Nico Goes to Hogwarts *HIATUS*

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please Read

Hi everyone. Posting this on all my HP-related fics.

Today JKR released this tweet:

And while it's not saying verbatim "I'm transphobic", that is INDEED what it was saying.
First of all, the context behind this tweet: a person named Maya Forstater is the central force behind this particular backlash. Here's a brief description of who she is from a cite I'll link below:

So that. And I want to make it very very clear that, from what I've learned, this woman did not get fired in the sense we think of, but her contract was not renewed. Because of her transphobia.

Real quick definitions here— transphobia is homophobia against trans* people (including NB people; NB genders are under the trans umbrella. For shortening, I generally use trans* to denote the umbrella-ness of it). TERF stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Which is funny, because being trans exclusive is litcherally the OPPOSITE of what radical feminism should and used to be. Unfortunately radfeminism is now inextricably linked to transphobia because of the like of TERFs. Oh, quick note: if you're a terf do not fucking interact with me and especially MY WORKS. Ever. You're not welcome here.
But moving on.

So. How does Rowling fit into this? How is this, to a new view, innocuous tweet mean she's transphobic? I genuinely want to explain this so that you all will be able to recognize transphobia as you go along your lives.
Let's start with the tweet itself (because god knows theres more that leads to the conclusion of JKR being a fucking TERF). It's fine enough, if not annoyingly blasé. It's pretty much an equivalent to "I don't care if you're black, brown, purple" stuff, or "I don't care if you're gay, straight, a unicorn". In short, it's uh. A little bit microagression-y but outside of context seems like a cis person trying to be supportive. Then we get to the last comment. "But force women out of their jobs for saying sex is real?". Here's how that denotes transphobia. Some of it is in context relating to maya. Her contract wasn't renewed not because she was saying sex is real, but because she was saying that sex equates to gender. Which it doesn't. Sex is a physical thing. Gender is a social construct, and there are a vast array— and have been since before the 20th century; many indigenous cultures have tertiary (or even more) genders specific to their culture.(And anyway, sex is actually more than just XX and XY, 'female' and 'male', but the likes of maya aren't ready for that discussion). So it's not that maya said sex is real. It's that she said your gender cannot differentiate with ones sex. And JKR's support of Maya, especially given how she worded it (she sounds very much like she agrees), denotes her of being of the same ilk, especially given she broke her twitter hiatus for this.

Which I get if you don't get that right off the gate. Because, you know, it's not stating support so directly! Which, okay. But then there's the context of JKRs past transphobia. Oh yes, there's more.

A few years back, she liked... well... quite a few tweets from a very openly and violently transphobic/TERFy account (like, this account would harass trans women online). And it wasn't just general feminist tweets that are only soured knowing that account is transphobic (and therefore excludes a very large group of women in their definition of 'women'). No. The tweet Jolene liked referred to trans women as men in women's clothing. Which uh. Trans women are not cross dressers. They are not drag queens (this is simplifying ok I know there are trans faux queens but this isn't the point). They're, you know, women. She has also liked a tweet promoting a very transphobic article.

And there's one last major transgression, that came in a book she wrote, the Silkworm. Im not going to go into many details about it, but long story short, a trans women attacks someone, fails, and the target traps her in the office with him threatening to call the police— which would be bad for her because she's pre-op. Which makes her unstable and aggressive. Which is what makes this part of her book so bad. It's not just the casual reference to/pseudo-joke about prison rape and the treatment of trans* people who are incarcerated. It's that she paints Pippa, the trans woman, as aggressive, unable to overcome a "masculine nature", and generally are villains. It's a common trope.

And all of this adds up. All of this supports the conclusion JKR is transphobic. Oh, not violently so, sure. But that doesn't make it any less worse, any less true.

JKR is not an ally to anyone in the LGBT+ community. Her attempts at gay rep are, uh, bad (saying there are gay kids at Hogwarts isn't rep, given she didn't name which ones lmfao; Dumbledore... really doesn't count, because not only did she state this AFTER he died, which again doesn't count as rep, there is not going to be any portrayal of that gayness in Fantastic Beasts— oh, sure. There will be little hints here and there for people who know, but it will not be explicitly stated. Which means Dumbledore isn't even half-assed representation; he's just not representation at all).

So what do us Harry Potter fans do about it? That's up to you, really.

You can sever yourself from HP. That's totally valid.

But if you don't want to? Well, here comes the fun part kiddos, and how I survive when authors/creators are shitty people. It's called "Death of the Author", and pretty much you act as though they author— and their intentions— are dead, and take personal control of the story (for yourself, that is). Pretty much, you supplement with your own HCs, and ignore canon where it's bad— or even where you just don't agree with it. Of course, the new canon you make maybe isn't for everyone, but if it makes you happy, well, that's the point! So long as you're not being a bigot within it, it's fine!

So for people who still love and want to love Harry Potter, I recommend two things: recognize JKR is transphobic (you don't have to be telling anyone, really, just don't try to argue it); and ascribe to death of the author.

You do not have to stop loving Harry Potter because it's author is a terf. You just have to RECOGNIZE it's author is a terf, and thus separate her from it.

EDIT:

All of this is not the only notes on the list of JKR's transgressions. This is without mentioning her antisemitism, her racism, her homophobia, and her overall lowkey trash personality. The point of this chap is her transphobia, but it's not at the sake of ignoring  her other bigotry.

Sources:
- screenshot from: https://www.fastcompany.com/90445934/is-j-k-rowling-transphobic-who-is-maya-forstater-your-questions-about-the-uk-scandal-answered
- info about The Silkworm & others (tho I remembered the tweet stuff from uh. Living through it): Wattpad will not let me add the link, but it's from a publication called "them.", under the article "Is J.K. Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates"