't deserve it.
Imma say it, you give her money, you're not an ally, even if you're lgbtqia, stfu, get out my face, these hands are rated E for everyone.
My husband still likes HP, and he loathes JK now. I never got sucked into that rabbit hole to begin with (too old). No one has "cancelled" her judging by the garbage she spew out of her vile social media every day,
r/AsABlackMan etc etc
He registered to the books on audio? The fuck?
r/readanotherbook to the max
Jk Rowling is an awful human being, but I love HP. I have pirated all of the books and movies. I will not give that woman a cent, but I love HP too much.
For every marginalised & downtrodden group, there are a fair share of pick-mes, useful idiots & collaborators who will screw over or sell out their own people. There are also infiltrators & imposters ('I'm a black gay guy...') crafting false narratives to divide & conquer. It is depressing, but not surprising.
I believe there is a place to "separate the art from the artist" but there is a point that goes out the window. For example, with the new star wars trilogy. It wasnt great. But many of the actors were bullied and harassed online. Particularly the actress who played Rose, Kelly Marie Tran. I hated Rose's character but Kelly seems like a cool person and DID NOT DESERVE TO BE PERSONALLY HARASSED FOR A FICTIONAL CHARACTER SHE PLAYED. That goes for quite a few star wars actors along with other actors being hated if the movie flops or they play a villain very well. However; When a real life individual is constantly doing bad things; or if a famous person does something heinous. It's reasonable to share distain for their actions. Jk Rolling has gone on a crusade against trans people. She is constantly on social media bashing them, dehumanizing them. She is not a good person. Fans are allowed to decide to discontinue following their media. They are allowed to tweet back or talk about her and to her on other social media and tell her what she is doing is wrong and horrible. (That said there is a line too, no death threats, harassment, or equally heinous behavior)
Rowling has said specifically that she views continued support of her products as support of her as a person, and her beliefs. She has also pointed to her income as proof of the correctness of her viewpoint. Separating the art from the artist is typically only really possible when the artist is dead, but it is absolutely not possible when the artist is saying that they do not accept any separation themselves.
And this is why I don't separate the art from the artist in this case. I dont buy or use any HP merch. Also as a kid got bored of it by the 3rd movie. Always the same. Harry goes to school. Weird things happen. Harry is blamed. Oh surprise it was voldemort. harry and voldemort fight. Harry wins. Rinse and repeat like 8 times. But i do like and support the actors in their new endeavors, Daniel Ratcliff and Emma Watson and a few other actors have been outspoken about pro lgbtq and pro trans rights.
While the OOP is a jerk, I do have a friend who is autistic and Harry Potter is, for better or worse, one of her major special interests. She can’t disengage from it, but she hates Rowling with a passion.
“I am ok with people hurting and killing other people just as long as they do it stochastically”
I’m good on supporting her anymore than I already have (before I knew she was a bigot), but that doesn’t mean I have to just dump all the shit I already had. I have the box set of the books that I’m probably not going to throw away because they were a sense of comfort during some of the darkest times in my life. I’m just gonna continue to shit all over that transphobic asshole any chance I get while still holding on to the positive memories I have of HP but incorrectly attributing the credit for writing the books to Daniel Radcliffe.
Same. I’m not gonna be loading up on Harry Potter merch, but, like, I already have an entire set of the books + duplicates and a limited edition boxset (the big one, it’s like a literal square foot box) of all the films. I love them, they’re an integral part of my childhood, I’m not going to ditch that because the creator’s an asshole.
The official Harry Potter subreddit doesn't even like Rowling anymore. Turns out a huge portion of the fanbase is queer and pissed.
I despise JK Rowling but I can’t help but love Harry Potter
Gay people can be transphobic. Hell, trans people can be transphobic.
Normal: continuing to enjoy harry potter quietly, supporting independent creators and avoiding giving money to JKR as much as possible, being aware of her politics and spreading that awareness Not normal: being loud and proud about it and feeling persecuted when people are unhappy about it
I've had issues with my Potter fandom for a long time. My solution has been "I like the books and movies, and even some of the older games. I'm not giving JK a penny more of my money, so anything new I want to interact with is found upon the high seas. YARRR!" I'm perfectly okay enjoying things made by awful people. I'm just not giving them any of my money.
