#jkr discourse

[werewolf-cuddles]

Oh, cool, apparently JK Rowling is aphobic too.

Just add that one onto the pile I guess

[breakfast-with-a-side-of-angst]

Honestly, though, JK Rowling told us what type of person she was from the very beginning by the way she treats Hufflepuffs. They’re background characters — never taken particularly seriously. They’re martyrs or unimportant. The main characters and the villains alike have no respect for them.

JK Rowling took the characters who value things like kindness, honesty, and loyalty, and she made them a joke. They’ll never measure up against the brave or clever or cunning. She created a culture where being kind or loyal, makes you a leftover.

She told us what her values were from the very beginning.

[evamme]

THE ULTIMATE IRONY.

[abislwise]

Blog post: I write a review of a game with zero subtext for absolutely no time-specific reason.

[werewolf-cuddles]

I guess JK Rowling (who is most certainly not a Holocaust Denier 😉) never heard of the Streisand Effect.

She seems to think that by legally threatening someone to stop calling her a holocaust denier, it will make everyone else stop calling her a holocaust denier.

But naturally, all it does is make people call her a holocaust denier even more.

[jay-in-the-notebook]

So I get the hate on HP, but what's the vibe on parodies written during one's freetime?

Obviously I can write what I want to write, but I'm still curious as to all y'all's feelings on it.

[werewolf-cuddles]

But how will people know that you're A Good Person if you don't *checks notes* set fire to your merch you bought years ago whose destruction would have zero tangible benefit for anyone?

Don't you know that enjoying a book that's been your favorite for decades in the privacy of your own home is *checks notes again, I saw the same posts* literally personally assisting in trans genocide?

Don't you know you're not allowed to enjoy stories written by shitty people*, even if you're very explicit that you don't support their views, or support them monetarily by buying anything from them?

*Well, it's just the one shitty person that's off limits. You're still allowed to enjoy Neil Gaiman's work. Or use Facebook. Actually pretty much anything else, you're good. It's just this one very specific case, where if you still enjoy the books that made reading fun again for millions of children, you've literally personally got blood on your specific hands. This makes perfect sense and definitely isn't indicative of tumblr's tendency towards reactionary yet meaningless virtue signaling.

(/end of sarcasm)

It's incredibly frustrating that this website's instinct the second anything bad happens for trans rights is to attack Harry Potter fans who publicly disavow and refuse to support the author. I get that fans are more bullyable than actual transphobes because we're all on the same website, but attacking them specifically is such useless self-aggrandizing bullshit.

People are allowed to be upset, but I wish they'd attack the actual causes instead of just whoever's closest and easiest to attack.

I understand the sentiment, especially given recent events, but yeah, a lot of this does feel rather performative.

The hyperbolic nature of a lot of these comments really doesn't help. In the comments of one post, I saw some people equating owning Harry Potter merch to collecting Nazi memorabilia, and at least one person comparing holding onto childhood copies of the books to "owning a cherished copy of Mein Kampf"

(Because yes, owning a children's book with problematic elements is absolutely equivalent to owning literal Nazi propaganda)

It's just exhausting, honestly, and yet I also feel guilty for feeling that way because I know that in the grand scheme of things, this is absolutely nothing compared to what so many trans people have been going through.

[jchance4d4]

Yeah. I don't want to give money outright to either, and as @zeldahime said, will want to speak up against either being specifically platformed somewhere I can influence it, but the magnitude of impact is very different between the two.

That said, I've been having some thoughts about one of the big arguments over JKR. (and, for the record, I haven't cared much about Potter for years (and who the hell cares about Heron Thwack to begin with?), I've just been observing this discourse)

People seem to go round and round on the notions of "nonprofit, non-publicised fanwork just doesn't matter to her people" versus "They're openly tracking total engagement", and...I don't think it's a yes-or-no question. Does it figure in somehow? Probably. But, compared to merch and theme parks and mostly-mundanes listing their house on Facebook, it's...well, it's on the level of "fuck it, I'll go to Walmart" over $10 of groceries that you couldn't find elsewhere locally. Except less, because no actual money. Less, I suspect, than the arguing about it, at this point.

