#I’m not defending jkr

[act-more-like-a-dog-sirius]

I swear to god it is impossible to exist for more than 3 consecutive minutes in this fandom these days without wanting to murder someone

[alagaisia]

Hey if you’re still enjoying and engaging with Harry Potter in any capacity you can unfollow me 😊 please and thank you

Like. I get it. I was super into it as a kid too. I did not have the social context to pick up on the antisemitism or transphobia or sexism or fatphobia or bioessentialism or racism or anything else. I also picked up on surface-level language of Fighting Back Against Evil and ascribed my own values onto what that meant and thought we were all on the same page. I remember when the original kids who grew up with the books started becoming adult fans and picking up on the (blatant!) antisemitism and everybody was still mostly willing to give JKR the benefit of the doubt on it. (“She was writing kids books!” They said. “She didn’t know she was penning a global phenomenon! She picked a common literary trend in European fairy tales (antisemitic caricature) and didn’t examine it closely. It’s a mistake anyone could make,” we said. “She would probably do things differently now. After all, she word-of-god confirmed the vaguest hints she dropped that Dumbledore might be gay,” we said.) There was actually a span of several years where biases inherent in the actual real content of the Harry Potter series were coming to light and even the people pointing them out still seemed mostly to think it was an unfortunate accident.

That time has passed. Years ago! We are long past the first months of “maybe she doesn’t realize this seemingly-feminist tweet she liked was made by a noted TERF” and then “how could she not realize that these many veiled TERF-y things she’s retweeted have implications for the many queer fans of her work” and finally “oh wow okay JKR just dropped an entire transphobic manifesto on twitter. I guess the transphobia was the point.”

Yeah, there were a few months after that where people were still processing and still working through how they felt about Harry Potter and all of its flaws with the context of the now open transphobia of the creator. I was there for that. Remember how I was one of the kids who built it up into something noble and worthwhile based on my own beliefs about what messages it was probably trying to convey? Turns out it wasn’t trying to say any of those things, and when you take the time to examine all of the terrible shit that made its way into the text whether JKR intended it to be there or not, the whole series falls apart. It’s weird to discover that there’s a room in your house that’s rotten to the core, but eventually you figure out you can’t live like that, still going in there and holding your nose and pretending it’s still the same room you thought it was when the termites were only inside of the walls and hadn’t yet started chewing their way through the furniture. Because what’s going to happen is that they are going to infest the rest of your house. If you decide you can ignore transphobia and antisemitism and everything else just because you liked the color of the wallpaper, the rest of your principles are going to crumble too. You get rid of that fucking room. You put those books on a high shelf in the back of your closet behind other outgrown clothes and interests and you move the fuck on.

JKR uses the money made from her transphobic antisemitic children’s books to actively funding hate groups and to lobby for legislation that will and has actually affected the actual lives of trans people in an entire country. We are past the point of grieving something you were wrong about in childhood. Kids are wrong about a lot of stuff. You grow up and you learn new information and you change your behaviors based on it. You have to choose. It is transphobic to pretend there is not transphobia where there is. It is transphobic to support the work of someone who is using those funds to take rights from trans people with every fucking dollar. It is hateful to continue to engage positively with a story that at its very core is rooted in hate and bigotry and prejudice. You can choose to do all of those things but you cannot claim ignorance of them and you cannot choose those things and still pretend that choosing them upholds the values we convinced ourselves that Harry Potter stood for over a decade ago as uninformed children. You cannot choose to do those things and pretend to still support your trans and queer and Jewish neighbors. I do not want you in my neighborhood. Leave.

[strawberryshortpace]

I know it’s not very nice of me, but I’m honestly having so much fun watching the chaos of the whole fanfiction binding and selling debacle that’s happening

Cause while I read fanfic I usually stick to 2 main fandoms

Spider-Man, which has so many different creators and versions that I don’t think there’s any feasible way for them to put a complete ban on fanfic of the character

and

All For The Game, which I still consider a small fandom and I doubt anyone would even consider selling bound fanfics of the series cause 1) there’s not gonna be many people who would even buy it 2) the author would find it so quickly cause it would spread through the whole fandom so quickly and people would make sure she saw it

[gyngar]

everyone's favorite teacher in Hogwarts legacy dies at the end of the game in all endings. nothing can save her. and Anne was cursed by Rookwood. as someone who's great-grandparents fled their country bc of genocide, i cannot excuse the absolute selfishness it takes to pretend to enjoy a game like Hogwarts legacy. unless you're trolling, in which case, pls spoil the game for all the other antisemites who can't bother to think critically about the stereotypes they consume. shame on you otherwise. it's not just trans people you're disappointing. blessed be, except for white supremacists.

1. I’m not even planning to play the game, spoiling it doesn’t mean shit to me

2. I think problematic themes in media is a very nuanced discussion and I am a firm believer that you can still enjoy something even if it has problematic elements, near everything will have something in it. I don’t know how bad it is in hogwarts legacy, as I previously said I have no personal interest in the game, but I don’t think people deserve death threats for wanting to enjoy the game. People like other things with problematic elements without being harassed for it.

3. Radical feminism has a diverse community of women of all races and all areas of the world. If people actually bothered to read other opinions instead of blindly following people saying anything they can think of to paint radfems as the ‘big bad’ maybe you’d realise that.

[nothing-an-iratze-cant-fix]

One of the saddest places I can think of now is the bathroom at (one of the many) cafes in Edinburgh that claim to have had JKR in them while writing some portion of the HP books. It’s covered in graffiti with messages of love and happiness for the books and JKR herself because people found acceptance and love in the world she’d created. So many of the messages state how low or broken or lost the people who found solace in her work were and how much it meant to them. Most of them likely travelled far to leave these notes. Many of them will have been trans/queer/NB. It was, mostly coincidentally, an occasional haunt for me and some friends years ago now. I haven’t been back since she made her feelings on trans people and just being a generally awful human being horrifically clear. I don’t think I want to see it.

The situation with JKR is simple - she’s transphobic, racist, unionist, attention-seeking arsehole. The situation with Harry Potter really isn’t and pretending it is isn’t helping anyone.

Anyway, if you’re trans, a poc or even just a technically unaffected decent human being who is sickened by her behaviour but once loved her works and the world that grew from them and beyond her influence, I see you, I feel you, I know it’s heartbreaking to go home and find it wasn’t what you thought when you were there and that now it’s burning to the ground around you. Are there worst things in life? Oh, yeah. By far. But it’s ok if you mourn for that too. If it makes you sad too. If every time you see this hateful bitch open her mouth and hurt innocent people, it sucks and you feel sad and angry and guilty and weird all over again. And if anyone tells you to “read another book”, it’s also ok to punch them because Jesus fucking Christ is that NOT the issue.

[bootleg-b0i]

I’m seeing and reading the discourse on both sides one the whole MisMag debate, but I think it’s pivotal that we all agree the season is based around HP. I keep seeing people try to claim it’s not as a way of defending it and it bugs me because it’s a bad defense. The show frequently references/alludes/satirizes/parallels things specifically found in HP. Yeah JKR doesn’t own wands and magic schools, but it’s not even that stuff that makes the connection to Harry Potter; it’s about how many times they directly say “omg this is just like Harry Potter” “can’t believe they don’t know what Harry Potter is” etc. in the very first episode. The show is intentionally building itself around Harry Potter as a franchise, and I don’t say that with an pro or neg agenda. That’s just the truth.

[moonlightdancer26]

Can you give your take on this? Because for the life of me I can’t comprehend why lily started dating James right after the worst memory.

Like yeah you’re upset and rightfully fair too, but I feel like she sorta had a liking for James way before the whole thing with sev, like she must’ve thought he’s amusing or something, and I kinda feel like severus might have seen it too, but of course that’s just my thinking.

Correction: She didn’t actually date James right after SWM, she began dating him in 7th year, which was around 2 years after SWM occurred. I don’t think she could be that cruel to date James right after he did something that awful to Snape lol.

I do think she was at least attracted to James during SWM, JKR herself has even confirmed that Lils somewhat fancied James during that period (“You’re a woman, you know what I mean!” no.. no I don’t, JKR 🤨). Her behaviour with James in SWM was concerning as hell, her best friend was legitimately on the ground after just having been choked with soapsuds and her first reaction was to not even glance at him and automatically start bickering with James and talking about his broomstick and his “stupid hair.” 💀 like Lily ily but.. wtf are you doing??

But to be fair to Lils, when she dated James, she genuinely thought he had changed and became a better person. She wouldn’t have dated him if he was still bullying Snape and other people, she would’ve still been attracted to him like she was in SWM, but she wouldn’t have actually gone out with him. However, my issue with that is the fact that she was willing to go out with him AFTER she saw that he SA’d and bullied her (at the time) best friend for YEARS. Lames shippers like to say “oh but she and Snape weren’t friends anymore!! She didn’t ‘owe him anything!’” but like.. at the time, Snape was her best friend of 7 years, and James (knowing that they were friends) had no issue blatantly torturing him and publicly exposing him and then blackmailed Lily (not Snape, but Lily herself) into going out with him. This isn’t an issue about Snape or them not being friends anymore or whatever, it’s the fact that James—at least at one point of his life—had literally zero issue hurting the person Lily cared about and blackmailing her and threatening to hex her. The fact that he was even capable of SA, choking someone with soapsuds, immobilising them, relentlessly bullying them for years, all while knowing that they were someone Lily cared about, should have sent her running for the HILLS. All of that is putting aside that he also had no problem blackmailing Lily and then threatening to hex her when she wanted to defend her friend (“?? wtf girl? How dare you try to help out your friend after I just SA’d them and blackmailed you?? You better not make me hex you too 😠”).

And to make things worse…… what did James even do to change?? Stop bullying people?? Wow so incredible of him! That’s definitely going to reverse the damage of the people he did all that shit to! We should all applaud him for doing the absolute bare minimum!! I should definitely look past him assaulting my now-ex-best-friend-but-who-was-still-someone-I-cared-about-and-respected-at-one-point-in-my-life for 6 whole years, even though he never actually apologised to my now-ex-best-friend… which… would’ve been the proof that he actually changed… Oh who cares? I’m definitely going to date him anyway!

Like, I don’t even care if I wasn’t friends with that person anymore, the fact that YOU had no problem assaulting that person and making their life miserable for YEARS even though you know how much I care about them and then trying to force me into going out with you would be enough for me to not want to go out with you. Simply knowing that you were capable of doing such atrocious things to ANY human being is horrifying. That isn’t even regarding that he showed no hard evidence of changing, merely stopping the bullying does nothing to heal the victim of what you put them through. Like, if I went out and killed a bunch of people, and I suddenly decide to stop killing people, does that mean I’m not guilty of murder?

So, I don’t hate Lily, but I’m definitely not fond of her character. All her scenes show her being pretty unpleasant and she ended up marrying JAMES of all people, so yeah I’m definitely not going to think very highly of her intelligence level…

Anyway, that’s my take. I’m sorry for how long this got, but your ask really triggered something in me that’s been waiting to rant about this 💀

[klarolinexluv]

what's it like to be pro-fascist? jegulus is fucking disgusting and you freaks need to get out of the fandom

Omg i was just thinking I’ve never gotten a hate comment before. It’s so ugly omg. Anyway. Call me a fascist all you want, I’m still going to ship Jegulus.

WHICH BTW SHIPPING SOMETHING DOESNT MAKE ANYONE OR ANYTHING A FASCIST. It’s like, what if I said I shipped Snily? Would you call me a fascist then? Because Snape was also a death eater. And Lily was not. MY POINT IS, shipping what you like doesn’t make you and anyone a fascist. It doesnt make you remotely anything. the only thing it does is make you fan of whatever the ship comes from, (marauders era, golden trio era, new gen, etc etc.) (Fuck JKR) OMG I HAVE ANOTHER EXAMPLE. would ypu call me a fascist for shipping drarry? Draco was a death eater. Harry was the fucking chosen one. Hell, maybe you dont ship drarry. dramione is just the same. shipping draco with anyone basically. the same as shipping regulus or barty or evan. AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT DOESNT MAKE YOU A FASCIST FOR LIKING A SHIP OR CHARACTER. just becaude this ship or character 'gets in the way' of YOUR otp, doesn’t mean that anyone who does ship/like them is anything inherrently bad (or a fascist.) Also, you kinda like, taking away the actual meaning of the word??? Like, there are some people who are actual fascists, sometimes I see people comment things like this and I think that you don’t even know the definition of the word.

Fascist: Fascism is a far-right form of government in which most of the country's power is held by one ruler or a small group, under a single party. Fascist governments are usually totalitarian and authoritarian one-party states.

In case you were wondering, supporting and like a character who was a death eater and supporting the death eaters ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS. PLUS THE DEATH EATERS AND TOM RIDDLE WERENT EVEN THE GOVERNMENT IN POWER. Not to defend them or anything but sure they held alot of power but the Ministry still had more (though they did nothing with it the dumb fuckers).

My final point is… ship and love whatever ships and characters you want. Most people don’t give a shit, and those that do are just mindless adults who think they are better than everyone. (newsflash, fandom is always changing and evolving. Get over it). I think it’s wonderful to have so many ships and variation in our fandom, I love exploring all these rare pairs and reading about them.

Don’t let anyone say otherwise, your art, your writing, your love is yours and there are so many people out their that love it just the same as you. Don’t let those single minded haters get to you, they may seem like there is so many of them but in reality it’s probably just one person sitting behind an anon trying to force you out, don’t let them! What you’ve created, what you love is so beautiful and so uniquely you. I love you. I love your art, your fandom. I love you.

I ALSO WOULD LIKE IT KNOWN THAT I AM ALSO A JILY SHIPPER. I actually love jily, but have a preference for jegulus. So… it’s also things like this that make me love jegulus that much more, because honestly, I’m going to love something that people continuously tell me not to. That’s probably unhealthy but it’s true.

My page and inbox is always open for anyone and everyone, even fucking haters, come at me, I’ll rant, like I just did. Anyway- my inbox and direct messages are always open if anyone wanted to talk or had anything they wanted to say to me. (Be warned if you are hating on me I will take screenshots and I will share it with the public, your blog name and all <3)

I hope everyone’s has a lovely day, drink lots of water. I love you!

Live, laugh, love JEGULUS AND REGULUS FUCKING BLACK.

