#jkr is a TERF

[princey-poetry]

pushing my scorbus agenda

[my-castles-crumbling]

My new favorite thing is misgendering JK Rowling on purpose because like even if I wasn't just some random on the internet, what's he gonna do? Get mad and say gender is important?

[stuckyparty]

Got my first anon hate from a TERF about my Neil Gaiman post, but I can't respond to it because it includes the horrifying details of one of Gaiman's alleged assaults, which I'm not going to put in front of my followers without the ability to put a TW first.

So let me just say: I am against all violence against women and other marginalized genders. Including the kind of violence JK Rowling perpetuates constantly when she stokes hate against trans people, donates money to causes aimed at driving them out of public life and denying them vital healthcare, and puts them in real danger. She's not "an advocate for single sex spaces," she's a raging bigot who wants trans existence eradicated.

Nowhere in my post did I say "JKR's actions are the same exact flavor of bad as Gaiman's," I simply used Harry Potter as an example of another formerly-beloved author I walked away from. Try reading comprehension next time, and get that TERF shit far away from me.

[creepymutelilbugger]

just saw some Harry Potter fans in my notes :/

I am trans

time for the obligatory "get off this account if you support jkr or are a fan of Harry Potter" post

it was never good, you were just 8 years old

[silentmoonlightgoddess]

I have just trudged out of a fandom that I loved a few years ago, having to seperate myself from a TERF author who I once thought the world of. It made me realise that I was wearing the rose tinted glasses of an adoring, mindless reader, something I despise and vowed never to be-- mindless, not adoring. It came to a point where JKR could no longer be given the benefit of the doubt after she repeatedly proved herself to not just being a TERF and a proud, unrepentant bigot, but also clearly funded the harm caused to vulnerable demographics of our society with her reach alone and her perfectly targeted works and well crafted nonchalance over the existence of my trans and non binary siblings.

It took a lot of heartache to finally admit to myself that there was no going back to her, when my mind had already realised a long time back that she was a dangerous problem promoting a dangerous thought process among the many people that adore her. People still blindly flock her, calling for dehumanising people and taking away rights. I got over that, now its happening again, on a smaller scale, a different issue overall, but the lesson is the same.

We need to stop glorifying authors and putting them on a pedestal. We need to call out our authors for their questionable work. There are may examples of this and I am in a fandom that is currently going to the dogs. The fandom in question is already a niche that most people would eye with judgement, but as a series based on multiple mythologies and taking inspiration from them in its creation, it is understandable to an extent. When I first started out reading The Underworld Chronicles by rotXinXpieces on Wattpad, also known as Izzy or Rotty to his/their fans, I was 14. I was intrigued by the intricacies of the plot, the characterisations, the universe it was set in, I went in with a clear understanding of what I was getting into, religious divergences, the incest that was rampant due to mythological reasons, the fact that the universe itself was one that was very unlike the one we know and live in...yet, very similar. The universe may be different but the stories are the same. Rotty started out with the premise of how SA and PTSD, torture are a common happenstance in the world both our and their fictional creation, the difference being that we hush it up and they don't want to. They wanted to portray the realities of the world. The UC series is very open about homosexuality and very fluid with sexuality, which was fantastic for someone who was part of the LGBTQ+ , community and was reading about characters that were not heteronormative.

The change became apparent with the newest arc in the series, it felt like Rotty completely ruined the original characters in favour to portray that the new gen was fun and better and improved, but in reality the books read as though the new gen characters were being glorified and a bunch of hopeful self inserts, the plot was translucent at best and was stagnating as each book moved on, the original characters seemed to have lost their charm and had turned into poorly written OCs and the new gen seemed to just "know" better despite being literal infants in comparison to characters with thousands of years of experience and knowledge. One example is their book, The Dragon, about Hadrian, one of the "Cousins" he/they are a non binary character who is a dancer, and self admittedly a virgin, overnight Hadrian goes from sexually curious virgin to sex god extrodinare within the span of a single conversation with one of their uncle's who is into BDSM, now Hadrian too is a Dom with no flaws and perfect. They are a warrior that people fear going up against because he is the Dragon. He manages to take down his stalker who's here to abduct him as an important piece in a villainous plot being hatched, Hadrian captures his attacker and sone interesting things go down, while his busy falling in love with this supposed abductor, another one shows up and simply abducts him and he's dragged off to wherever. Just like that, where did legendary dragon go? They escape with a severely SAed and tortured prisoner that leads us to The Prisoner, where our protagonist, Four/Niko just spends half the book fainting every other chapter, which understandable, but then it keeps happening a ridiculous amount of times, Niko also rejects his family and starts touting about how he wants to marry River, this dude with an army because he wants an army to get his revenge, which would make sense....if his parents had literally not been two kings of two different but harmonious realms with very strong armies at their disposal. The book skips a solid 8 months of what was supposed to be his recovery and Niko goes on to push for the marriage regardless, having fallen in love with River. These are just two big examples.