...and then, on the third hand, things take on significances whether we want them to or not. I completely understand people who see someone heavily engaged with her work, even in ways that don't move the needle much, and find it untrustworthy--it's become a symbol of all the noxious shit she represents whether we want it to or not.

People who freak out over harry potter are the most annoying people online. They are also the same people who make excuses for people like Neil Gaiman, might as well put a giant label on your account that reads "I am hypocritical clown that only cares about browbeating other fans and has no real morals".

--

One is a political danger to a country. One is a danger to their sex partners. Both of those things are bad, but it does not surprise me that people have different reactions.

[hprambles-blog]

I'm convinced most of y'all throwing the word twink around 24/7 are straight white girls that have prob never had sex but want to seem cool. I can tell by the way you fetishize being gay and focus so much on sex that you don't actually respect gay people.

1- Literally none of those claims are connected in any way, lol.

2- I'm not a girl, and definitely not straight.

3- LGBTQ+ people enjoy this kind of content, you're probably just homophobic.

4- If I picture a character described as elegant and slender as a twink, that's my headcanon, not something your homophobic ass gets to police.

5- You sound like a frustrated straight person who thinks they know more about our interests and preferences than actual gay people.

6- Tomarry and Drarry are both incredible ships.

7- Fuck JKR.

🍍

[necromanceyourgays]

I understand that “TERF” is historically used just for radfem descrimination against transwomen but I believe it should not be used a synonym for transmisogynist. I really think it’s important to include other trans indentites in that ‘T’, as transmisogyny can hit others just as hard. This is also a bit of a critism of TME/TMA labels.

A good example is how a lot of TERFs often campaign against healthcare for ALL trans people, even if it isn’t gender affirming.

As we know, a big part of radical feminism and TERF retoric is that women need to be protected, that they’re weak and fragile and “wombyns bodies are precious so we MUST protect them!” So, since the government recently passed have said the quiet part out loud, we know they don’t want us to have top surgery to prevent us from breastfeeding. JKR has openly supported this on Twitter.

TERFs shoot a bullet at one person and it hits everyone in the room in the process. As much as they preach about protecting transmen from “ruining their bodies” they actively prevent transmen from getting care in “Womens Spaces”, such as OBGYNs. A lot of this is because they want to bar men— what they consider transwomen to be- from all womens spaces since they see them as a fetish.

This hits transmen, intersex folk, and everyone inbetween. “Well if you have a penis you don’t need to go to a gyno” ignores people with both! This includes not only intersex people but folks of any identity that had bottom surgeries such as penile preservation vaginoplasty or no vaginectomy phalloplasty.

I’m saying my quiet part out loud here but if you are a radfem who supports trans women but calls transmen “poor manipulated girls” I’m calling you a terf. If youre a radfem and deny that transmen experience misogyny or say that theyre uneffected by trans misogyny I’m calling you a terf. You are excluding trans identites from your radical feminism, and that is TERFism.

TL:DR: When trying to ban transwomen, people with M gender markers, and people with penises from getting care seen as strictly for women you are actively killing people who need that healthcare. We are a community and we’re all getting fucked in the end

(sorry for the coke rant)

edit: i was not aware that taking the space from “trans man/woman” and turning it to “transman/woman” was transphobic when i wrote this! I apologize!

[i-isa-i]

I think it’s so interesting how much authority is awarded “the author” in different fandoms. You always here people scream “Death of the Author” but still hold up authorship as an authoritative concept.

Like, when Buffy had bad storylines the consensus was something like ‘trust Joss Whedon” who btw turned out to be a horrible person.

Similarly, Kripke was kind of deified by the fandom (and also kind of by the show) during early seasons spn.

