What Made You Guys First Read Harry Potter?

Is JK Rowling Really a Feminist?

JK Rowling is the author to a well-loved book series known as the Harry Potter series. They’re books that, whether we want to admit it or not, helped shape our childhood and, therefore, who we are today.

For years, many of us only managed to see the illusion she had created for us to see. Myself included. But as the years passed, the mask Rowling had carefully crafted for the public cracked, and the ugliness she carries within shone through.

Many of us had no clue of how truly troublesome she and her books really are until we got slapped in the face with reality. I, for one, failed to see the racism, homophobia, and ironically, the sexism within the books when I read them as a child.

Here are a couple of things from the HP series that just scream ‘internalized misogyny’ to me:

—Feminine Girls = Bad—

This trope is seen constantly throughout the series. We see girls like Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, and Fleur Delacour — girls who acknowledge they’re pretty, who like fashion, and care for their looks — getting bashed and hated on left and right. Simply for the reasons stated above.

Meanwhile, girls like Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley are celebrated for not being like that. Hermione has her intelligence and her cleverness. Ginny has her athletic build and tomboy-ish tastes (which comes from being the only girl in the family). I love them both, but they’re usually the ones doing the bashing in the books. I’m over it.

—Girls With Feelings = Bad—

This one I believe to be worse than the first point. Here you’ve got Cho Chang — who’s being mocked because she’s conflicted about her feelings for Harry, she feels as though she’s betraying her dead boyfriend who died the year before by the hands of Voldemort. Why do people pressure her so much? Can’t she take her time? It’s not like they don’t have more important things to worry about than having a girlfriend.

I’m also sick of the Lavender Brown bashing. She’s a nice girl who was desperately in love with Ron, she wanted so badly to have a magical love story that she was blind to how Ron didn’t like her as much. I love Ron, but come on.

This, as always, is what comes to mind at the moment. I might add some more later.

Rowling’s internalized misogyny aside from her books:

—Transphobia—

In case I haven’t made it clear with my previous posts (if you’ve seen them), I am an ally of the Transgender community. Trans men are men. Trans women are women. For me, it doesn’t matter what you identify as or what pronouns you use — you let me know, and I’ll adjust my vocabulary to fit your preference. Whatever’s is or isn’t in your pants is none of my business and should not be used as an excuse to disrespect you. Simple as that.

Unfortunately, not everyone thinks like I do. One of the people who have been actively harming the trans community because they can’t mind their own business is none other than JK Rowling.

I just think the idea of being a radfem or TERF is bullshit. I understand the point a lot of them make about how cis women’s struggles are different, and you’re right about that much. But you guys have to also realize that each woman’s experience with oppression is different anyway.

Take for example Black women and white women. It’s well known that Black women face more oppression compared to white women. Do you see them forming a feminist group that excludes white women? No, at least, not to my knowledge. So why exclude trans women when they, too, go through oppression?

Think about it: trans women also go through sexual harassment, rapes, murders, and daily disrespect just for being trans. Not to mention that the process of changing your sex is mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting. No one would go through all of that if they weren’t 100% sure that they were born in the wrong body.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: sex ≠ gender.

—Marilyn Mason—

**Heavy Trigger Warning**

I know this is from last year, but I just found out about it and I’m so mad.

For those who don’t know who Marilyn Mason is . . .

. . . it’s this creep. He legitimately scares me. He does horrible things just because he likes watching his victims squirm.

Here’s a list of things he’s done:

1. He has a cramped vocal booth with nothing but some soundproofing foams that his victims — mostly ex girlfriends and former female employees of his — describe it as a solitary-confinement cell used to psychologically torture women. This monster would lock his victims in there for hours, he got off on watching them struggle and slowly become more and more desperate to get out. He boasted about it, and called it the “Bad Girls’ Room”.

2. He’s being sued for sexual assault by a former assistant (it is unknown to me whether more victims have come forth or not).

3. His apartment was decorated with blood, swastikas, and clipped photos from porno magazines. There’s also a spray-painted message above his bed that reads “AIDS”.

4. Most of the mental, physical, and emotional abuse was done at this apartment — which some describe to be a black refrigerator or a meat locker. Most, if not all, of his victims now suffer from bouts of anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and PTSD.

