#hp discourse

[catharsis-scrawled]

Do you have any sources about most terfs starting as trans allies? I'd be very interested in learning more about that if it's true.

ok im going to #seriouspost for a second here. I don't think Harry Potter is a manifesto. I think it was a flawed passion project that millennials latched onto because of the fantasy of sticking it to their mean teachers and arbitrarily categorizing themselves (hogwarts houses; it's the thinking millennial's astrology). I think the fact that the series got popular when and how it did was very much a product of its time.

I don't think Harry Potter is the biggest symbol of JKR's bigotry. I think the most flagrant sign of that was how she responded to critics. I watched her become radicalized in real time. I watched how she doubled down on her racism when she was called out for the ways she promoted her tragically mid fantastic beasts movies. I watched her chase marginalized teenagers with a double digit follower count off of twitter for daring to criticize her thought process, and no one with any kind of power standing against her because she was the one who was paying them. This isn't to say Harry Potter is without flaws. This is to say she really didn't give a shit about that. Getting rich and powerful is a hell of a drug, and she had enough sycophants that she had no reason to care about what her critics were saying.

She was convinced that she was a martyr; a voice for the unheard; a leader for the ages, so of course her detractors were the bad guys. And I think we should take this to heart. We should see this as an example of how easy it is to get radicalized; if you think of yourself as a paragon of virtue, you are going to think that whatever you see as good and right is an objective fact. Most people don't know this, but the majority of terfs start out as trans allies. You are not immune to propaganda! You are not immune to falling into dangerous ideologies!!!

This is why the most important thing you can do as an activist is to listen. Do NOT think you're above being wrong; do NOT develop a god complex; do NOT form an identity out of being right all the time. Involve yourselves in the groups you claim to speak for. Listen to trans women; share resources that help trans women; familiarize yourself with the diversity of experiences that trans people have and the struggles they face.

No, none of you are as bad as JKR because you don't have her money or her power. You will likely never have the capacity for harm she does. But check yourselves. Do not affirm yourselves into thinking you always have the moral high ground. Watch yourselves; humble yourselves; check yourselves for signs of cult behavior and internalized prejudice. You are always learning. You will always be learning. Do not allow yourselves to get a power trip from brushing off marginalized voices.

[chaztalk]

I’ve just seen a Romione shipper say Hermione is mid in attractiveness/looks (which just goes to show how they want to make her average-looking so it’s easier to self-insert themselves as her imo). To be honest, I personally wouldn’t find Hermione attractive in the HP universe. Canon says otherwise. It’s first apparent that Neville showed in interest in her, Viktor Krum showed an interest in her, Cormac McLaggen showed an interest in her, Harry described her as a “pretty girl” at the Yule Ball, Draco couldn’t find an insult to give her when he saw her at the Yule Ball (teeny tiny part that says a lot), and then there’s the drunk who hit on her in DH.

And most of this interest was gained after her teeth got resized to normal. And I think it’s more telling how specific these are compared to Ginny suddenly becoming the hottest girl at Hogwarts. And it’s a lot more realistic to think that a handful of people think someone is attractive instead of an entire school, especially in a world with a limited number of people, cuz of a difference in opinion/tastes in what one finds attractive of course.

In conclusion, Hermione is attractive, and canon does nothing to refute otherwise.

[hprambles-blog]

all I can take from your actions is that you're absolutely okay with having trans ppl's blood on your hands if it means you can keep reading your mediocre eurocentric "mommy I wanna be a cop when I grow up" wizard book. I'll also assume that, just like Rowling, you're better off dead and should solve your "still alive" situation as soon as possible

#HP consumers need to fucking die torturously slowimmediately now

Death threats are neither going to reverse the UK Supreme Court ruling or make people immediate switch over to "Witchlings", "Animorphs", "The Owl House", "Artemis Fowl", "Percy Jackson", "Dream Daddy", or whatever else you're forcing everyone to enjoy instead. If anything, they're having the opposite effect! Which reminds me, I need to add "Fire Punch" to my "what not to read" list.