Even disclaimers on fanfics show this dynamic. Why did we write stuff like ‘these characters belong to JKR’?!? Like no shit, I didn’t create Sirius Black but the character still doesn’t belong to that woman?

It’s so interesting to look at the stark difference between gomens and spn fan discourse at the moment. I’m not saying one way is the right way, just that the dynamics are interesting.

Neil says something and most people respect it, some even see it as their duty to act as his apostle and spread his word. People are in his asks to try and get his opinion on certain fan theory bc they consider him the ultimate authority over canon.

And then you have spn fans, especially destiel fans. Not only do they not care what kripke/ dabb or most of the show runners say, they actively oppose the “authors”’ perceived interpretations of the characters and routinely make fun of them. Dabb says he wrote a finale that is only meant to satisfy 30% of the fans and the rest of the fandom decides to strike it from canon and collectively produce enough fix-it fic to fill a library.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Dabb or Kripke or whoever had asked the fandom to keep a spoiler or leak like the gomens one a secret?!? It would have become a meme in 5 seconds and it would have trended above a historic election.

[werewolf-cuddles]

the thing is, i dont think people who like still engage in harry potter are literally hitler or anything but like, like it or not harry potter is the platform she stands on and whether you give her money or not its still aiding in her platform by keeping harry potter around in the public zeitgeist. sure you specifically may not have much of an impact just blogging on your blog about these things but it does add up. its like with scott cawthon and five nights at freddy's the harm they are doing wouldnt be possible without both monetary and social acceptance. As a former harry potter and fnaf fan myself, i just wonder how much does it take to just cut it from ones lives. Like is it even bringing any joy to anyone anymore

I appreciate where you're coming from, but if I may be blunt, that ship has sailed. Harry Potter as a franchise is already so thoroughly embedded in the public consciousness that nothing any of us could do would make a difference either way. We're about 25 years too late.

And if I may continue to be blunt, the calls for people to abandon Harry Potter and let it fade from the public consciousness is, ironically enough, also keeping it in the public consciousness. If you want people to stop talking about it, then practice what you preach and stop constantly bringing it up at every opportunity.

[humunanunga]

"allowed" is an interesting way to put that. And considering I'm visibly trans, it's especially interesting to assume I would've been in any way including Harry Potter in this statement.

tl;dr Harry Potter specifically has become a sewer. If you splash around in the sewer, you're gonna smell like a rat.

When JKR drank the koolaid and started using the profit she earns from her series to fund legislation that targets trans healthcare, everyone who gave a shit about the safety of trans Europeans stopped funding her success. When she points to the popularity of her series with blood libel, and the "ugly" professor having a hooked nose, and slave races that are happier as slaves, she uses her fandom's continued survival as proof that the fans of her books still agree with her political beliefs, that some fans are just quieter about their endorsement now "because of woke" or whatever.

Plenty of autuers have publicly expressed their political views, but they don't all use their social platforms to tell their audiences who to vote for or what bills to pass. HP Lovecraft is dead. He can't influence antisemitic policies from the grave. JKR is alive and using her literary success to empower transphobic politicians.

And therein lies the difference between praising fanon over canon and... this.

This isn't some corporation that owns all the brands of food you can afford, or that you can tolerate putting in your mouth, or that don't include a niche allergen. Because JKR explicitly makes Harry Potter politically-involved, all the Potterheads who didn't want to show support for the same policies as her left the fandom. And that's okay. You can feel hurt by the fond memories she betrayed by exploiting something you cherished for a vile goal.

What it comes down to is that JKR pissed in the pool, and now all the swimmers that didn't get out are doing it too.

Because of what she's done, Harry Potter has evolved into a safe space for terfs. Your association with Harry Potter signals to terfs that you must have stayed in the fandom because you're One Of Them.

If you don't want anyone to tell you what you smell like, it's time to get out and wash off.

[lotty-ed]

I think another reason why I'm mostly ok about the last episode is that I've got bigger fish to fry. The UK supreme Court has decided to redefine what a woman is to be about biological sex essentially reversing the equality act.