[maxdibert]

Ok, as a British person, your supercilious commenter is not quite correct. Class-related bullying in various forms has always been a massive problem, but James Potter’s particularly violent brand of ‘hazing’ was, while obviously far from unheard of, NOT as commonplace as they are making out it was in 1970s Britain, and categorically not in early 2000s Britain in the context JKR was writing. ‘Fagging’ - a hideous practice where younger boys played servant to older boys and a dynamic hinted at between Lucius and first year Severus - was embedded in super posh schools (like Eton) but was increasingly frowned upon by outsiders by the 60s and by the 70s Eton was the only school not to have expressly banned it. The government got round to cementing this ban in law in the 1980s. In the later 20th century, state schools like the one JKR attended had policies to address the sort of bullying James perpetuated - assuming he did go through with his threat to remove Severus’ underwear and exposing his genitals it would’ve led to suspension at minimum if witnessed. In 2003, the year Order of the Phoenix was finalised and released, this was explicitly criminalised as ‘exposure’ after decades of campaigning from activists pushing to close the loopholes in the sexual assault laws from the 1950s. I highly doubt JKR was unaware of this debate, given her charitable activities back then were directed towards supporting survivors. Where this sort of hazing was actually far more commonplace was in Victorian boarding school novels, a British literary tradition the depiction of Hogwarts draws on.

But historical context aside, James’ actions are considered especially vicious *by the text*. We’re meant to be horrified. It deliberately replicates the Death Eater attack on the muggle family at the Quidditch World Cup, which Ron calls ‘sick’. Harry runs through the sexual assault apologia list trying to justify his father - boys will be boys, they were just kids and they grew up, maybe Snape did something to deserve it in all his Dark Arts loving weirdness - and then one by one discards these excuses as bullshit. And even in the scene set in 1976, onlookers are described as ‘apprehensive’, with the implication that, just like with young Harry and Dudley, nobody wants to step in and make themselves the Marauders’ next target.

JKR has very few scenes to set Lily and James up as a plausibly loving couple, and in half of this scene they’re fighting to the point Harry thinks James must’ve drugged her to marry her. So every line here counts. Lily’s flash of instinct to be amused by James’ bullying is not there to show an involuntary nervous reaction, nor a conditioned response to a commonplace act of 1970s hazing, because there are onlookers in this scene who aren’t amused at all. It’s there to indicate to the reader that Lily and James are compatible beneath the surface of our narrator Harry’s disbelief. Which is an interesting character wrinkle for Lily, which becomes more interesting after book 7 reveals her connection to Snape! Why are people determined to make an already paper thin character less interesting?

Apologies for the extremely long anon. I just see a lot of ‘British context’ thrown around here, and a fair chunk of it falls a bit wide of the mark.

Well, if you go to the post, you’ll see they’ve responded with even more “British context,” but I’m not going to get into discrediting them using an argument from authority because that’s not my place, considering I don’t come from that context, and I’m usually quite reluctant to do so. I mean, I can talk about my experience living in London for a year as someone who went there to work as a dishwasher, but I didn’t study there, so when it comes to the educational context, I’m not well-versed, especially when we’re talking about the 1970s. Either way, I’m not taking a radfem too seriously for defending JK Rowling as if she’s going to pay their university fees. But thanks for your input and contextualization 🙏🏻.

[shakespearean-snape]

I’m rereading OOTP right now and I find that scene between Severus and Sirius in the kitchen to be highly relevant in the context of Severus as a feminine-coded character (and Sirius as a representation of toxic masculinity). Sirius is very outwardly aggressive in this scene in a conventionally masculine way, while Severus weaponizes his sarcasm and wit in a way that could be thought of as a more “feminine” form of defence. While Harry describes Sirius’s voice as getting progressively louder and angrier, he describes Severus’s voice as “soft” in contrast (as he usually does, which is also interesting in the context of Severus as a feminine man/GNC character). Sirius gets up and tries to intimidate Severus physically, and Severus grips his wand inside his pocket in a way that reminded me of a victim of domestic violence preparing to defend herself against her abuser.

I’m not sure how much of this was intentional considering how rigid JKR’s views on gender have unfortunately turned out to be, but I can’t help but read Severus as a feminine character, especially since he’s meant to act as a stand in for Lily in the same way as Sirius acts as a stand in for James. It’s very easy to read Sev as gender non conforming and/or LGBTQ, although given JKR’s own views it’s doubtful she meant for us to read him that way (but fuck her, she’s a massive transphobe, the characters are ours now, we can do what we like with them).

Note to self, start checking your inbox regularly. These changes to Tumblr are killing me because the notifications when I get messages or asks are hit-or-miss at best.

Anyways, this is such a great observation! I'm only just learning about coding and that that is even the term for it from reading about it from other Snape bloggers like @idealistic-realism00, @raptured-night, and @professormcguire since I only took the required English courses both my undergraduate years and beyond that my major was in sociology.

So, I'm not really any kind of expert but I do have a lot of personal experience from being biracial and queer myself just with learning to read between the lines and find representation for myself where I can and I think that is the case for a lot of people from less represented, marginalized backgrounds. We have a certain instinct for these things so even without any kind of formal study we sort of know the "codes" (for better or worse depending on what the author's intent is and if it's a negative dog-whistle or something more positive to get around censorships of the time) if that makes any kind of sense.

For me, I always saw Sirius and Snape as two sides of a coin. There were some very obvious parallels and contrasts between them and this really goes to that in a lot of ways for me. Both Sirius and Snape are two men who made pivotal choices in their youths that very much define them and have led to a great deal of internalized guilt and impacted their behaviors as adults. Both Sirius and Snape find themselves confined to their childhood homes at different points, Sirius at Grimmauld Place with Kreacher and Snape at Spinner's End with Peter Pettigrew (both Kreacher and Peter are characters that also are known for betraying Harry and costing him someone he loves at different points and making a turn around in regards to Harry because of kindness or mercy he showed to them).

