#this is entirely personal and literally just me complaining so i'm gonna stick it under a cut

[byanyan]

me, a 30 y/o who has gradually grown more and more reclusive over the years, unable to hold a job for more than a month and unable to finish any schooling despite many attempts, who struggles immensely with social situations to the point of avoiding everything, has been misdiagnosed w/ bpd in the past, & been in treatment for depression & anxiety for nearly 2 decades atp: so i think i'm autistic

the psychiatrist i only got in to see after suffering a severe mental/emotional breakdown for the second time in my life: ok well most physicians don't do assessments for that anymore, you'd have to go private and pay around $5000 to find out

me: surprisedpikachu.jpg

[maxdurden]

tagged by @deadchannelradio! thanks!! i'll always take the opportunity to talk ad nauseam about music i'm listening to lol

shuffle your on repeat playlist (on spotify) and list the first 10 songs and then tag 10 people

1. Pigs is Pigs by Mannequin Pussy — what an incredible first pull. uhm. sorry for the screamo ass punk music but also consider that i literally JUST saw them in concert and this song goes so hard. it's not sung by their front woman (who totally deserves her flowers), but i LOVE colins' vocals. not a lyric in the song, but what he said at the concert was 'we don't need police, we need community' and fuck yes. this is such a good band if you have an opportunity to see them in concert do it holy fuck they're so good haha 😬👍

2. American Teenager by Ethel Cain — i know exactly two (2) ethel cain songs but this one goes hard what can i say. peak speeding down the highway singing at the top of your lungs music (don't speed, dive safe kids)

3. Control by Mannequin Pussy — it's gonna be a lot of mannequin pussy on here,,,,,,, lmao. this song is great tho!

4. Too Sweet by Hozier — there's probably gonna be a lot of hozier on here too lol. he released new music which always makes me ill, but also unreal unearth unheard has been sooo good for the oc's i've recently been throwing around like ragdolls in my head lol

5. I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy — 'and what if jesus himself ate my fucking snatch?' need i say more? this is maybe one of their best songs lol

6. Smog by Indigo De Souza — everyone go listen to all of indigo de souza's music RIGHT. NOW. thanks :)

7. Clean Slate by The Mountain Goats — this is another band that released a new album recently(ish) and i've just been a bit ill about some of the songs. the trumpets are especially fun in this one lol

8. Ptolemaea by Ethel Cain — okay so stick with me on this one. it's a great song first of all (insane that it's on the same album as american teenager lmao but go off ethel) but i've mostly been listening to it for oc purposes. this oc is kinda a vessel for working through feelings about gods and faith, and the way that both gods and the faithful need each other and shape each other. essentially,,, in a universe where gods are sustained by the faith of their followers, what happens when all but one of their followers is wiped out. in what ways do those two entities change and warp and love and destroy each other. ya know. just coping with senior year of college things tbh. anyway it's a great song :3

9. Apollo by Momma — this song has fun instrumentation, makes brain go brr. also!!! very on theme for the previously mentioned oc and thinking about gods and the weird relationships you can have with them.

10. Same as Cash by The Mountain Goats —IN YOUR CAR WITH YOUR HEAD IN YOUR HANDS AT THE FAR END OF THE WALMART PARKING LOT, TRYING NOT TO BUCKLE UNDER THE STRAIN, STRIKING A BARGAIN WITH THE IMP IN YOUR BRAIN, PREPAIRED TO TAKE ANOTHER KNOCK FOR THE SHORT GANG, BUT YOU CAN ASK ANY VETERAN RUNNING BACK, EVENTUALLY YOUR JOINTS COMPLAIN. this song is so special to me no one will ever understand it like i do (only bitches who have worked long hours at an understaffed walmart during the pandemic while couch surfing bc you just left your shitty home situation will ever understand what john is trying to say here like i do tbh. entirely possible john doesn't even understand it like i do [this is a joke. art is personal and always ripe for meaningful and individual interpretation. pls don't shoot me]). but everyone should listen to it anyway, the violins and piano are so so fun and good

hahaaaa i told you i could talk soo much about the music i like, unfortunately for y'all

@darkravenstag @thrustin-timberlake @mitebitmurderous @johaerys-writes @sabrirene @sarcasticbeanie @seethestarsalittlecloser @sleeperagentclone @notacluedo @alive-ontheinside

(no pressure ofc!!! and if you don't have spotify i say just go hog wild and talk about songs you've been enjoying no one can stop you)

[whitewolfofwinterfell]

i'm confused about the JK Rowling thing. I mean surely not every story has to represent everyone right? I get that people are upset with the way she's responding, but why were they attacking her in the first place? Is it because it's so wildly popular that people think it should be more inclusive? I can understand that, but how would she have known that in the beginning? I don't know i guess i'm clouded by my white privilege but i don't quite understand what people want from her at this point.

I know what you mean, anon. Although I’ve been part of the HP fandom on here since I first created my Tumblr account, I don’t consider myself actively involved in it (by which I mean that I avoid current topics/gossip/drama), but for years I’ve been aware of the voices of the fans questioning JKR’s lack of representation in Harry Potter. It’s exploded again recently because of the reveal of Nagini as a person (more specifically, a Korean woman) in the new FBAWTFT film and there’s a post here that you can read that explains that. 

Warning, discussion below on sensitive topics regarding representation of minorities, race/racism, sexuality/homophobia, disability and colonialism. 

Firstly, you are right that no story has to represent everyone, because that would be impossible. The truth of it is that any writer has the agency and choice to write the characters and story they want to. Speaking from a personal perspective as someone that loves to write and is a straight, white girl with no disabilities or part of any minority group (that I’m aware of), it is significantly more challenging to write characters that are from minority groups. The reason for that is because I myself do not identify or fit into any of those labels (I can’t think of a more appropriate word, so I’m gonna stick with labels, forgive me if it’s a poor choice of word), so I don’t completely understand what it is to be gay or black or physically disabled and what if I can’t bring justice to a character that is those things? What if I offend someone that reads it that is gay, black or disabled? And these are the kind of issues that representation can pose for writers. Having said that, all of this can be resolved with one simple word - research. In my case, it’s very different because I only write for fun and recreational purposes (although there’s always a certain level of research that goes into my writing), but for a professional author, they should be working their asses off to do research to ensure they do their characters justice. 

Personally, I think concerns over representation being raised are always valid. We live in a world where there are more voices speaking out against injustices and particularly, injustices that are more subtle or that have been normalised and widely accepted, such as the lack of representation in popular culture. Having said that, I don’t agree with sending hate and/or being violent or aggressive in raising those concerns and at times, I think the HP fandom can be guilty of that. 

As I pointed out to the tags in my post, I really don’t think JKR did anything wrong in not having diverse representation in her books for a number of reasons. The most obvious reason is that she simply wrote characters that were relatable to her and that she was in touch with in her daily life. It’s important to bear in mind the context of the time in which she was writing - people, particularly young people, seem to forget how much progress has been made in such a short time and how much more liberal societies (I’m particularly referring to the UK here, since that’s where I live and JKR lives) have become over the last few decades. When I was a child I didn’t know anyone that identified as anything but straight until I was around 19/20 years old and then slowly I had friends and people around me that came out as gay, bi and pan; I didn’t meet anyone that was trans until I was 22 years old; at my school I only knew one child that was physically disabled; at my primary school there was only one child that wasn’t white. 

Obviously I can’t comment on JKR’s personal character since I don’t know her and I don’t follow her or engage with her through social media, but the lack of representation doesn’t immediately mean she’s inherently racist or homophobic or biphobic or erasing any kind of minority group deliberately. She was just writing what she knew. But what I said and you have agreed with is that she hasn’t handled things right. Her reactions to fans complaints have sometimes been childish and the Nagini incident shows that she’s grasping at straws to try and pacify people by providing them with the representation everybody is asking for, but it’s only making things worse for all the reasons the post I linked above explains. 

However, shifting away from the whole JKR drama and reflecting on what you said about white privilege - it’s a topic that I’ve been researching a lot recently for educational purposes (this is really just my opportunity to discuss an area of research I’m thoroughly enjoying and finding fascinating, so I apologise in advance if you don’t care about any of this lmao). I’m currently studying a module at university about Jim Crow in South America which is an exploration of black history in America starting from Reconstruction following the end of the Civil War right up until the 1970s (I think near the end of the module we may even touch upon Black Lives Matter). I’m also researching for my dissertation which is about experiences of African American soldiers in the Vietnam War and what’s fascinating to me through the research I’ve been doing is the construct of race and ‘whiteness’. It’s an issue that’s too complex to explain, and you may not care or be interested, but the short version is that race biologically and scientifically does not exist. There is no biological differences (except external appearances) that separate a black/brown/yellow person from a white person, it has quite literally been constructed by European white colonialists and scientists as a way to suppress people of colour, usually for economic purposes. You might be wondering why this is relevant, but it’s because until about 2-3 years ago, as a white person I had no understanding or knowledge of race and how it impacts people’s entire lives - socially, economically and politically. You’re right that white privilege clouds your judgement, particularly when it comes to issues of race, it clouds the judgement of every white person in the world, but what’s worse is that most white people don’t even recognise that white privilege exists. I see so many white people around me in my daily life and on TV (the most recent example I saw was on Celebrity Big Brother UK, which made me so angry I could create an entirely different post on that) claim “racism doesn’t exist anymore” or “this is a equal society” and it infuriates me beyond belief. White people don’t see racism because they don’t experience it and they’re not living it. 

To finish on a final point that’s relevant to your original ask, at this point you’re right that there’s nothing JKR can do to make fans happy. When a series is as popular as Harry Potter and has such a huge fan-base, there is always going to be someone complaining about some aspect of it. If it wasn’t an issue of under-representation, it would only be something else. Nothing in this world is ever perfect and there’s always room for improvement. Honestly, I think the best thing for JKR to do is leave the Harry Potter universe the hell alone. The series is not without its problems, but generally it’s so well-loved by millions of people globally and the fact that she keeps trying to add/retcon certain aspects of the universe and/or characters is what’s frustrating fans more so than anything else. She should just admit that it doesn’t have the representation it could’ve had, learn from that and in any future projects, she can be more aware to be diverse with the characters she writes.