Rotty just published a new one shot in their book of one shots for this series, and it has finally come to a head where every other book is just every other character getting SAed (very descriptively) and having to escape and overcome trauma--- except, not one character goes to therapy, not once. The oneshot portrays two characters that absolutely despise each other and the story of it reads as if one is manipulating the other into a dubiously consensual scene at best, the manipulator in question being a self proclaimed therapist who has extensive knowledge of the others history of being SAed throughout the story. The one shot was supposed to be a "gift" to someone who requested it, and later claimed it as "Not that deep and you guys are acting as if rotty killed your family in front of you, stop hating on it." And "out of all the things that could traumatise you in the series my little sinship (also known as ghostship) is where you draw the line?"

And I don't think people realise that the issue isn't the sinship, but the nature of the one shot itself and how it reads, and like a lot of the series, especially the more recent books, it seems to just be graphic descriptions of SA over and over and over again.

Rotty does not mediate any of the arguments and goes as far as to give off a very odd vibe with his recent replies to readers who question them. Like the fame (which isn't that widespread) and the glory of having authored such a brilliant series has gone to their head and now anyone questioning their odd literary creations is immediately wrong and that they know best. The one shot what originally uploaded and was lacking very important, very much needed conext, When questioned about what the chapter was and why was it non con, Rotty replies with a "well I have more context than you do....and I think I wrote that so I know what I'm saying lol".

They later uploaded the edited version with all the initially removed context which slightly better, but leaves a nagging sensation in my mind as to the change of dialogue.

If the edited out parts were simply added back why did the last dialogue from the therapist character change from "(character name)....you don't need my permission to date (character)" to "Welcome to the family"? I would go as far as to say that a lot of the fandom would reject this nightmare one shot as being a part of canon, this is the cursed child dilemma all over again. Some people like it, while others reject it.

All in all, I fear that this is going to turn into another fandom I have to leave, because the author has let the power go to their head, and readers are still wearing their rose tinted glasses and worshipping them, ultimately, standing up against an author with decent fanbase is not the ideal thing to do, but the reality is that Rotty has turned into the very thing they hated, and the lifeline on this fandom and how much the fans are willing to tolerate a shoddy replica of what use to be a spectacular book series with infinitely great potential before it all goes to Hell in a handbasket is simply a matter of time. The sands of time are running and whether the series can be revived to its initial glory in the pending rewrite is yet to be seen.

(Edited to remove an admittedly unsavoury and ill worded comparison of JKR to Rotty, the only comparison here being that I love the works of both authors but have had to seperate myself from JKR and engaging with most of her fandom and having to seperate from another beloved fandom for DIFFERENT REASONS. )

***Also extending my sincerest apologies to anyone, but especially Rotty for wording it badly, but I do not consider Rotty as a destructive or harmful person towards any demographic of people. As a non binary person myself, this would be shameful and quite hypocritical for me to compare JKR's TERF behaviour to Rotty's, which is not what I was comparing at all, although I had definitely worded that ending horribly.

[gayjaytodd]

the reality of existing as a trans person in 2024 is that I routinely have to tell cisgender people that 'no, of course you're still allowed to love harry potter, you can absolutely choose to still support jkr financially bc you just love harry potter so much, I get it, it's totally fine, I Absolve You Of The Sin Of Transphobia' like, for fuck's sake, just admit that trans people and people of colour matter less to you than a book series from your childhood bc you are not personally affected by transphobia and racism and stop making it my goddamn problem

[atyd1960]

This narrative of “James was there for everyone else but no one was there for him” is actually so funny to me. Like did u read the books?? The whole essence of his character and the origin of his tragedy is how loved and supported he was. He had the most amazing parents and the most intimate & close group of friends, he got the girl he wanted and was one of the most popular guys where ever he went. He was only able to be so trusty and friendly in the way he was because he was unconditionally loved by everyone close to him his entire life. Everyone had his back. If he was having a bad day everyone could see it. The tragedy of him was that the only true betrayal he ever felt by anyone close to him was the one that brought to his death.

[godesssiri]

I have an appointment on Tuesday to have my deathly hallows tattoo covered up!!!!!!!!

I've been wanting to do it for ages but couldn't decide what to cover it with. It's behind my ear and it used to be a fun little wink to other members of the fandom saying; hey I'm one of you. HP and the community that formed around it were incredibly important to me for many years so at the time I got this tattoo it meant a lot to me, I don't put symbols on my body lightly. Now I can't stand the thought that a Trans person or a Jewish person might see it and think they might be unsafe with me. And I REALLY can't stand the thought that someone who agrees with JKR might see it and think I'm an ally of theirs.