Where Sirius made the choice to make Peter the Secret Keeper with only James, Lily, and Peter knowing and it ultimately led to the death of the Potters and him being sentenced to twelve years in Azkaban, Snape also unwittingly delivered part of the fated prophecy that led to Voldemort targeting the Potters. Most interesting for me is that Snape's friendship with Lily and Sirius's friendship with James could be read as either platonic or a case of unrequited romantic feelings. There is the observation in SWM made by Harry that while Sirius was clearly a looker who attracted the attention of girls, his attention was fully on James and not on those admiring glances. So, when looking at Sirius's relationship with James through a comparative lens to Snape's with Lily they could be platonic friends or both Sirius and Snape could have had romantic feelings for their best friends while, ironically enough, Sirius had to watch James fall for and succeed in winning over Lily just as Snape had to do the same.

In the case of Snape and Sirius there is also a degree of regression and arrested development stemming from trauma (and both men at different points make the clear mistake of seeing Harry as a stand-in for James as a result of said trauma). Where Sirius spent twelve years in Azkaban able to hold onto his sanity against the Dementors in part because he knew he was innocent and the truth of what happened was a deeply unhappy thing for him, Snape spent decades in Dumbledore's service at Hogwarts (a place with its own unhappy associations for him having found it was not a refuge from life at Spinner's End with Tobias as he had hoped but another place where he would be bullied relentlessly, overlooked by his Head of House and housemates for being a poor half-blood with no status, subject to institutional failures resulting from yet more adult authority figures in his life not protecting him, groomed by Voldemort's followers and responsible for alienating his closest friend as a result) teaching children when clearly he does not have the temperament and, courtesy of his role as a spy, concealing his own truths and intentionally not allowing people to know the best of him. In a sense, both men had a negative public image that ran counter to the full truth about them and both of them died without being able to see those misconceptions vindicated (Sirius died still presumed by the Ministry and general public to have been the traitor who turned his friends over to Voldemort and murdered innocent people and Snape died knowing he had delivered information to Harry that would lead to his death and unsure of the outcome of the war with everyone thinking him a coward and murderer).

There's just, a LOT of parallels there between the two when you start to unpack them as characters. Even the fact that they both came from domestic dysfunction and unhappy home lives. It makes their mutual antagonism all the more of a tragedy because if not for Sirius's prejudice (which is arguably more understandable given his family and their long tradition of being sorted into Slytherin) against Slytherins and antagonism of young Snape on the train and the years of bullying and bad blood that followed, these two men had the most potential to understand each other. Alas, they do not, but it is their likenesses that makes their differences in how they clash all the more interesting because, as you noted, there are stark differences there. Sirius is all overt masculine energy; hot-headed and physically imposing while Snape is more strained, the ice to his fire.

Most striking to me was always the difference in how little respect Sirius showed to Snape's body while he was unconscious (further demonstrating how little Sirius has changed from the teenage boy who once stood with James and exposed Snape to laughing schoolmates) versus how Snape conjured a stretcher while still under the impression he was the one responsible for betraying the Potters (and the death of Lily). In that way, we get to see how Snape has developed as a person away from his past choices and learned from them. He may still regress, as he does quite plainly when forced to return to the Shrieking Shack and is confronted by Sirius and Remus there, but he isn't quite in the full state of arrested development as Sirius (but given his circumstances in Azkaban that isn't entirely surprising either; there is a tragedy to Sirius's character for all that there is as much of a darkness as there was in Snape during his time as a Death Eater and the fact so many Marauder apologists who double as "Snaters" refuse to acknowledge that outside of romanticizing the angst of it all while vilifying Snape is quite possibly an even greater tragedy, imo) which is why Sirius's death came in part due to his inability to move beyond his past and find it within himself to treat Kreacher with a modicum of understanding or empathy (in addition to his desire to be part of the action again and recapture his lost youth when it was him and James in the Order together) while Snape's death came only after he had to reconcile with the fact his original raison d'être for becoming a spy (to protect Harry for Lily as penance) ran counter to what was needed to defeat Voldemort for good and he still chose to stay the course instead of pursue his own agenda and act on his own self-interests.

In short, Sirius's death was partly due to the fact he couldn't move beyond the past. While Snape's death came as a result of the fact he had grown enough as a character to set aside his past motivations and see things through because he had become someone who conjured stretchers even for hated enemies and risked his life to save all those who he could save (including Sirius and Remus).

Thanks for the ask and I'm so sorry it took so long to respond but it gave me even more to think about. The masculine vs. feminine coding just adds an extra element to Snape and Sirius's dynamic when it was already interesting to me and I've always had a lot of thoughts about how those two were written with so many parallels and points of contrast. Love this ask!