🐌

[superfallingstars]

one of the (MANY!) things that i can’t stop thinking about regarding that horrible discourse post is the way that the terms sexual harassment and sexual assault are thrown around. i think that whether or not the incident (where james turns snape upside down with his own spell and exposes his underwear in front of everyone) “counts” as sexual harassment or assault doesn’t really matter. at least, not in the way the people in that discourse post think that it matters.

how we as the readers would define this event based on our own morality is relatively unimportant. what actually matters in this situation is how snape experienced it. nobody involved in that discourse post considers whether snape himself would define this event as sexual assault – and even if he would define it as such, whether that would influence his perception of how harmful it was. after all, people can experience the same event differently; what one person considers a bad day can be extremely traumatic for someone else. because of this, trying to objectively quantify the degree of harm snape experienced by defining this incident as sexual assault, harassment, bullying, or whatever, obscures the most important part of the incident – which is how it affected snape! it's so frustrating, because this is something that we could actually have interesting discourse about. did james know how deeply his actions were affecting snape? would he have changed his behavior if he knew? or did he already know, and simply not care?

but even more frustrating is the fact that despite all of the animosity in that post, i don't think anyone involved actually cares about whether or not the incident was sexual harassment/assault. the function of those terms in that post is simply to assign morality to the people involved. if the incident counts as sexual assault, then snape is a Victim and therefore Good, and james is a Perpetrator and therefore Bad. if it wasn’t sexual assault, then the incident wasn’t really that harmful, so snape is Bad and james is Good. it’s mind-bogglingly reductive. i guess it's just remarkable that everyone involved in that post seems so confident in their ability to define sexual harassment and assault, while simultaneously ignoring any of the effects that this could have had on snape. instead, sexual harassment and assault just serve as proxies for morality in the never-ending argument of whether or not snape Bad.

tl;dr what you call this incident does not determine the amount of harm it caused, and also you should care about the amount of harm it caused if you're going to make claims about morality

[cherry-pop-elf]

Time To Rant About Weasley Bashing!

Because it’s Ew sorry not sorry

Warnings: Me ranting about Weasley bashing/Ron Bashing and etc etc. Viewer Discretion Is Advised

Ight. Ok. Here’s the deal. Shit keeps jumping on my feed about anti Weasley content/showing up whenever I’m reading fanfiction, and I just gotta rant about it for a hot second. Because holy shit, there is clearly some Classim going on. Like bro what the fuck

Why is it in basically any Anti/Bashing Weasley fic, the thing that makes them the bad guy is them being money hungry? Are you guys scared of poor people or something?! Why is it always centered around them being money hungry?! Like, you guys. Like Jesus Christ this is a very painful trend to witness

And don’t get me started on Ron. In every Draco x Hermione fic, why is he like some abusive monster? Why can’t the setting be where they like mutually break up? Or just ya know, it’s not a topic at all??? Like we don’t see Draco cheating or being abusive to his wife to hook up with Hermione. Or Harry doing that to Ginny for Luna x Ginny stuff! Like what is yalls problem with the Weasleys????

I know I know. I’m just ranting and screaming, and it’s media. Anyone is free to write what they want. But don’t you think it’s a really weird trend that whenever there is bashing on the Weasleys, they make them money hungry manipulating rich scum bags??? Like you can make someone unlikable with out just making that their trope. Like go on. Go into a Weasley Bashing tag for fanfics

Come back to me when you find fics where Ron isn’t some kind of abusive, cheating, dumb, slob, child minded, man baby. Or the Weasleys aren’t like secretly rich and want Harry’s money.

I know it’s such a nit pick, but Jesus Christ people. Why do you have to make them such gross scum bags in order to have your ‘fairy tale ever after’ for Hermione and Draco? Like it’s like you can’t have that, unless you make Ron worse. Like Draco is better by default

I can go on for hours. I’m so sick of anti Weasley stuff crossing my dash, when it’s not even tagged that shit. I have enough shit in my life to deal with. Let me just enjoy my red heads in peace

You can hate them all you want, but at least properly tag man. Or, ya know, be a bit more original if you wanna write shit like that. Because Jesus Christ

Rant over, for now. Ugh. Guess Finals and my Fibro and my Stupid Piano Teacher is really starting to fuck with me. Just lemme enjoy my Blorbos man. Come on

[multi-fandom-lunatic]

What's your opinion on reading the HP books? Not engaging with the fandom, or agreeing/disagreeing with the issues in the books (the racism and stuff) but just simply reading the books?

I've been sitting with this question since you sent it and this is my best answer:

Sure, there isn't something inherently wrong with reading the HP books. Reading the books, it's such an innocent act, right? But we must keep in mind, no action is isolate, but rather exists to tell us about other actions, and other actions, and other actions. So doesn't reading the books say something about you? If this is from a reader who wants to read new books, why not read books from minority groups (or, you know - from authors who aren't raging transphobes)? If this is from the perspective of someone who's in the HP fandom already, then isn't the question more about liking the books and being in the fandom rather than reading the books itself? Doesn't it reveal a little nostalgia blindness?

If this question is asking me what I would do, then the answer doesn't/shouldn't apply to you. Because I'm coming into this discussion not having read HP, not having ever been a fan. So the decision is easy for me, I'm just never going to touch the books.

