Let myself down

[madderose]

I've been GC for a few years now. Follow loads of GC people on Twitter, listen to loads of podcasts about it, have just read the Abigail Shrier book. However I'm not "out" except to 3 close friends.

Yesterday I was at an outdoor event with some family and friends of my in laws. One of them was asking about our recent trip on the steam train over the Glenfinnan viaduct.....known as the Harry Potter train....I was describing the trip and then this friend said "but of course JKR is in the news for all of the the wrong reasons now isn't she?" With a knowing nod.

I'm ashamed to say I just blustered it, made a sort of "errrm" noise and then changed the subject.

But I didn't feel it was
The time or place to get into a debate about it, and my in laws would have been annoyed/bewildered at me for ruining the atmosphere with a GC explanation.

I feel I need to have some stock replies ready if this should happen again! And I feel like I've betrayed JK who is so brave and amazing.

I honestly think JKR has the power to become a GC password of sorts. I was on a Teams call with a female colleague (late 40’s) the other day and she mentioned Harry Potter. I said “I think JKR is bloody brilliant” (subtext colleague, I’m testing the GC waters with you!!) and there was a moment where she just stared at me, then a very guarded “do you mean that in the way I think you do?” Kind of response.

The upshot is we’re both GC, not out to anyone else and have scheduled a weekly catch up to talk about feminist issues!

So while I think you were right not to get into it there and then, you may find that people are using a high profile figure to test the waters of GC acceptance amongst friends, family and peers.

@Wondersense

"but of course JKR is in the news for all of the the wrong reasons now isn't she?" With a knowing nod.

That almost sounds to me like your friend was testing to see if you were actually in agreement with JK. Your friend might not have wanted to admit their real opinions because they were afraid, so they tried to err on the safe side and see if you would be brave enough to contract them. I might be wrong because I don't know them. Sounds like fucking Handmaiden's Tale. What are we in these days? Is this Communist Romania??

Sounds like fucking Handmaiden's Tale. What are we in these days? Is this Communist Romania??

Exactly! I get the same feeling with I heart JK Rowling and woman definition t-shirts/stickers. Subtle signs to indicate forbidden beliefs to other believers.

Every time her name is mentioned (and quite often when it's not!) I say, 'oh I LOVE her' and see where the conversation goes...

Yes! Second this approach.

@Ereshkigalangcleg

Every time her name is mentioned (and quite often when it's not!) I say, 'oh I LOVE her' and see where the conversation goes...

Yes! Second this approach.

Yep, me too. Every time.

In the local mothers fb group where I live, there was a long thread this summer where someone recommended HP for getting children into reading, just after the whole JKR thing kicked off. Tens and tens of replies praising JKR's books and their value for children. I was pretty sure we all knew what we meant. Bloody depressing that has to be encoded discussion.