[vintage-bentley]

so the fandom's defense of gaiman is that the claims can't be trusted since the site publishing them is "owned by a terf" and is therefore a conspiracy to destroy trans people? the fact they're not immediately disowning the guy who, in the best case scenario, initiated a sexual relationship with a 19 y/o employee, hours after meeting her, while being in his 60s and famous/wealthy says everything.

It’s actually insane. I’ve seen people go as far as claiming that the allegations are some sort of conspiracy to end trans rights because Neil defended David Tennant’s little misogyny fit.

Here’s some examples:

—

—

—

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In my humble opinion, there’s a few things wrong with this line of logic.

I’m putting a cut here since this is a long post.

Regarding DT—that first screenshot seems to be implying that either the allegations were made up about Neil to slander David, or that because there was no “dirt” on David, real allegations were brought up about Neil.

In the first case, if the allegations are made up…wouldn’t they have just been made up about DT? What would be the point in going and making them about NG?

And in the second case, what the hell does DT have to do with that.

People seem to be forgetting that the general public does not associate DT with NG or vice versa. They did one show together, that doesn’t mean that their reputations are forever tied together. Nobody is going to slander NG to get at DT because there’s barely a connection between them.

And regarding the idea that this is some huge conspiracy to end trans rights or whatever…people are forgetting that it’s not like Neil is actually a huge trans rights advocate. It’s not like he’s constantly speaking to politicians and getting involved with trans organisations. It’s not like he’s on the front lines and is the first person the public thinks of when trying to think of a trans advocate.

He literally just said some stuff on social media. He went along with people’s trans headcanons for clout. He said the obligatory “oh yes JKR is a very bad woman”. That’s really it. Other than that, he’s just another straight male.

If the press really wanted to come out with a story that’s going to Destroy Trans Rights!!!!, they’d target a trans identifying person who’s a large face in the movement. They’d go after trans organisations. They wouldn’t find some author who sometimes says nice things about trans identifying people online and slander him in hopes of changing public opinion.

The entire conspiracy is just nonsensical, and to me it’s clearly an attempt to grab onto anything they can to prove that their special tumblr guy is innocent.

It’s also interesting that the one post I added mentions

“What I do believe is that it's awfully convenient that radfems and JK Rowling supporters (seriously, look at the tags of the people spreading the story) are stirring it up

Because yeah…radfems are kind of known for believing women who accuse men of rape and/or abuse. I’ll point to the Heard vs Depp thing again: when that was in full gear, I saw dozens of radfems posting in support of Heard, while everyone else was supporting Depp.

This isn’t an anti-trans thing—this is a feminists believe women thing.

But as we’ve seen repeatedly…the TQ+ crowd is incredibly self-centred. Everything must be about them at all times. I’m unfortunately not surprised that they’re trying to spin this into a “oh my god terfs are attacking trans people!!!!” Thing….even though radical feminists just do not have the social power to run a smear campaign against a powerful male celebrity in order to hurt the trans movement (just typing that out feels insane lol. How is this even a theory people are running with).

That said, when they say “terf” they don’t just mean radfems/radfem-aligned women. They mean literally anyone who disagrees with them.

Apparently the producer of the podcast that came out is Boris Johnson’s sister, who is also conservative. So, most likely not a radfem.

I agree that the source is kind of odd, because it’s such a niche site, and having a podcast about rape accusations reeks of true crime sensationalism. I’d like to see some more solid evidence coming out. Still, I’m believing the alleged victims and I hate watching people scramble to defend Gaiman.

[ghostofbambifanfiction]

LMFAAO i’ve always had this suspicion that JKR despised james somehow in a self-internalized hate kind of way, glad that i’m not the only one having that thoughts

It's just a FEELING, you know? But I've always had it. Although I own that this might be because I personally feel like she didn't do enough to defend him or explain how much he'd grown up.

[arliedraws]

I find it many things weird in Harry Potter, in general the plot holes are everywhere and things when you think about them just don't make much sense, even in storytelling perspective, and consistency.

One thing that I find appalling is how Sirius didn't notice the scarring on Harry's hand, from Umbridges lines. It's established canonically they're lasting scars. Sirius already had to watch from the literal shadows how Harry was enrolled in that tournament, already fearing for his godsons life bc he suspected Voldemort was involved. How couldn't any responsible guardian, not notice Harry was physically abused, again, under Dumbledores nose, but away from Sirius direct influence to be able to do anything. Then on top of that, Snape is gonna to do the occlumensy lessons, and while Sirius knew that was necessary, I mean, he was outraged when he heared Snape stopped it, but ok, he let it all slide? If I were Sirius I would have pulled Harry out myself for that year, enough is enough. If Dumbledores presence didn't prevent Harry's suffering, in fact his choices add to Harry's real physical abuse (Dursleys, certain teachers). Sirius could educate Harry theoretical until Umbridge was gone. Harrry was save enough in Grimmauld during christmas and the summer so why not.