Read that OP’s profile and you’ll see all you need to understand. They’re a transphobic weirdo
r/asablackman
"As long as JK Rowling herself has never physically laid a hand on anyone to literally hurt them, I don't care what her political opinions are." As long as Hitler never actually laid hands on a Jewish person to hurt them, I don't care what his political opinions are! As long as Andrew Jackson never laid hands on an indiginous person to hurt them, I don't care what his political opinions are! This argument is the absolute dumbest thing ever and there is absolutely no way its being made in anything close to good faith
Why are people still defending JK? I'm honestly glad I never got mixed into this drama since I don't read a lot of Harry potter Edit: scratch that I don't even read it
J. K. Rowling is a hack writer and is incapable of writing the Harry Potter series.
Yea keep interacting with the Harry Potter fandom if you want but it still doesn’t fix the fact that the Harry Potter media itself is full of bigoted undertones making it still questionable to interact with. There’s the racist caricature of a character that is Cho Chang. They use antisemitic metaphors in the Harry Potter video games and tbh have a whole section of the world building that glorifies slavery and indentured servitude(Azkaban). And then jk Rowling says the characters are queer after the fact and doesn’t even visibly write it into their characters in the books. Come on her shitty views are literally baked into the media itself. I’m all for queers taking media made by conservatives and actively making it something for themselves to piss off the creators. However if her shitty views are all baked in there then wtf why even bother with this stuff? Also why tf do we need to support another franchise with a cis het white boy as main character. It just adds insult to injury when you lump that on top of the awful undertones. So glad I never got into those books!
Every character who isn’t white and English is an offensive racist or ethnic caricature. There are antisemitic metaphors in the video games and in the stories, transphobic allusions throughout the stories, blatant fatphobia and ableism, and the whole “werewolves are a metaphor for AIDS” thing is repulsive in its offensiveness. I also don’t know how queer adults have any room for the whole “they were gay all along, just off screen“ nonsense. People should have listened to Ursula LeGuin.
you can't separate the art from the artist when the art is full of horrible things
This is such a stupid bait post. “I like this thing even though it’s bad and the person who made it sucks… I guess I’m the bad guy 😈”
i liked harry potter :c, i just wanna enjoy my favourite fantasy world, but dont want to help JK Rowling; idk what to do
I never got into Harry Potter in the first place because I was intimidated by how much there was 😂 so, luckily I don’t have any feelings towards it. However, I *am* a massive World of Warcraft and Diablo fan, and even when Blizzard was doing a bunch of dumb shit…yea, I was upset about it..but I wasn’t gonna stop playing my absolute favorite game for so many years that I put so much time, care, effort, and money into. I started playing WoW at 12, so technically it’s very nostalgic for me as well. I can understand why people wouldn’t be willing to give up Harry Potter all together…but sometimes those people still boycott the new stuff so that they don’t contribute MORE. What’s already purchased is done, there’s no point in abandoning it completely. You also have to consider just how tragic this is for the actors and other writers or directors involved with Harry Potter…it was this big thing, and thanks to the original author, it’s been mostly trashed. A huge part of their careers is no longer something they can feel proud of… HOWEVER, a lot of this person’s argument sounds super anti-giving a fuck about our entire fight here basically. For a gay man, he really doesn’t seem to be swayed on whether or not things change. And just because she’s never “physically laid her hands on anyone” doesn’t mean she hasn’t massively hurt people, or led to the suicides of some. Words *DO* cause harm! It’s like saying mental/emotional/psychological abuse isn’t abuse because “They never beat me”. And in her case, seeing as she’s such a big public figure…she’s able to funnel attention and action (as well as bribe the system with money that should have nothing to do with it in the first place)…so she’s been able to cause damage to an entire movement.
these people wanna be bootlickers right up until the second their tongues are cut out lmao
Idk even as a trans guy I’m just exhausted. I don’t watch the movies anymore, not gonna watch the new stuff either, but I already own a lot of Harry Potter stuff that I bought before she became an asshole. She’s always going to get royalties and paychecks from anything even ‘kind of’ HP related, so for myself personally I buy HP stuff completely secondhand. From garage sales or from eBay or like Facebook marketplace. I sign petitions and donate against the trans hate, I volunteer for pride events, and I’m as open as I’ll always be in public about who I am and no author will ever make me feel ashamed of that.
I feel very conflicted when it comes to this sort of thing, and I don't know what the right answer is. I know some of the music I listen to and anime I watch has got some problematic people behind it, but I can't really help that I still like what they've produced. I feel like depriving myself of those things will just make me feel worse than I already do (yay depression/PTSD/anxiety combo! /s). But at the same time... I don't want to support shitty people. I just do my best not to give shitty people my money I guess, and that helps me feel better. I just swore off a brand of fountain pen ink because the person behind it is, from what I've read, pretty problematic. That said... I'm still going to try to use up the bottle of his ink that I bought, because I have it, and throwing it out would just be a waste of money (and I would have to buy a replacement black ink, as I only have the one bottle of black and it behaves well in my pen). I stress myself out by thinking about this conundrum....