I finally decided to just get it filled in so it's a solid black triangle and if anyone asks me why I have a triangle behind my ear I will tell them it's because it used to be a Harry Potter tattoo but I no longer want to be associated in any way with JKR because of her disgusting politics.

I feel like filling it in is kinda like filling the dirt in a grave. It's giving the part of my life where HP and it's fandom where hugely important to me a respectful burial. I'm not forgetting or denying that how much I loved HP at that point in my life but I am saying that love is dead and I am moving on.

[thoughtofadumbteenprotagonist]

okay I’ve seen too many fuckin illiterate idiots using “tHerE’S No EtHiCaL ConSumPtiOn UnDeR CapiTaLiSm” to justify buying Antisemitism: The Game so i feel the need to say yes, you are illiterate, and yes, you are an idiot - because you are //completely ignoring the context and nuance of that phrase to serve your own selfish goals//

The concept of no ethical consumption under capitalism is specifically about those in low income households/poverty who cannot afford the luxury of sustainability and ethical purchasing because that shit is expensive af and having the best quality of life possible, in relation to your situation, is far more important than having a heppy over using Amazon or not

So that is to say, the new (overpriced) HP game does not fall under any of those perimeters, and your money is actively going to support a TERF and her ideologies (ideologies that are capable of turning into fucking legislation in the UK) along with a host of writers who apparently thought freeing a enslaved race counts as a bad ending

So yeah, feel bad about buying and playing the game, and listen to the accounts of our trans family and Jewish friends because, shockingly, they know what they’re talking about when it comes to discrimination

Edit: once more for those in the back not getting it LISTEN TO YOUR TRANS AND JEWISH FRIENDS/MUTUALS/WHATEVERS ABOUT THIS, THEY ARE THE AUTHORITY ON THIS MATTER

[theroundbartable]

It recently has come to my attention that there will be a new Harry Potter Series.

More under the cut, about my frustrations with it. I'm a little angry and emotional.

I'm tired. I am so fucking tired of JKR, of the never ending story that is the wizarding world.

I'm tired of the commercialism, the way she's milking her own franchise. Her fans. ( She's going to be paid per episode.)

The way she threatened them over publishing fanfics in the past.

I'm tired of the queer erasure in her books. I'm tired of the framing of marginalized groups as oppressors on her fucking twitter.

I'm tired of her pretentious feminism, because that's not what she stands for. If you don't treat trans women as women, you're not a feminist. Period. Yes, women are oppressed, but not by trans women, for god's sake, how can anyone even think that. Trans women are doubly opprossed. For being women and for being trans. It's called intersectionality, look it up.

In a podcast "the witch trials of JK Rowling" she made tumblr the enemy???? Tumblr???? You mean THE most chaotic Website for socially awkward people who talk about their blorbos and who are like 80% of your target audience? Those people? That's the evil people? Because the only power they have is canceling the people in power who oppress them? Yeah, for goodness sake, then don't be a bitch. (Disclaimer, i watched a video that more or less gave the gist of the Podcast. With direct quotes.)

I'm so tired. Harry Potter taught me to read. It's what got me into writing. It's, ironically, how I first learned what racism was, because until I was 12 I hadn't been confronted with the subject. (I admit, I did a racist thing back then in writing. I was 12, came from a pretty white village and I simply didn't know better. The encounter that called me out at the time, became part of the reason why I also invested into learning about the LGBT+ community to make sure I didn't do the same thing again. It was and still is a process that also lead to self discovery.)

It makes me so mad to see that legacy be tainted at the roots.

I'm not going to tell anyone whether or not to watch the new show. I don't have the moral high ground to make such a demand. Liking Harry Potter doesn't mean you share JKRs views. But like... At least pirate it, so she doesn't get the money. She doesn't deserve it.

She doesn't know when a story ends. Harry Potter was over after the 7th book. Everything else is a shitty spin off that lives off of HP' popularity. I'm honestly at a point where I don't want to see her name ever again.

Just. Stop.

[princey-poetry]

I think my fav gilderat dynamic is gilderoy being hopelessly in love with Peter and Peter hating him and everything he stands for

[my-castles-crumbling]

Oh god Harry Potter is trending. What bullshit did JKR say now?

[silentmoonlightgoddess]

My sister is a counselling psychologist, she has known me my entire life and she knows the magnitude of fucked up my mind is, at least, what I tell her, and I tell her more than I tell most people. So when she told me that some people are born depressed, in the sense that some people genetically are more inclined to develop depression, I believed her, however baffling it sounded. Of course, the ever critical crow that I am, I looked it up myself instead of taking it at face value. And it made me wonder, have I always been depressed? Or was my sullen personality throughout childhood just that, a personality and not a pathology?