Its like those I mustn't tell lies scars only are there when needed and then forgotten during times of the plot supporting characters might have reacted to them, like Sirius or whomever. Sirius is a genius wizard but can't turn into an unassuming anonymous figure to go outside, like Hermione did to Ron's features with just her wand and spells in b7, negating need for polyjuice, it's his dog form or permanent housearrest (which leads to disintegration of his mind /character and then he dies)

At some point I'm really suspect this is character driven anymore and just JKs incompetence to consistently implement Sirius's character. Like you already said somewhere here, he is a miracle character. Too clever, too bright, too loyal to continue in the story JK wanted to tell like you said somewhere before. I have a feeling JK didn't know what to do with Sirius, denigrated him and his character and then killed him off. His best role at the end to fulfill is to reinforce Harry's suffering and loneliness it seems, while Sirius actually was the main hope of Harry in the heart of the series. So meaningless!

While I love character metas, I think JK is a meanspirited woman, I always had that notion bc she reacted in some ways, even before the whole modern eh, shenanigans. And that meanness, pettiness and inconclusive attitude reflect in hps worldbuilding.

I agree with several points here!

If Sirius had been in a better mental space, I agree that he would have noticed the scars from the blood quill. However, we could also interpret this as Sirius being exceptionally depressed. Now, I’m not defending JKR here, but one thing we do have to remember is that Sirius was a convicted murderer and Harry’s legal guardians were the Dursleys. Sirius literally has no say in what Harry does. Sirius is not a person with rights—in the eyes of the law, he is due to have his soul sucked out. Anytime Sirius makes a decision on Harry’s behalf, it’s a courtesy thing, not a legal guardian thing. Unfortunately. It’s gross to say, but legally, Molly has the same rights as Sirius to tell Harry what to do—which is, gross.

Also, sure, Sirius could go out of number 12 in disguise but he’s in hiding because he knows he can’t risk his own safety for Harry’s sake. Dumbledore has made it very clear that Sirius is not to leave, and frankly, by the way Harry believed he had to rescue Sirius, this was actually probably the right call. Sirius is the most important person to Harry (and likewise), and if Sirius were taken captive by either the Ministry or Voldemort, Harry would done something unwise (which…he did). I’m not arguing that this is how it should have gone down, but theoretically (if you ignore the importance of mental health and stability lol), this should have been the right call.

But the point is, Voldemort’s ability to manipulate people and destroy friendships is what killed Sirius. Voldemort manipulated Dumbledore who thought he was smarter than Voldemort; Dumbledore prioritized keeping Harry alive but sacrificed Sirius in the end. I do think JKR punishes Sirius for being smart and attractive (lol), calling him rash when he’s really…not, but I think it’s important to recognize that even the smartest, most caring people can make mistakes and overlook the pain of the people they love most.

I think Sirius is partially in denial about some of Harry’s struggles. As a man of action, Sirius’s inclination is to fix things, and when he cannot fix in the way he believes is necessary, he shuts down. He comes alive at the end of OotP when he is able to help in the way he wants—and then JKR kills him for it lol.

Anyway, just some thoughts. I don’t actually think Sirius was behaving out-of-character, but I think JKR was unmerciful in putting this fictional character into situations that brought out the worst in him because it served the plot. Just my two cents though!

[saintsenara]

For the unpopular opinions ask game, 🏳️‍🌈 and 💔?

thank you very much for the ask, anons plus @princessofshazabah, which i have combined into one!

which character who is commonly headcanoned as queer doesn't seem queer to you?

having an answer to this is a skill issue! the very point of shipping is that any expression of human sexuality [very rarely as fixed and unchanging as many people like to believe] is possible if an author has enough nerve.

which means that any way of writing a character's sexuality is inherently plausible, and trying to argue otherwise ["omg noooo he only likes women!", "omg nooooo he's a gold-star gay who'd be sick if he saw a cunt"] is unimaginative.

if you had to remove one major character from the series, who would you choose?

grawp. he's pointless.

what is a popular [serious] theory you disagree with?

that lord voldemort cannot feel love because of the circumstances of his conception.

the two things i particularly hate about this fanon are the fact that, firstly, it suggests that anybody who was conceived because of rape - which is going to be a far greater number of people than perhaps we like admitting - is irreparably damaged.

and that, secondly, it continues one of the main issues with how the harry potter series portrays voldemort’s childhood by completely overlooking the failure of the state in how he ends up as he does.

the institutionalisation of children is a profoundly traumatising practice, and the vast majority of orphanages - both historically and in the parts of the world where they persist - do not have the resources to provide the children in their care with the support they need [no matter how well-intentioned the staff]. 

the young voldemort learns as a baby not to waste his time on crying, because he’s not getting the attention he needs from it, and there are other signs in canon that he’s not had a great time in the orphanage [especially, as i’m always going on about, the sinister implication which can be read into his extreme fear of doctors…], but dumbledore pays no attention to the role the state and its institutions have had in shaping his [undoubtedly] concerning persona.

the harry potter series does this a lot - ignoring the role of the state in favour of locating good and evil within the individual - but that doesn’t mean we have to. there doesn’t need to be a supernatural reason for voldemort’s voldemortishness… it just fucks up kids to be raised in what is, essentially, a pen.

