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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Oh FUCK OFF, BBC!

37 replies

SunsetBeetch · 29/03/2021 09:14

Absolutely fucking sick of this shite now. Leave JKR alone!!!!!

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/5DdBBnrBnQt6vD2pVjZFs1Z/is-it-still-ok-to-read-harry-potter

OP posts:
zanahoria · 29/03/2021 10:03

. Not great but not a hatchet job either

The title makes it a hatchet job, they implicitly declare her guilty of all crimes against transgender ideology.

zanahoria · 29/03/2021 10:00

seriously?????

no debate about whether she is transphobic

only matter to be decided is about separating art from artist?

nauticant · 29/03/2021 09:52

The programme is actually far better than its title and origin would suggest. Not great but not a hatchet job either. If you're interested, the earlier thread linked to by Xanthangum is worth a read.

NotBadConsidering · 29/03/2021 09:43

It’s actually quite a balanced article:

Others disagree. Writer and broadcaster Gavin Haynes argues that readers shouldn’t consider their relationship with an author akin to a friendship and that abandoning the books due to disagreement with Rowling is, “churlish and childish… Surely the reason we read literature is expand our psychology and to come into contact with different views and to get a broader sense of the great ambiguity of life itself.” He also believes that the debate really only exists within a small group on social media. “I think if you sort of asked the man on the street about this particular debate, he’d ask you what you’re talking about.”

Literary critic Sam Leith, like Haynes, is of the opinion that expecting an author to reflect all your own views lacks maturity. He tells Romano, “I feel sort of slightly dismayed that a reader of your evident subtlety and sophistication is saying, ‘I feel I need to stop reading this woman's work because of something she said in public.”

Then it talks about how many people agree with her and still support her. Of course there’s no explanation as to why anything she said is supposedly so controversial (because no one ever can) but at least there’s a good chunk of it pointing out how stupid people are for not even entertaining the notion of reasonable disagreement.

Xanthangum · 29/03/2021 09:34

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/4076594-Can-I-Still-Read-Harry-Potter-BBC-R4-Thursday-12th-November-2020

They are recycling their programmes, we have been over this ground before

TheHamsterCatcher · 29/03/2021 09:33

All this nonsense about JKR just makes me want to read her books more.
I've just bought the first Harry Potter book in German since we already have the English versions! Grin

My German is pretty terrible, but hopefully with the help of my (occasionally untrustworthy!) German dictionary, I will persevere!

EmbarrassingAdmissions · 29/03/2021 09:31

List that made me very sad about a number of literary figures: listverse.com/2018/05/18/10-authors-you-read-in-school-who-were-secretly-terrible-people/

I await the BBC pieces questioning whether they should be read or studied.

OhHolyJesus · 29/03/2021 09:29

Is it still ok to read Foucault?

Actually scrap that - is it still ok to study Foucault?

Here is the link to complain...

www.bbc.co.uk/contact/complaints/make-a-complaint

Juicyoranges · 29/03/2021 09:25

I read an article on Richard Dawkins last week. He is way more outspoken than JKR, and barely a peep about him (I've searched)
I assume she's only vilified because she's a woman.

TryingAgain16 · 29/03/2021 09:24

The BBC are absolutely shocking now. The standards are appalling.

GCAcademic · 29/03/2021 09:22

This is exactly the kind of elitist, out-of-touch drivel that is hastening the BBC's demise. In 2010, when the coalition government came in and started threatening the BBC, I was distraught. Now I think they've brought it on themselves. Attacking individuals in this way is a new low and should not be the remit of a national broadcaster - it's state-sponsored bullying. As for lecturers who want safe spaces for their thinking to be unchallenged - grow up and do the job you're paid for.

EmbarrassingAdmissions · 29/03/2021 09:18

Just trying to think of how often they've raised similar questions about contemporary male authors.

I've got tumbleweed.