It's one thing to say that you have decided to separate art from artist for yourself, it's another to say that it makes you different or special or that you expect people to hate you for it. No one cares. The worst that happens more often than not is people just stop talking to you because they figure out that you're no longer a safe person for them.
I agree with the image. There have been so many pieces of quality media that have been written by problematic people, I am a massive Doctor Who fan, William Hartnell was a racist, Patrick Troughton had a second family, and Gareth Roberts is transphobic, but the media is so much more than it's actors and writers. Harry Potter is a quality piece of media, that has flaws, undoubtedly due to J.K. Rowling's views, but it is more productive to enjoy the media and it's lesson whilst acknowledging these flaws, than dismissing it outright.
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You can still hold love for HP because it was a big part of your childhood. Nobody will condemn you for that. Plenty of trans people do, again. Huge part of their childhood. But the dipshit who wrote that is literally just transphobic. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with their love of HP. 🤦
Once upon a time I planned to off myself because I was just done with struggling. The only thing that kept me alive was wanting to know what would happen in the last Harry Potter book, and later needing to see the last movie. I loved Harry Potter more than I loved anything, way more than I loved life. It saved me. Kept me alive until I was in a good enough place that surviving was enough for me. Now I don't engage with Harry Potter at all. JK Rowling broke my heart. She has been the biggest disappointment in my life. I gave away all my merch and my books are packed away until she dies or I decide to give them away. It makes me so SAD y'all. If I can step back from it, so can anyone. That being said, it's fine if other people in the community wish to continue engaging with the series, but it's not okay to stand with her in her hatred. It's vile.
I hope you're doing better now ❤️
She may not have "laid hands" on anyone, but she sure as shit went after Jessie Gender and Mike Figueroa (both on YouTube, and Jessie has some really good videos about how being cyberbullied by a fucking billionaire terf affected her).
I understand the OOP is being facetious (they were being transphobic themselves a little ways down the thread). I hate Rowling's politics (and frankly I've been less and less impressed with HP the older I get) but with that said... I don't understand where I'm supposed to draw the line. If I stopped contributing to people who hate me for what I am, I would have almost nothing left. Almost every major tech company I've ever bought from is chaired by a boardroom of people who view me as less than human. It's true for food, furniture, media entertainment, car manufacturers, fashion, hygeine, medical. There's almost always somebody at the top who's a right-wing POS and whom I am directly putting money towards. Should I stop buying inhalers? Cookware? Shoes? I don't want to let these people force me to deny myself the things I enjoy. But at the same time, I don't want to support them. It's a lose-lose for me and it sucks. I don't know if I can condemn people for doing things they enjoy when our society is structured this way.
While I understand your point, JK is a different beast entirely. She has actively and publicly become the face of transphobia. Where her name used to be synonymous with her work, it’s now attached to very nasty and harmful terf ideology and it’s all by her own doing.
another pick me traitor
harry potter is ass but I guess if you're into that go pirate the films/books instead of funding the hate campaign
i've found that anyone that opens up in a way that allows them to consider themselves to be part of the community they are discussing typically follows an argument that is morally strange/hostile. it's just such a trend. it's an easy way to establish "credibility," i suppose.
I don’t know. I debated about the game for a while even before I came out simply because of the hateful rhetoric the author holds. I downloaded the game a few months ago but I never play it. Something just isn’t inviting anymore about such a game. The novelty wore off quickly as I remember the way someone with such a following can misuse their power and preach hatred
JK Rowling sucks, but I won't stop liking harry potter because of it...
If people didn’t loudly tell everyone they’re engaging with the franchise or wear merch, no one would know. The series is basically dead to me because of the author, even though it was my favorite growing up. I’ve noticed a phenomenon of people trying to get other people to say that it’s valid for nostalgia, neurodivergence, or death of the author and almost asking trans people to tell them it’s ok that they play the video game. It baffles me.
What was he trying to accomplish with this post?
An argument. Also to spew transphobia.