It's also important to note that the terf group that took this to court was funded by jk Rowling and the judge was her neighbor and 10 out of 12 judges are men over the age of 60 deciding what a woman and what a lesbian is.

I have never been made to feel unsafe or uncomfortable by any trans person but it is cis men who make me uncomfortable to get a taxi by myself at night, walk down a dark ginnel for a short cut and I've never been harassed and stalked by a trans person for rejecting them.

We talk a lot about representation and queerphobia in fandom but just talking online doesn't impact the reality so If you are in the UK please write to your mp, protest if you're able to

Here's a template https://transactual.org.uk/template-letter-mp/

[corpsephrog]

i love the golden trio and the lightning era characters but i primarily stick to the marauders side of the fandom because it's just like... an objectively better place to be

[to-rise-above-monsters]

i’m really interested in y’all’s takes (and if this is popular /yall are are interested i might make polls for more characters)

below is propaganda for what i think/what im tied between (very long)

^this is mainly the inspo for everything i wrote

so a decade ago when I made my original Hogwarts au i felt so sure of my placements. but then as the characters became so complex and more was revealed, it’s obviously more nuanced.

lion was clearly my choice at the beginning. he’s an impulsive, reckless, strong willed, bold, determined, passionate and selfless person. because he was fighting for a cause we agreed with, he was heroic. he exemplified the good parts of gryffindor; following his morals and what he believed was right and driven towards his goals for freedom. he had such intense personal justice and morality to the point that he believed that those that took freedom from others deserved to died.

but without a doubt, that was twisted when we realized the traits he had were not necessarily for humanity but for his own selfish desires. which showed his true snake nature. he only cared to protect himself and his loved ones. he didn’t care about anything or anyone else in the end, and maybe he never did. all he cared about was his own personal freedom being taken from him and he would do anything to get it and punish those that stole it from him.

he didn’t know why but he wanted to destroy everything. is that more lion or snake? he’s such a simple minded character. sees everything in such black and white, me vs them, extreme to extreme, killing himself for humanity or genociding the world. and he was prepared to and did do extremely unethical and manipulative things to get what he wanted. he cares about his people and will destroy everyone else. that’s so key to being a snake. but being single-minded is also like key lion trait.

i’ve noticed that the line between lion and snake is very thin. and so is badger and snake surprisingly.

-

also to those who are curious how he might fit into the other houses:

with badger, his loyalty was and is a key component of his character. he wanted freedom, he didn’t want to die, but he could not kill his friends. he could not escape his main ties to his friends. a badger’s entire basis is about care for all people, however a badger can decide who counts as a ‘person’. he has no problem killing titans at the beginning but then decides to spare the one on the floor. he dehumanizes those who take freedom from others and makes it in his head that they don’t count as ‘people’. which culminates in him wiping out everyone who is not ‘people’ to him.

but i think this exemplifies snake traits more

with bird, it’s hard to explain bc im seeing it in the sorting hat chats pov (the link i put above) but they say that bird’s main driving force is systems and the system they have crafted must be followed. most birds change the system and make it more complex as the learn more. but stagnant birds are those that refuse to change. when his need for freedom conflicts with his knowledge that everything is predetermined and he has no real choice, his system breaks and he becomes depressed and is consigned to suicide.

tho …i don’t know. he’s like the least bird person ever. he is impulsive and reckless. he only starts to be calculating in the end of his life in an extremely snake way. he doesn’t systemize his morals or views of the world or is in pursuit for knowledge and truth. rather he is very dead set on one goal and commits even when he knows it’s wrong (which a bird would never think) also bro is not wise or creative or any other characteristics—

-

So now with all the propaganda out of the way, I’d love for you to write your explanations for your choice! (long or short)

also i wanna do a poll for armin, mikasa reiner and jean bc those are alsao characters who i feel like have such nuances to them that id love to hear input:))