While the LGBT community and our allies have stood back and watched a rather ominous narrative form around JK Rowling, it has been without any direct confirmation or statement from the author herself. It’s as if she is conditioning the world to accept it rather than rebuke it. First she stuck her toe in the water, was caught, claimed it was a misunderstanding and we accepted that. Then, she persisted to do the same things… again and again.
Finally, we have some confirmation of Rowling’s stance against the transgender community. She has followed one of the most hateful and aggressive anti-trans radical feminists on Twitter, Magdalen Berns.
I’m sorry but you are kidding yourself if you can pretend Harry Potter is divorced from the author’s transphobia. Saying “Miku made this” is just glossing over the disturbing context given to elements from the series when you know that JKR is a raging transmisogyniat who follows one of the worst terfs on twitter.
In Hogwarts, the stairs to the girls’ dorms physically will not allow male students to enter. However girls can enter the boys’ dorm base apparently girls are inherently more trustworthy. This was written by a woman who believes trans women are men who prey on cis women and therefore should be forcibly removed from women’s spaces.
In Harry Potter only the girl students are allowed to pet the unicorns because they are more “pure” than the boys. This was written by a person who believes your sex assigned at birth IS your gender and believes it immoral or impossible to have a different gender from your ASAB.
The only time people are very shown using polyjuice potion to transform into a person of another gender, it’s mostly a joke about Harry’s friends making comments about his body + Fleur being embarrassed for her husband to see her as a naked man. Other than this scene, every use of polyjuice potion is intensely gender-conforming, and it’s not because of the voices because in the books polyjuice changes your voice as well.
There are elements of the Harry Potter books that people have tried to reframe as being trans-inclusive (“what if a trans boy couldn’t get into the girls dorm only the boys dorm?”) but we are lying to ourselves if we pretend her “opinions” aren’t present in Harry Potter.
also, the situation with notch vs the situation with jk rowling are very different.
it is entirely fine to love minecraft and pretend hatsune miku made it because notch does not own minecraft anymore. all references to him in the game have been removed. it is under the control of an entirely different team and has been for a while. notch probably made enough money off of minecraft to live incredibly comfortably for the rest of his life, but he no longer receives any benefit from it. in addition, notch’s harmful and toxic views and politics have not tainted minecraft whatsoever, because its just a fun little open-world game about building things; there is no story or narrative to taint.
every dollar spent on harry potter, on the other hand, is another dollar in rowling’s pocket. even if you pretend she as a person doesnt exist. and her bigotry is present throughout the series, this is not just limited to trans women.
Because they provide a state of controlled conflict, board games can improve your relationship skills by requiring that you practice taking turns, following rules, being fair, and winning or losing gracefully.
GOD I found another article about why ADHD kids say “I don’t know” so much. my entire childhood was getting yelled at for doing some ADHD shit and me not being able to offer an explanation when asked why I did something.
I’m literally not allowed to say I don’t know when my mom is yelling at me for something because “it’s not a real answer”, and almost every time I feel the need to say it it’s to articulate one of these things. I wish people understood this.
So we’d fought our way through a dungeon at found at the end a group of guards that had gone missing. As we’re talking to them, one reveals that they had killed and eaten their commanding officer. At this point the dm gives us the option to either arrest them, kill them, or let them go. This is when our deranged warlock, who is currently holding a severed head, takes the initiative.
Warlock: We’re going to let you go, but on one condition: you owe us. It does’t matter when it is or where, if we call you, you will help us.
Barbarian OOC: I’m going to stand behind him and stare down the guard to intimidate him.
Fighter OOC: I’m going to stand next to him and crack my whip on the floor.
Bard OOC: I’m going to pull out an onion and eat it like an apple.
