![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravenna_c_tanHey folks, if you've still got my old fandom email address of ravenna_c_tan (AT) yahoo.com, that address is going away.
I'm replacing it with the similar Gmail form: ravenna.c.tan(@)gmail.com
Of course, there's kind of the question of whether I will even call myself a Harry Potter fan after the great JK Rowling TERF wars of 2020, but that deserves a post unto itself.
I guess the short version is this: as a bigender queer myself, I find JKR's ideas about trans identity to be harmful and regressive, and her doubling down on those ideas and pushing her morally and intellectually bankrupt essays on the subject onto the public to be reprehensible.
But the author is not the work, and what brought so many folks to Harry Potter and kept us together for so many years was the spirit of diversity demonstrated (however facilely) in the books, and the idea that together we could tear down repressive power structures that use fake 'purity' ideals to prop themselves up.
So, yes, it strikes me as more than a little ironic that JKR has essentially become the embodiment of her own villain. She's taken her own fear and pain and instead of facing it and learning from others to overcome it, she has made it into an excuse to bully others and force them to conform to her ideals.
I'm boycotting anything that would put money in her pocket as a result. It's a damn shame, because I would have loved to see the Cursed Child play again with new cast members, and taken my family to see it every year like people do the Nutcracker. I would have loved to give Universal Studios another try one of these days.
Fan-made and fan-sourced art and media, on the other hand, I want to continue to support. And I am torn about what to do with the Hogwarts Alumni Reunion parties I've been running. We've kind of rebranded them in recent years as Slytherins for Social Justice, and turned them into fundraising for various good causes, principally BARCC when Arisia was going through its #MeToo issues, and maybe the obvious thing to do is just keep running them but now pick a trans charity?
I suppose I don't have to decide since there won't be a 2021 Arisia, and most conventions are not going to happen until we have a COVID vaccine. So I can bide my time.
But I won't be wearing my Slytherin scarf this winter, because I don't want people to think I'm a TERF or that I agree with terfery. Because right now that's what wearing your Hogwarts house colors means to a lot of folks, even if you don't intend that. Because some do.
Okay, that was actually a much longer post than I intended! (Edited to add a cut!)
I'm replacing it with the similar Gmail form: ravenna.c.tan(@)gmail.com
Of course, there's kind of the question of whether I will even call myself a Harry Potter fan after the great JK Rowling TERF wars of 2020, but that deserves a post unto itself.
I guess the short version is this: as a bigender queer myself, I find JKR's ideas about trans identity to be harmful and regressive, and her doubling down on those ideas and pushing her morally and intellectually bankrupt essays on the subject onto the public to be reprehensible.
But the author is not the work, and what brought so many folks to Harry Potter and kept us together for so many years was the spirit of diversity demonstrated (however facilely) in the books, and the idea that together we could tear down repressive power structures that use fake 'purity' ideals to prop themselves up.
So, yes, it strikes me as more than a little ironic that JKR has essentially become the embodiment of her own villain. She's taken her own fear and pain and instead of facing it and learning from others to overcome it, she has made it into an excuse to bully others and force them to conform to her ideals.
I'm boycotting anything that would put money in her pocket as a result. It's a damn shame, because I would have loved to see the Cursed Child play again with new cast members, and taken my family to see it every year like people do the Nutcracker. I would have loved to give Universal Studios another try one of these days.
Fan-made and fan-sourced art and media, on the other hand, I want to continue to support. And I am torn about what to do with the Hogwarts Alumni Reunion parties I've been running. We've kind of rebranded them in recent years as Slytherins for Social Justice, and turned them into fundraising for various good causes, principally BARCC when Arisia was going through its #MeToo issues, and maybe the obvious thing to do is just keep running them but now pick a trans charity?
I suppose I don't have to decide since there won't be a 2021 Arisia, and most conventions are not going to happen until we have a COVID vaccine. So I can bide my time.
But I won't be wearing my Slytherin scarf this winter, because I don't want people to think I'm a TERF or that I agree with terfery. Because right now that's what wearing your Hogwarts house colors means to a lot of folks, even if you don't intend that. Because some do.
Okay, that was actually a much longer post than I intended! (Edited to add a cut!)
no subject
Date: 2020-11-05 06:59 pm (UTC)Anyway, I feel you. I will defend HP fandom to the utmost while completely criticising JKR and refusing to give her any money.