Also, with the whole agreeing/disagreeing with the issues in the books (specifically racism, as you mentioned), I want to say that this kind of ignoring the bigger discussion. Nothing exists in a vacuum - no matter how badly we want it to. So, sure, we can say "I'm going to read the books without engaging with discussions" but even the act of reading the books does not exist in isolation. Reading the books is engaging with the books. There's no way to separate the two. And saying that you won't engage with the book and then specifically mentioning racism... it's kind of a show of privilege. I can't ignore racism in media (because I understand that it's wrong and maybe a small part because I'm a POC - and there's debate for whether that matters in this discussion, but IMO it does).

You're asking me if 'just' reading the books is morally wrong, but there is no such thing as just reading the books. Inherently, books are political, and that means that inherently, engaging with the media (even just reading it for yourself) is also political (and reveals more about you as a person). No one's going to come after you if you read HP under covers with a flashlight - the only person who going to come after you is yourself.

I can't give you a yes or no answer - this just isn't one of those questions, no matter how much we try to pretend it is. All I can do is encourage you to critically think, about the books, about the act of reading. By the way - I've reread this and noticed that a lot of it comes out as accusatory or rude. That's not my intention whatsoever, and I apologise if that's how my tone comes across.

[catharsis-scrawled]

As a trans person I would like people to stop using us to justify harassing Harry Potter fans actually.

[mawce-mirari]

I've decided that shame is not for me anymore. I am opting out of feeling ashamed from now on.

[justaasexual]

So I've been bored and thinking over Harry Potter again.

Mainly, the whole Snape and Lupin situation. And I've seen a lot where Snape is in the wrong for releasing Lupin's secret.

And, well, I don't think he was wrong to do so.

Having the kids write essays in hopes that some would realise Lupin was a werewolf. Fucked up.

Continuously dropping hints in hopes someone would pick up? Absolutely disgusting.

Having a meltdown when he couldn't see a man murdered. My god, go get some therapy.

His entire attitude toward teaching? Fucking stop.

Bullying of a student because their father tormented him? What the fucking hell, why was this man a teacher?

But releasing to the Wizarding World Lupin was a werewolf? That has a bit more nuance.

First, it's never stated how he releases it. Was it to the students? Someone's parents? The Minister? The Daily Prophet? We simply don't know.

His students? Absolutely necessary. A dangerous dark creature was running around the forest on a full moon. This same creature was their professor, who neglected their safety by failing to take his potion and endangered the lives of three students. Not to mention, the general consensus among the fandom appears to be the Heads of Houses essentially act as the kids' guardians while they are at Hogwarts. He would be warning his charges, the kids he was responsible for about a dangerous situation. Also, teens are dumb. We have evidence three were already out of the castle when they weren't supposed to be. There had to be more.

The parents? Also necessary. Their kids would have been in danger from a professor because he wasn't responsible enough to take his potion.

The Minister? The dude was on the fucking grounds. At that point, it's common sense.

Daily Prophet? Not as excusable. However, again, Lupin endangered students. At that point, he waived all rights to his secret being kept the minute he didn't take his potion and his condition had the potential to literally kill someone.

Now, I won't pretend Snape's motives were altruistic. It's entirely possible and frankly I believe it's likely he just wanted to get back at Lupin and saw a chance to do so. But that doesn't excuse Lupin's actions. The 'outing a teacher with a chronic illness' doesn't work when the chronic illness causes them to be a danger to the students they are teaching. The minute Lupin didn't take his potion, he became that danger, because he failed to properly medicate himself and take precautions. That's on him.

He was under a lot of stress. True. It's understandable why he would forget. But that does not excuse him very nearly biting three students and potentially having done far more damage.

TL;DR: Snape was completely in the right for outing Lupin's condition the minute it became a danger. His motives probably weren't centred around that, and it doesn't excuse any of his actions throughout the rest of the school year, but the minute Lupin failed to medicate himself he became a danger to the students Snape was supposed to protect.

[asnarkyandironicusername]

to be fair, snily at least has sev's canon crush and a canon friendship (lily actually makes an effort to hold on to snape's friendship, even if it becomes too much). i've seen ppl go for AUs or redemptions. it's not my thing, but they're common romance tropes, especially since snape does repent bc of lily (again, not everyone likes it or is convinced by it, but it's still a canon thing). i think it's a different thing from, say, moonwater. the others? i wish at the very least they'd acknowledge that half the ship wants the other dead. it's sick to read regulus being cared for and comforted by the victims of the guy he fanboys over if there's no effort to acknowledge that that's what's going on. either make an AU or an OC, at the very least. "regulus and remus would be friends" no they would not, regulus wants remus twice dead bc he's a half-blood and bc he's a half-breed. and james would want nothing to do with someone that wants his friends dead.