Perhaps it made me more susceptible to developing depression, a combination of Emotional Abuse and Neglect may have very realistically led to the person I am today, with all these issues that have festered over the duration of my existence, exacerbated into the myriad of mental health issues that I've failed to acquire treatment for, but there isn't a singular moment I can think back on and confidently claim that I was truly happy or content.

If I was a wix in the Harry Potter universe, I would have never been a able to successfully cast a patronus charm, corporeal or non- corporeal. That speaks to great lengths of the supposed "evil" characters in the HP universe, powerful witches and wizards, death eaters and by default, Slytherins, as people who cannot cast a patronus. Obviously there are exceptions to this rule- Severus Snape being one such Syltherin to master the charm, but what of those that cannot? I do not deny that there is a copious amount of darkness and "evil" tendencies and behaviours and thoughts displayed by the Death Eaters portrayed in the books and movies, even fanwork for this universe, I myself would easily fit into the category of a dark wix. I do worry that despite everything, deep down inside, I am evil. But there is the saying that people aren't born evil.

Monsters aren't born, they are made, crafted carefully through a lifetime of hurt and anger, hatred and abuse. I know exactly what made me who I am today, I know exactly how many people contributed to the evil that lurks within me, and yes, I am what people would classify as a dark person, slotting perfectly into the mould of a Slytherin.

But what does that say about the HP universe? That all Slytherins are evil? Or does it say that all Slytherins are victims of something traumatising or the sum of many traumatising events and experiences that literal children go through to reach the age of 11 and immediately be classified as "evil", does putting us in that box help the others keep an eye on us and see it as a brand marking us as a cautionary tale or is the box there to give us support and acceptance amongst people like ourselves, a support group for traumatised children, if you will?

I like being a Slytherin, despite everything else, because when you get labelled with something so glaringly obvious, openly marked as a hazardous person, people think twice before trying to mess with you, but being a Slytherin is a double edged sword, it goes both ways, it keeps people away, yet hurts you, because you get isolated and demonised when you're so young, and despite everything you've already been through, you get pushed further into a dark world surrounded by dark people, and while they may stand with you against the rest of the world (read: the other three houses) there is brutal vicious battle within that box we lock ourselves in and have been locked into.

You can trust no one with your secrets and are constantly on edge. You are constantly at war with everyone simultaneously.

How then, do people expect the Slytherins to thrive in a healthy environment when they've been living their entire lives in a toxic minefield doing their best to simply survive?

People can get help and get better, break free of the brand of a Slytherin if they work hard enough, but when you're cornered and in danger, a snake that may have been harmless will strike with intent to kill to survive. Do we label this as self defense of do we call the snake a murderer?

No creature is dangerous unless threatened, the same goes for people. Does protecting oneself the only way we know how make us evil? Or is that just a classification for people who have trauma because we aren't allowed to lash out?

Are Slytherins just inherently evil, dark witches and wizards and wix in the making, or are they proof of generational trauma and victims of societal scrutiny?

I'd like to say I knew the answer to this, but truly, I don't.

All I know is that the very motto of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is quite literally, canonically, "Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus", which translates to "Never tickle a sleeping dragon" and if you ask me, that explains Slytherin in a nutshell, and yet, so many people just don't get it.

[mxlabradorite]

A while back, I asked on FB if it was known/understood why people were angry at JK Rowling.

A solid...I'd say 80 - 85% of my FB community is

Fandom people I met in the early-mid 00s

Comic book writers and artists

Video game industry members

Roller derby players and comedians who may also fall in any of the other categories

Which is to say, mostly people who range from Online™ to Extremely Online™. Of the 200+ comments the post got, one person got weird about trans people in sports (which they brought up entirely on their own and had nothing to do with it), two people had no idea, but appreciated being informed, and one 60-something British cis lady who linked to Contrapoints' video on JK Rowling, and apologized for the shit her fellow Brits were doing. (Possibly my favorite comment, tbh)

As my sample size is wildly skewed, I knew it wasn't going to be the most usable data, but I still found it interesting.

I especially appreciated all the parents chiming in that either their kids had dropped HP upon finding, that their kids had no interest in it, or that their kids were into it, but they had family discussions about what JKR was saying and why it was wrong.

But then there's always some rando at the grocery store in HP merch and my brain spins up again: Does this person not know, or do they just not care?

Always very funny to go from tumblr culture (Harry Potter basically, like, anathemized) to coworkers or relatives just casually bringing it up with zero idea about why the franchise would even be controversial. Unironically one of the bigger bubbles I forget I'm in.

[atyd1960]

Remus Lupin’s life is the epitome of “I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but then it did.”

[thegremlininmyhead]

This is so far down her list of problematic shit, but I think JKR stole Neville's parents' names from Friends?

Frank Buffay Jr and Alice Knight first appeared in Friends in 1997

Frank and Alice Longbottom are first named in Goblet of Fire which released in 2000