Never Meet Your Heroes

[angua9]

*sigh* Just my luck.

I've been wallowing in Harry Potter nostalgia during this lockdown, indulging myself with some long-overdue essay writing, re-reading the books, discovering new fan fiction, etc., and then finding myself really enjoying Rowling's new children's book "The Ickabog." So naturally J.K. Rowling has to choose this time to remind

Comments

[sarahblack]

I do feel disappointed, disapproving, and embarrassed to associate myself too closely with her. - Yep, same. But like you, I'm not about to throw the baby out with the bathwater. The Harry Potter books are wonderful. They're no less wonderful because Rowling happens to have terrible opinions about certain things. It just really sucks to know it. I wish she would keep her mouth closed about it.

[connielane]

Yeah the old "Rowling cultist" thing was never literal -- just an insult our former debate opponents threw at us that we jokingly turned into a badge of honor (like they did with "delusional"). I confess that I had always had admiration for JKR as a person because she *has* put a lot of good into the world. And she could be so wonderfully snarky, which is my number one kink. And all of that is still true about her. But she has undeniably harmed people as well, even if she thinks she's doing the right thing (she absolutely is not, but I can't imagine she would be so adamant if she weren't convinced she was right). She says she's read a lot on the subject but I have to wonder *what* she is reading and if it's just further indoctrinating her in this toxic viewpoint

[author_by_night]

Honestly, JKR is basically Percy Weasley in OoTP. She's so convinced that she's right, she doesn't care who she hurts. She's the worst kind of Gryffindor, because I do think that's a very dark side of the House. IRL, the dark side of being someone driven by causes and action.

[angua9]

I can't imagine she would be so adamant if she weren't convinced she was right

Yes, I'm sure she gets her self-righteous certitude from the feeling that she is defending the vulnerable, which in this case is apparently cis women being "attacked" by trans women who had male privilege before they visibly transitioned and I don't know, I guess are considered to be extra aggressive or scary or something because of testosterone?

But, wow, I seriously don't feel threatened in that way at all, just like I don't understand how my straight marriage could have been harmed in any way by gay marriage.

[connielane]

The fact that these women had male privilege before they transitioned feels like reason to be ESPECIALLY compassionate toward them and TRUST their claim to that identity. Because why would they give that up if it weren't something they knew in their soul was right for them? Why would they trade it for not just the discrimination that cis women face, but the EXTRA discrimination (and outright danger!) they must know they'll face being trans?

[author_by_night]

To me it seems like "people who menstruate" is a much better descriptor than "women" when you're literally talking about menstruation. After all, many women don't menstruate and some girls and some trans men and non-binary-identifying people do menstruate. But apparently in the annals of this feud the phrase "people who menstruate" has been fighting words, or something, and Rowling just had to respond.

I know, right?

She also said "I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans" which is just laughably ludicrous because ... "if"? I mean, really, IF???

... oh my god, I never caught the "if." WTF.

en Draco Malfoy taunts Harry for having no parents or Ron for being poor, what he says is true but it's definitely hateful and hurtful. When Rita Skeeter "outs" Hagrid in print as a half-giant it is the truth but it is also hateful and hurtful.That's what really gets me in all this. She's using exactly the sort of reasoning her "bad guys" do

[angua9]

I would change your wording a bit from "wish to be female."

I wasn't sure how to put that, but I didn't mean that they were ever not female, but that it was very important to them to be female, important enough that they held on to it despite people telling them that they weren't.

I want to be female too, but perhaps not as passionately because I've never had to fight for it or work to defend it; it was just given to me automatically. But that's what is so hurtful about her insistence that only someone assigned female at birth is "really" a woman, because it hits trans people exactly on their spot of maximum vulnerability, where they've already been hurt the most.

About expectations of JKR ... some people have always, all the way back to the first book, been bothered by a lack of what we might call ideal inclusiveness in Rowling's books. I always tended to defend her because, after all, she wasn't writing a treatise on sensitivity and tolerance, she was writing a story and I think it must be hard to let your creative genius flow

Thank you for this, you are literally my idol pfft

[anonymous]

I was rewatching the MsScribe video by Eldena Doubleca5t on YouTube and thought about looking you up to see if you were still on any social medias; imagine my surprise when I saw you're still somewhat active on Livejournal!

I've recently gotten back into Harry Potter due to the whole quarantine thing and, as a young queer person, it saddens me that JKR keeps spouting this rhetoric, especially considering how much her books resonated with people in the community. She's never been that great with representation but she always made herself out to be a well-meaning ally.

To hear that someone with the influence you had within the fandom has such strong feelings against these statements means more than you could possibly now,,

Re: Thank you for this, you are literally my idol pfft

[angua9]

Awwwww, thank you!

Re: Thank you for this, you are literally my idol pfft

[aokoi]

Thanks for the heads-up about the Eldena Doubleca5st's YouTube video! I come back and re-read the MsScribe saga every couple of years, and always admire how clearheaded and incisive angua9's pivotal email to Heidi8 was. Sadly, every year some of the links go sour, and most of the key players have long since left LJ behind, but Doubleca5st's video is a great new find.

UPDATE

[angua9]

I get a notification every once in a while that people are still reading this post, so maybe I should update it.

Rowling kept on saying worse things and doing worse things after I wrote this post, and my response to her got more ... emotional. Right now I can't seem to read anything she wrote, I didn't buy or read the latest Cormoran Strike book, and I wasn't able to finish the essays I was working on.

I am not condemning anyone who is still interested in reading her writing; I'm just saying that I can't right now. I presume at some point in the future when (I hope!) the rights and dignity of trans people are fully respected that I will be able to get enjoyment from her writing again.

I also wish/hope that someday Rowling might calm down, get over her hurt feelings/pride/prejudice/whatever, and find real empathy in her heart for ALL people. Maybe? Someday?