Yeah, that’s fair, Anon. There’s definitely some nuance to this, like I agree that a redemption AU is different. As far as Snily, I could even see it when they are younger (like before year 6) & in Hogwarts as a bit of an AU, but the ones where Lily just straight up forgives him for having her hubby murdered & child hunted down are wild. The whole point in canon was that she was so fiercely protective of her child, he was protected even after her death!

Honestly, it’s the moonwater and the Jegulus (w/out redemption arcs) that truly blow my mind. And like I said, I’m all for ship what you want, but I agree they should be labeled AUs & not treated as if it would be canon for a DE and a werewolf to get high and laugh about their boyfriends together (especially considering DE are allegorical Nazis & Nazis also hated gay people). “Joann never said it didn’t happen!” No, but she certainly gave us enough context clues that we can put it together!

[indigo-scarf]

random new insights on characters "deserving redemption":

it's like, do they deserve to ascend to the ranks of the good characters, the characters endorsed (or, in the case of HP, even minimally respected) by the text?

might they actually have what it takes to be allowed into the golden club, rather than left to rot in the shadows of disapproval?

should they be allowed nice things, like a happy ending, which a character comes to deserve by being/becoming moral?

do they deserve the kind fate of healing from the damage that made them bad in the first place, or are they so beyond sympathy that you wouldn't want them afforded such a kindness?

if deserving redemption is based on inspiring sympathy, when a character doesn't deserve redemption, what do they deserve? punishment?

+ I guess what squicks me isn't the concept of healing arcs (the word "redemption" has come to squick me lol), but the idea that that's the universally good ending, the victorious goal that every character either deserves to reach or is falling short of, like morally bad characters are lesser (they're not, they've always been my faves!!)

& also the notion that that good ending is about gaining the approval of the good characters and the text — especially in HP, bc the morality of the text is so upsetting to me in its bias towards the good characters and gratuitous humiliation of every antagonist except Voldemort and maybe Bellatrix, that it makes me hate the idea of anyone being so cucked as to want to join that club

fanfics can convince me that the characters themselves aren't as smug as the books' framing of them, kudos and thanks to the authors for that, but then I remember canon and I hate it

[anxiouslittlecarrot]

I absolutely refuse to believe Hermione wouldn’t know about horcruxes until Harry did. It makes absolutely no sense at all.

You're telling me a dark wizard evaporates but doesn't die(?) when he shoots a killing curse at a baby – who survives (?) –, is found living on the back of another guys head (??), then somehow in a bloody journal because he stored his 16-year-old self there (???), which tries to suck the life out of a little girl to get corporeal (????) – the logic and implications of which we never address, btw – and Hermione Jean Granger doesn't do a thorough, relentless research on it?????? WHAT

[ohthisisgonnasuck]

I live on spite & hate the woman that made the works that got me thru my childhood. But, HP shit is INKED IN MY SKIN. Are you gonna hate me for that?... because that really doesn't make you any better than her.

I understand there's a big issue with separating the art from the artist, rn & I would never legitimately buy anything that makes her money or promotes anything of hers, but I'm not removing my skin to make a point.

“destroying things is for fascists! we as Nice People have to keep HP books sacred or else we’re book burners just like nazis!” it is possible that you are stupid in a very big way

[hprambles-blog]

I do see what you're saying, but I worry that warner brothers could take the "there's no such thing as bad press" tack, especially considering that they don't really have a strong track record of internalizing people's criticisms of their business practices and changing course accordingly. There's always the very real and very likely possibility that they just see 'Trending: Harry Potter" on the various platforms and call it a day without actually engaging with the criticism. and yeah it's ubiquitous and we cannot as individuals end that, but we can at least not contribute to the ubiquity, you know?

But avoiding tough topics doesn't make them go away. In fact, it can give space to those who aren't questioning anything, especially when it comes to the work of influential figures like. Many in marginalized communities are pushing back, reclaiming the narrative and challenging her views. I really think this is a powerful form of resistance. She'd has made her fortune and hp is massive, so ignoring the issue likely won't change much. But engaging with these conversations in a thoughtful way, more critiquing and educating way, can shift how people think. It opens up the discussion about these issues.

The matter is being intentional in our approach. If we focus solely on independent communities without addressing the bigger issues, we're not truly engaging. However, by using our platforms to openly state we don't support her views, we start to make real change then.

🌵

[grimalkinmessor]

When I tell you that I have read fanfic characterizations so OOC that they'd classify as an original character, trust me I have read THOUSANDS. But you know what I don't do? :) Tell the author of those fanfics that they might as well classify that character as an original character if they're going to write them like one. Because that's fucking rude. People don't owe you your preferred characterizations. The back button is free.