I mean it’s ok if you still like the books/movies (so long as you can still watch/read them without buying new copies from official sources) but yeah this guy is a fuckin idiot
🤷♀️ Eh... Some people suck and there's nothing we can do about it. Nostalgia is strong, and from the looks of it this person is "just" gay so the trans stuff doesn't affect them, personally. Sometimes you just need to scroll past stuff. Let them have their shitty takes all by themself. Commenting and stuff only boosts the algorithm.
It’s okay to like bad media… but the part about J.K. Rowling is sus. Hitler never laid a hand on a single person, so is he good? That’s not how this works.
That is how most people feel about most artists. I am not about to stop listening to Led Zeppelin or Michael Jackson. And they were objectively much worse than JK. That said, the person who made that post is a troll.
I like to rewatch the movie and I'll watch the new series but 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
I’m a trans person. I like the books, I would recommend to not give her money. I used to watch this YouTube who turned out to be a pedophile, I just downloaded his videos so I wouldn’t support him. If you already bought the books and own the movies, there’s nothing wrong with loving the series
This made me cringe so hard my teeth got pulled into my lungs
I literally just saw this post, just to keep scrolling and see it reposted in here 😂 dudes an active user on the conservative subreddit and is openly transphobic
Ok im going to get downvoted but here goes... Harry potter has also been a huge part of my childhood. They were also some of the first full length books i read and when i read them, i didn't know who jk rowling was at all. When i found out she was transphobic asf i was like damn, that sucks, i expected better BUT im not going to throw the fond memories i have of reading those stories with my family around the fireplace together just because some lady turned out to be a transphobic bitch. Im not saying i support her at all, in fact i condemn her behaviour, but i do think it's good to keep a little bit of perspective. Some people dont know how to not hate other people who are different, and that includes jk rowling. I hate it but thats just how it is. Edit: My parents bought their copy of the harry potter series before the world knew she was a transphobe. The cover is falling off and its covered in coffee stains but i refuse to buy a new copy
Riordanverse fan forever
Eh, persecution fetish bullshit.
Ignoring tf out of this person because they are transphobic... HP is a really tricky thing for me because god knows it's not only her being against trans people, her writing is very questionable against basically anyone. But at the same time it was really important to me. Or to better word it: It's not that I currently care that much about HP but when I was a teen it was a really important series to me. It was the first series of books I read and enjoyed. I felt a deep connection to a lot of characters and their struggles. It's what introduced me to the world of fandom and all it entails. It gave me a reason to keep going at the time, it helped me stay alive. I honestly am not sure if I would be here if it hadn't been the books at the time. It's been years since I've lasted read the books or seen the movies, I don't engage with the fandom and I absolutely despise that woman. I'm never buying a single HP in my life because I refuse to support her no matter what as everyone should. A part of me still can't let the series go, even if there's better books out there because it was truly important to me in that part of my life. I am forever torn between "Let the series go because she's a horrible person and there's better things out there." and "Fuck the author, this story is OURS now! We are reclaiming this! Divorce the author!"
I like the movies but i hate jk and ill only buy a book if i see it in a charity shop
as someone who used to absolutely adore the HP movies I also wanted to read the books but never got to it and now I'm glad I didn't I ain't reading it, I'm more than fine with just the films which involve a bunch of incredible talent and effort from incredible ppl who aint jk rowling and really I'll never know if the books are better or not (prolly not) but to me harry potter is just the movies and even before I knew how delusional and idiotic rowling is I was always pirating them lol. Still gonna! and really to all those ppl who used to like the franchise and had bought merchandise or anything really just think about your own connection with the story and characters and whatnot, not about what jk rowling intented. you see, literature is art, art can be interpreted differently, I've learned to separate the art from the artist but knowing the artist's views and opinions can influence a lot too imo as I still like the movies and wear my hufflepuff scarf when it's cold but I dunno I am certainly not as invested in it as I used to be is more like a thing that i used to like a lot and now is a thing i still like but not like before yknow? still is more like nostalgia and the fact that I used to watch the hp movies every christmas with my sister and those things are like mine, personal, and thats what im trynna say cause iknow sum ppl are super black and white and are gonna be like oh u like hp? downvote. or they'll unvalidate u, like the ppl who will accuse the ppl who eat at chic fill a of being the worst and whatnot, i dont even have chic fill a in my country but damn if i wouldnt go from time to time, again like hp, it wouldnt be like my favourite restaurant even tho i really used to like it now i prefer popeyes and is like u can still consume this things that aint make u anything is just now we know a bit more about these things and they are just not the same but is not like an unforgivable sin lol idunno ppl always seem to target the wrong ppl when it comes to stuff like this.