#anyway im repeating a lot of op's points but im sick of ppl acting like they'll die w/o hp

[rabbityshen]

honestly as someone whose position isn't even this hardline, some of y'all in the notes need to take a hard look at yourselves

one time when i was at work, where im out as nonbinary, a former coworker mentioned that for her birthday, she did an hp movie marathon and she loved the movies. i didnt have some kind of breakdown or freakout! i didnt die! but i sure did wonder if she was actively transphobic, passively transphobic, or a normie who just had no idea of anything about jkr now. it is a lurking anxiety and calculation i have to think of whenever i run into hp fans i dont know very well. im sure this is the case for many other trans people.

hp may be a cultural institution bigger than any one or even group of fans and no one's morality, ethics, trans allyship, or whatever live and die by harry potter fandom. but if you can't internalize the fact that harry potter fandom is a genuine transphobic dog whistle/red flag for a lot of trans people, and esp transfem people, i dont know what else to say.

and no one is saying it's your fault for liking hp as a kid! but whatever choices you make as an informed adult (which most of you all are) are yours to own up to. clinging so tightly to childhood nostalgia as if a person who refuses to change their behavior from when they were a child is not some kind of virtuous principle.

like whatever myopic internet circles you congregate in, it is not some massive stigma to like harry potter right now. it is extremely normal and mainstream to like harry potter and that's the crux of why this is so noxious. no one is even obligated to clarify that they're not transphobic or that they dont support jkr's politics when they mention how much they love the books or movies.

hell, if you look in the notes you can find terfs repeating of y'all's exact defense of "well separate art from the artist like a well adjusted person" this cannot be some blanket defense, otherwise you are disregarding how art actually works and the ethics of art production and discussion.

and im not denying at people's relationships to art, the communities and relationships they build, are meaningless. i do not care to evaluate who is individually and morally approved to engage with harry potter and who isn't. everyone has a personal relationship to some art by people who have harmed or are evening still harming others that they have to negotiate with. that is Life, living in a society, etc.! but the circumstances around jkr's current terf activism are blatant. she is alive, wealthy, culturally powerful, and still making harry potter media. (and this isnt even digging into the fact how intense transphobic politics and culture wars are right now globally. maybe this would be a completely diff convo if trans rights and liberation were unuversally popular lol!)

you can have your own meanings and approaches to how hp fits into your life, but at the very least, sit with your discomfort and negotiate it on your own time. dont make it a problem for other trans ppl who are uncomfortable to soothe your ego. (and if you find trans ppl actively engaging with hp fandom and having fun, go hang out with them. stop bothering ppl who, god forbid, are drawing their own boundaries and rightfully raising questions.)

there's something truly miserable about JK Rowling being, at this point, the most prominent public figure associated with a hate movement but facing effectively no consequences for it because it's an issue that only a small fraction of the population is passionate about.

Like it's one thing if you have someone who's said or done some "problematic" things in the past. It's one thing for a media figure to be beloved by annoying MAGA chuds but despised by anyone even a hint left of center. It's one thing to consume art from someone who was a monsterous bigot in their lifetime but has long since passed.

But with Harry Potter it's just.... nothing. There's not even a conversation to be had. Aside from people who are online enough to care, everyone else just carries on as before. There is no cancelation to come back from, there is no smaller audience the work is restricted to, there is nothing to contend with unless you're friends with a specific kind of person. I still see people on dating apps who put BLM or ACAB or some other progressive slogan in their bios, but list Harry Potter as their favorite books. There is no shame in this. They see no contradiction because to them it is a non-issue.

Rowling is the face of a hate movement and most people who like her work don't even realize it. They don't have to realize it. And if they did, they probably wouldn't understand why what she's saying or doing is wrong.

I think about this every time I see new Harry Potter media coming out. Society does not care enough about people like me to even question if the people who hate us should face consequences for it.