Variety on JK Rowling

[ArabellaScott]

https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/harry-potter-hbo-series-jk-rowling-transphobia-1236215642/

HBO are supporting Rowling. To the bewilderment and despair of Variety, and the author of some Harry Potter themed cookbook or something.

A delightful article in which the writer attempts to find a reverse gear on their ferret-pulled bandwagon.

CHIEF RIGHTS HOARDING DINOSAUR OF THE CLAN VILE ILKY McTERF

maybe the band is The Rights Hoarding Dinosaurs, and their difficult second album is titled The Vile Terf Ilk?

.

I am still trying to get my head round the first sentence:

‘When J.K. Rowling first went public in June 2020 about her belief that transgender women are men and transgender men are women’

I thought transgender women were women that wanted to be men ie a transman. So a transgender man was a transwoman. The Variety sentence above reads to me like JK Rowling believed transmen are men - which is the opposite of what I think Variety means.

Then there’s the went ‘public’ with the ‘belief’.
It’s not a belief - it’s factual reality. ‘Went’ public suggests it’s a scandalous new viewpoint rather than repeating facts of nature everyone has always known is true. It sounds as ridiculous as ‘when Iamiams first went public about her belief that Earth isn’t flat’.

At least I can console myself that the Census debacle shows most people are as confused as me.

I know, the hyperbole is fantastic.

OMG EVIL CHIEF ILKY OF TEH VILE TERF CLAN THINKS MEN ARE MEN!

One thing I've noticed, in the world outside the gender debate, people are still enjoying Harry Potter and looking forward to the new series. The fanatics might be a smaller crowd than it appears.

Wow that rabbit hole definitely had a Mad Hatter's Tea Party at the bottom. 😳 The mind boggles at centring the holocaust on a group of people who hadn't even invented themselves yet.

She recently added a trans character into a fic on the basis she 'couldn't' return to the HP world without one

The thing is, there's no reason why trans might not exist in a magical universe. There's some controversy about whether a Metamorphmagus can actually change sex. But I guess if someone transformed their whole body, including DNA, they wouldn't be 'trans', they'd really be the opposite sex.

The amount of misinformation on it is quite something @WomensSports - Reddit is such a misogynistic echo chamber.

Well yes. But would that be trans erasure, reinforcing the pernicious myth that women can’t have penises?

I actually think that article can only have been written with a heavy dose of Damon Runyon/Anita Loos style irony.

her belief that transgender women are men and transgender men are women

It’s placed those fans in a vexing dilemma: How can they engage with the new show, or any other iteration of the franchise, if they vehemently disagree with Rowling’s views...

Four years of fan outcry and shunning of her work, Anelli says, “has not affected the bottom line at all”

There's a very big tongue in cheek tone about it.

Can't see any comments when I look, don't know if you need a subscription? Could you communicate the best ones to us!? 😀

They've taken down the comments, but they made it into the archive: https://archive.ph/TFyvT

oh sorry, i can't remember but they were exclusively about how awful JKR is wanting all trans people to be wiped off the face of the earth, etc

Some of them were sticking up for JKR when I read it.

There was a trans character in Hogwarts legacy, the helpful bar owner in hogsmead.

And you could play as male or female with either sex voice.

It was all very pc as most modern games now are. I remember 10 years ago and you had a choice of say 2 male designs! Black or white bring the options.

Harry Potter is based on great imagination as is the trans ideology.

Following for the podcast so I don't lose it

‘Four years of fan outcry and shunning of her work, Anelli says, “has not affected the bottom line at all”’

An uninformed observer might mistakenly assume that the fans who are outcrying so loudly do not truly represent the Harry Potter fan base.

It almost appears as if a tiny, unrepresentative minority are simply shouting very loudly.

But of course, that can’t possibly be the case.

🚨 Sarcasm 🚨

There's a vegan Harry Potter cook book?!
😍
Sorry, as you were.....

Very funny either way!

If you want to read the dark mirror version of a reaction to this article there is a fascinating subreddit called r/enoughjkrowling, where redditors post her tweets, decry what she says and talk about how its all over for her and the HP house of cards is all about to collapse and she will be RUINED.

This thread is about the variety article and how two screenwriters have come out to say they refuse to work on the HP series because HBO is backing JKR (and thus the whole project is doomed and JKR will be RUINED)

Though I'm also enjoying the one beneath it where they are beside themselves that JKR has retweeted something from libs of tiktok while ignoring that what she has tweeted is a response to a tiktok calling for her murder. JKR is basically a terrorist - that is actually what one of them says.

A fascinating read. Great example of how the internet encourages echo chambers.

I fully accept I may also be in one. The views I see on Twitter are rather unexpected, certainly, though it’s interesting to me that I felt sure Trump would be elected because of what I saw there.

In the same way, it became obvious with Hogwarts Legacy that the Potter brand has not been, in any way diminished by JK Rowling’s views, so it would appear that the echo chambers I’m in are currently giving me feedback that appears to accurately reflect what’s actually happening.

It’s also interesting to note on Facebook, where I’ve never expressed my views, that posts on JK Rowling (and this morning, Sharron Davies) seem to get responses in favour of their views, regardless of the slant of the original post or article. Unless Facebook has guessed my views and is only sending articles with responses that went that way, it looks like women’s rights are winning hands down when it comes to the general public that use Facebook.

The Rowling derangement syndrome thread on the fruit farm site updates regularly with 'interesting' posts that the farmers have found. It's worth reading every now and again.

They simply cannot tell the truth, can they? Are they allergic to honesty or something? Adam Vary says, in that Variety article, that she rebuked someone for speaking in support of trans kids playing sports.

I’ll bet you anything you like that she rebuked him for supporting boys competing in girls’ teams or against girls.

I don’t for one moment believe she thinks anyone should be banned from playing sports. Everyone should be banned from cheating, which includes men/boys taking women’s/girls’ places.