![]() Besides, many fans have spent years if not decades calling out the Harry Potter books for their shortcomings, and often actively transforming the world of Harry Potter into something better through fandom and its many offshoots, all while still loving it.įor my own part, I would have forgiven and overlooked most of Rowling’s fictional flaws and foibles - including the ugly moment of transphobia in her Robert Galbraith novel The Silkworm. But fiction is malleable - you can tell yourself that with any given work, there are extenuating circumstances, contradictions, multiple interpretations. Perhaps I should have reached my limit earlier I’m queer, I’m fat, I strive to be an ally to people of color. (And if you think that the Harry Potter books are just children’s stories, not worthy of this kind of real-world framework or critique, consider that Harry Potter bred several generations of Democrats.) Rowling’s stories: their arguable racism, queerbaiting, lack of multiculturalism, fat-shaming, and upholding of the patriarchal structures she established in her intricately detailed Wizarding World. Like many fans, I’ve spent years critiquing the many problems embedded in J.K. I had officially ended a 21-year relationship and started to grieve. She asked for empathy and respect for her experiences while showing none for her targets.īut even before she published it, to me at least, the damage had already been done. Especially gutting was the essay’s self-centeredness Rowling masked obvious transphobia as a personal appeal to reason, rooted in her own experience as a woman and an abuse survivor. It was a profoundly hurtful piece of writing, riddled with hand-wringing, groundless arguments about villainous trans women, outdated science, and exclusionary viewpoints. Then on Wednesday, Rowling attempted to explain her stance on trans identity with a long essay full of harmful transphobic stereotypes. I resolved to compartmentalize my Harry Potter fandom identity as something over and done with, instead of thinking of it as a cornerstone of my identity. I still talk nearly every day to people I’ve known in Harry Potter fandom since my earliest days there. ![]() In boxing up those books, I metaphorically boxed up years of intense participation in the Harry Potter fandom, from writing fanfiction and going to conventions to moderating fan communities online and nurturing the friendships I made within them. More importantly, it perpetuated the type of pernicious hate and misinformation that leads to trans women, especially teens and black trans women, becoming victims of sexual assault, violence, and hate crimes at an appallingly frequent rate.Īnd so, on Sunday night, I removed Rowling from my bookshelf and stored her away: all 11 books in the Harry Potter series (seven novels, plus three supplementary books and one play script) The Casual Vacancy, her scathing satirical foray into “adult” literature and her four Robert Galbraith mysteries. Rowling’s comment deeply hurt many of her millions of fans - including me. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” Rowling tweeted, seeming to imply that all people who menstruate are women and that only people who menstruate are women. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. On June 6, she appeared to openly belittle transgender people when she mocked a news headline about “people who menstruate.” Though Rowling was met with massive backlash at the time, she’s continued to express these views. ![]() Many Harry Potter fans had previously voiced concerns that Rowling might be anti-trans, but despite their efforts, the author’s apparent TERFism wasn’t widely discussed until December 2019, when she suddenly tweeted in support of a British TERF at the center of a highly publicized court case. Over the past few years, Rowling has made several statements that suggest a growing alliance with TERFism - trans-exclusionary radical feminism, or the belief that trans women aren’t women and that biological sex is the only factor that determines someone’s gender. Last weekend, as Harry Potter fans the world over were still reeling from the latest round of anti-trans comments made by author J.K.
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