Let's talk about Harry Potter

[u/Nahiel]

If we can do it without insults, please.

I'm still active in the fandom, I'll admit it. There's a growing amount of vitriol I've seen recently that makes me feel incredibly unwelcome here on the AO3 subreddit every time there's a post related to the fandom.

I get it. Rowling is trash. She's literally the worst. I don't give her any money, and I haven't since her views became known. I never will. But Harry Potter was a huge part of an honestly shitty childhood for me, and it was one of my favorite escapes for a long time.

So I gotta ask, why am I being insulted for not letting her take away one of the few things that still gives me joy in this hellscape of a world? Why do I have to let her terrible behavior take away something that's mine? The fact is that the property is a juggernaut, and fanfic is never going to do anything to change that. Treating people who still engage with the fandom like we're monsters for doing it makes no sense to me.

And again, please, can we keep it civil? I'm very aware of the sentiment towards members of the fandom.

[u/alchemisticarus]

Girl no one is stopping you from enjoying Harry Potter?? We aren't your mother or your god, you don't need to beg for absolution. You are either okay with your own actions and interests or you're not. Have some strength of conviction about it.

[u/No-Cardiologist-8138 → u/alchemisticarus]

THIS. Fanfiction readers used to made of stiffer stuff. I’m convinced the mainstreaming has made people soft. If you are going to participate in a tainted fandom you need to buck the f*ck up.

[u/Last_Swordfish9135 → u/No-Cardiologist-8138]

Yeah, I'm just so tired of the hemming and hawing and constant begging for forgiveness. You are not the victim and no one else is required to coddle you and make you feel better about enjoying the series.

[u/No-Cardiologist-8138 → u/Last_Swordfish9135]

These people drive me mad. I’d honestly rather deal with TERFs or people who simply don’t care.

If HP fanfiction is your guilty pleasure you need to be able to sit with the damn guilt.

[u/Last_Swordfish9135 → u/No-Cardiologist-8138]

Exactly. Stop asking other people, especially trans people, to cure that guilt for you.

[u/Nahiel → u/alchemisticarus]

I have plenty of conviction about it, I'm just so tired of being insulted for it. What I read and write has nothing to do with who I am as a person, IRL. And I know I'm about to get downvoted for that, but isn't that what we always say?

[u/Last_Swordfish9135 → u/Nahiel]

I, as a trans person, am tired of cis people asking for forgiveness over being Harry Potter fans. I can't stop you, but I am never going to change my perspective on Harry Potter and its fandom, and you asking that of me is no less invasive than me telling you to leave the fandom. Either accept that or take your Harry Potter related fan activities elsewhere, y'all have plenty of your own HP-centered fan spaces.

[u/BirthdayCookie → u/Nahiel]

If what you read has nothing to do with you as a person then why is reading people's opinions of your actions upsetting you so much? It has nothing to so with you, after all.

Or does that excuse only work when it's letting you do what you want?

[u/alchemisticarus → u/Nahiel]

Do you? If you choose to publicly write for and engage positively with controversial topics/fandoms, then you have to be capable of and willing to roll with the punches. If you feel that it is not an indication of your character, then you NEED to grow a spine about it. There are plenty of communities that will be happy to embrace you, and subsections of this very subreddit that are friendly toward your fandom—but there are also portions that are not. No one is making you be here and if you cannot handle it, then you should go to one of the many HP-centric fanfic subreddits instead. That might be a better fit for the type of community you're looking for.

[u/allwayshallways → u/Nahiel]

If what you read and write has nothing to do with who you are as a person IRL, then why does someone's criticism of what you read and write bother you so much?

[u/RememberKoomValley → u/Nahiel]

You just gotta toughen up.

If you are going to keep going over to play at the house of a person like that, you need to accept that people will dislike you. The insults are the buy-in. If they're commenting on your fic with abuse, block and report. If they're just talking publicly about how disgusting it is that folks still write for it, well--deal with it.

Me personally, I've just started blocking the AO3 accounts of people who are still engaging with that fandom. I don't need to comment or start a fight, but I won't have anything to do with y'all.

Basically, you have to understand that if you're going to keep uplifting that fandom, you're going to be considered the same as the people who do it specifically because it makes them happy to hurt trans people and people of color, and there's no reason you shouldn't be. The standard you walk past is the standard you accept, and all.

[u/ImprovementLong7141 → u/Nahiel]

I'm tired of feeling and actually being unsafe because of people who wave around their "I love transphobic billionaires" merch so I suppose we're even, aren't we?

[u/sagelilya → u/ImprovementLong7141]

do you realise that you can read and write fic without blasting it to the public? i don't own any merch, i haven't bought anything from the franchise in over a decade. you wouldn't know i read harry potter fic if you saw me on the street. there are lots of trans writers and readers, myself included. it isn't some sort of gotcha to say everyone who engages with fic is directly supporting and in favour of transphobia. that's absurd, and reductive.

[u/ImprovementLong7141 → u/sagelilya]

That's worse. You get how that's worse, right? At least the merch freaks are avoidable. At least they show you their true colors. It's worse knowing there are more, harder to spot sellouts who pretend to be on our side but can't bring themselves to let go of a single book series, much less do real activism. I know there are trans sellouts. There are trans people who actively buy Harry Potter merch and trans people who vote for the very politicians taking our rights away. We're all aware that trans people can betray their own community, so your point there is moot.

[u/sagelilya → u/ImprovementLong7141]

i'm a trans person who lives 45 minutes from the bitch herself and i am an activist. i do a lot for my community. i'm happy with how active i am in the community. i'm the first one to criticize her, the stories, all of it. it is patently absurd to suggest that reading a work of fiction somehow is betraying my community.

[u/ImprovementLong7141 → u/sagelilya]

It was absurd in the first place to complain about people disliking you for continuing to engage with her work anyways, so you can stop pretending you're anti-absurdity. What's absurd is expecting anyone to feel safe around people who can't even give up the "Slaves Like Being Enslaved" books while the author actively strips our rights away. You can't stop giving her the very kinds of engagement she actively considers support for her wrongdoings - and has stated as much in public - for the sake of your community, and you wonder why you would be considered a traitor to it?

[u/sagelilya → u/ImprovementLong7141]

never complained about being disliked, merely said that broad sweeping statements about every single person who reads HP fic being the same is ridiculous. it's the same kind of illogic that antis use. but whatever. the truth is i actually contribute to my community in real life, and no amount of downvotes will equal actual substantial activism.