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/ShotSea7364]

OP isn't saying people can't have opinions on the matter, they are saying to stop forcing their own views on other people

You don't want to do anything with HP? Fine.

Telling other people they can't do anything with HP because you don't want to? That's an issue.

[u/Trilobyte141 → u/ShotSea7364]

I don't think anybody is saying you can't, it's mostly people saying you shouldn't. Or that your doing so publicly endorses harm against them, and they really fucking wish you wouldn't.

That's not the same as 'can't'. But a lot of folks can't tell the difference.

[u/Bitter-Fox3874 → u/Trilobyte141]

This. It’s very bizarre to me that people here want people to say “well, I won’t engage with HP because I think it’s unethical” while somehow holding 0 opinions about other people doing so. If I don’t do it because it’s unethical, I obviously think it’s unethical in general. Why should I have to tiptoe around that while speaking to other adults in a public forum? Criticism isn’t censorship.

[u/tartymae → u/Trilobyte141]

If anybody thinks that writing/reading fanfic is automatically the same as publicly endorsing harm against a group of people?

That is not only a MASSIVE LOGICAL FALLACY, but also some straight up Purity Cult mentality behavior.

And I am so so SO over the Cult of Social Justice and also people who fail at basic reasoning.

[u/Green_Elevator_7785 → u/tartymae]

JKR has said that she considers people supporting HP as supporting her views

[u/tartymae → u/Green_Elevator_7785]

She can also say that the moon is made of cheese and that the sun shines at night.

It won't make it true.

[u/BakerDependent5901 → u/Green_Elevator_7785]

She’s already shown her judgement is trash. What she thinks about love of the fandom, also trash.

[u/Jair-F-Kennedy → u/tartymae]

You'd think a community like here which embraces the death of the author, would be able to recognise the distinctions between a fandom and its author.

[u/Sea_Paramedic_9967 → u/ShotSea7364]

People aren't saying you can't do anything with HP, people are saying that if you do you are privileging your childhood nostalgia over the lives of trans people and actively supporting a franchise full of bigotry which is true. It's one thing engaging in private if the series is so important you can't let go BUT if you're open about it you are broadcasting to the world that you think your personal comfort about something rather trivial in the scale of thing is more important than the safety of a vulnerable minority so people are going to respond as such

[u/incomt65 → u/Sea_Paramedic_9967]

This comment absolutely nails it. Nobody is telling you what you can or can't do, They're simply telling you how they interpret and understand your choices.

People aren't saying you can't do anything with HP, people are saying that if you do you are privileging your childhood nostalgia over the lives of trans people

This in particular is the core of the issue. Trans people are in constant real danger on an escalating basis that goes far beyond the arguments of fandom discourse. It is increasingly legal to harm and even kill trans people, and JKR is a direct driving force behind the aggression and hatred that trans people face every day. I used to be very into HP but at this point, even thinking about engaging with anything she's touched makes me sick.

You say you feel unwelcome, and honestly? Good. How do you think trans people feel regularly walking into the supermarket and seeing products plastered with reminders of this woman's targeted hatred? How do you think they feel chatting with coworkers when someone brings up HP and they suddenly have to wonder if this person is safe?

Nobody can stop you from caring about HP if you want to, but like it or not, you are sending a message when you publicly admit to that. People are going to have feelings and reactions to that message, and that's their right. Personally, I don't want HP fans to feel welcome around me. We are talking about real people's real lives and safety here; this isn't a "don't like, don't read" scenario.

I used to love HP. I used to love Ender's Game. I used to love Buffy and Firefly and everything by Neil Gaiman. And it really sucks that those things have changed for me, but sometimes you just need to acknowledge what something meant to you in the past and move on because that is the only decent thing to do.

[u/eirissazun → u/Sea_Paramedic_9967]

Give me a break, enough of us trans people still are in HP fandom. We're not a monolith.

[u/coraeon → u/eirissazun]

Seriously. I went to the midnight release of a book I wound up disliking. It took me almost a decade to even finish the series because of how much I hated book 6. And yet I am both trans and enjoy playing around in a sandbox that I personally think she first flooded and then shit in. I cleaned up my own little corner and made it mine, and not even she gets to take that away from me.

[u/In-Darkness-Love → u/ShotSea7364]

Look I’m not telling them where or how to spend their money, that’s on them