[i also hate this fanon because it forces me to defend jkr - which i loathe doing - and point out that she explicitly refuted it.]

which character is not as hot as everyone else seems to think?

there is no suggestion anywhere in canon that either lucius or draco malfoy are attractive.

[wildpeachfarm]

this is meant lighthearted : instead of “all men are trash, women do no wrong” a secret third thing “PEOPLE suck in general”

as someone who grew up with an absent father who tried to make life difficult for my mother once she took him to court for child support for me and my siblings - ing…I grew up with a not nice view of older men BUT my grandpa was a big big influence in not making men a negative experience for us.

the recent shift of the last 4-5 years has been worrying. I used to liked jkr and could emphasize where she was coming from originally. but it was scary to see the gradual descent into where she is now and the stuff she is saying. Bc she is so far removed from what she originally stood for. It can happen to anyone, I even get worried if I’m on that slope sometimes. This whole situation had me second guessing myself bc I gave gnf time and believed in him. I had a moment when a few female creators made remarks (not from mc community) and I checked myself bc I was scared I was falling into the conservative rhetoric to blame women and protect men. Then I saw others who had more information and actually looked into it and also found this blog where the nuances were being discussed and let out a breath of relief that I was just using my critical thinking skills lmao

There are so many men out there who just aren’t given a chance bc society is set up for them to fall into a certain role. And I think a lot of men are trying to break that role and stereotypes. I became a dream fan bc I saw him doing this, saw a gamerboy in 2020 who was passionate and excelled at the game but didn’t fall into the toxicity of the space, actively fought against it.

and women should not be encouraged to drag men through hell bc they feel empowered by the rhetoric of recent years. women can and are just as selfish and shitty people as men. Sometimes they are worse

we’ve gone so far off center, we’ve essentially gone from one extreme to another. Which I learned two years ago was called terfs 😂 the movement needs to go back to its previous meaning. Feminism is not solely female empowerment it is the deconstructing of the patriarchal roles and belief that push men and women into boxes. Feminism, as I was taught over a decade ago, was the fight for women and MEN to be equal and have the same rights and opportunities. We can uplift women without putting down men. if this feminist movement doesn’t correct itself, it will allow more men like andrew tate to grow and influence young men.

The lack of female representation in the sphere cannot be corrected by women. It just can’t. Men need to be part of the change bc if the environment is not corrected, women cannot succeed and thrive. They can become successful but the hate and obstacles directed towards them is crazy. This is in general not just for streaming.

It can’t just be women solidarity, men need to learn and actively engage in calling out misogynist behavior. Women need to talk with their males friends and call them out when they say or act in disgusting ways. Women need to hold women accountable as well! It is unfair and unattainable to put female equality solely in the hands of women. We need to All work together.

Puffy is so good at this when she streams, especially on the smp. Hell, she even created a whole villain arc to call out the people telling her to “be a therapist to Tommy, omg your like dreams mom”. Puffy is awesome 🥹

men =/ bad

women =/ good

PREACH ANON

this breaks it all down so well and i really sympathize with you about having a poor view of some men in your life and trying to not let that influence your views but also not go so far off the other end that you end up blindly defending them without critical thinking.

Really important discussions and introspection about how your thought processes work that I think everyone should have at least once when situations like this come up

[roblogging]

Sorry to bring up the reboot again but wow this sucks. I’m trans and mostly close friends with other trans people I’ve had my friends ask me how I could continue to be a HP fan. And the main thing I’ve told them is that the Marauders fandom is very anti-JKR and, for better or worse, most people don’t engage with the original source material. I’ve always hoped that in the end she gets little to no financial support from this fandom and very little advertising either. People talking about the reboot was expected if not irritating, but seeing rumors of the two biggest fancasts getting casted in it is smth else. Like if that happens and ppl are right, i dont know if ill be able to stick around this fandom like wow maybe my friends were right

hi never apologise for this !! i get you !!

honestly i'm,,, struggling. with tiktok at the moment (my main platform) and i think the reaction to the reboot is going to stronglyyy dictate whether i have these accounts or just,,, dip. stop posting. and if they're genuinely cast? everything is going i do not care

i,, it's so difficult yk? it's so fucking difficult to be trans in this space.

if it's not people arguing about fictional men being "too womenly" and dimissing my identity and expression of it, it's people calling me slurs or debating my gender because i ship something. regularly. if it's not slurs over opinions, it's dictating what i can and can't post, with so many people mad at me for reposting tts about womens right. sorry ig??? if it's not THAT, it's people profiting her and posting it. and if it's not THATTTT, it's the complete break of everything that led me here, it's the reboot and so many people (even mutuals - ex mutuals now) hyping it up

and it's just. draining. i don't think i've ever felt less secure in my identity than in this space recently.

i'm realising none of this helps. i've just kind of blurted out my troubles lol i'm sorry but,,, i get you.

i defend my involvement in this space so much to irls because i know that i am doing this ethically and right. but if the reaction is positive or if the fancasts are in it or whatever whatever whatever, it's the guilt of complicity yk? and it's been getting heavier ever since the casting calls. idk :/ this space hasn't felt v inclusive for a few months now and it just gets worse and worse