5. Specified forms of abuse: Game of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco alleges that Mason frequently abused her verbally; deprived her of sleep and food; bit, cut, electrocuted, and whipped her without her consent; and raped her during their two years together. Bianco alleges that, in one horrifying episode, Mason wielded an ax and chased her around the apartment smashing holes in the walls after saying she was “crowding him.”

Rolling Stone Article on Marilyn Mason.

Now you may be wondering, what does Marilyn Mason have to do with JK Rowling?

Ah, thank you for asking. Look at this:

Marilyn Mason thanked JK Rowling on Twitter and Instagram for roses. Why would she — self-proclaimed feminist — be sending this man monster flowers? Why would she even want to be associated with him?

How can she call herself a feminist and be friendly with this beast in the same breath? Mason has been known for being like this for literal years, so it can’t be that she didn’t know about it.

JK Rowling is so concerned with trans women, saying that they’re not real women because they were born a male. She says she loves and admires trans people only to go ahead and demean them, ignore their criticisms, and overall send them hate for who they are. And yet.

I’ve had plenty of Anons telling me that I’m the hateful one because I can’t tolerate the fact that her opinion on trans people differs from mine. You can think whatever you like about trans people, really, I usually just cut TERFs out of my life as soon as I find out. Snip snip. So my issue isn’t Rowling having a different opinion, even if I think it’s wrong. My issue is with how uses her money, platform, and fame to hurt trans people. My issue is with how when trans people and their allies try to tell her that she’s hurting them and us, she scoffs at us and digs the knife deeper. All of this in the name of feminism. She’s not even a real feminist, anyway.

Remember: an opinion is whether you think the milk goes before the cereal or not, it’s NOT whether someone’s gender identity and the oppression that comes with it are valid or not.

To the person who sent (through my Google Form) an extensively researched Hogwarts curriculum with sources and suggestions to check out other content creators who’ve worked on this as well:

CAN I KISS YOU?! CAN I HUG YOU?! YOUVE WON MY HEART NOW, HERE: ❤️🤲. THANK YOU! HAVE THE BESTEST DAY, I LOVE YOU!

Beta-Readers Needed!

Before I publish the first few chapters of my rewrite series, I’m looking for at least five beta readers who’ll check my work for any inconsistencies, typos, and any other errors that might be found.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ If you are interested, you can message me so that I can ask you a couple of questions. If I feel that you may work well with me, I’ll ask for your email.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ If you are not interested, but know someone that might be, then you can either send them this post or tell me about them so that I can ask them myself. I’ll be asking a couple of simple questions and, if I feel we’d work well, then I’ll ask for their emails.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ REMEMBER! This part of the rewrite is centered around the Marauders & Co. (the romance is Wolfstar-focused, although romance isn’t the main theme). There’s going to be a lot of diversity in terms of race, gender, and disabilities. Also, Snape is going to be a complex, humanized character.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ If I can find someone who is Indian, Japanese, French, and/or Welsh to call me out in case I make any mistakes (I’ve been studying these cultures for years whenever I can, but I’m not perfect) that would be amazing.

ੈ✩‧₊˚ Finally, any and all Beta-Readers I end up picking will be credited each chapter I post.

Hari raised by Wolfstar :D

Hi, Anon! Thank you for voting! I’ll add it to my chart. Also, loved that you used Hari’s Indian name💜

I wanted to take the chance to also thank everyone who’s been voting, please keep them coming! The vote won’t end until I’ve finished (or mostly finished) my Marauders’ era part of the rewrite. If you’ve got any comments or questions about it, please let me know!

For anyone that’s wondering what the vote is about, you can go ahead and see it here!

Harry Potter Rewrite: Religion.

The original Harry Potter series was heavily influenced by the Christian religion. I never thought it made much sense, so I decided to make it so that the majority (especially purebloods and half-bloods) practice paganism. They’ll have their own traditions and festivals and holidays.

There will be other students who don’t practice paganism, but that enjoy some of their holidays. So far, some of the students (in the Marauders’ Era, since that’s what I’m working on at the moment) who aren’t Pagans are:

1. James Potter—Hinduism

2. Peter Pettigrew—Atheist

3. Severus Snape—Atheist, but has Catholic leanings due to his muggle father

4. Lily Evans—Atheist, family is Catholic

Of course, other religions such as Judaism, Islam, and many more, will be included. I’m just currently doing my research on these religions so that I can portray them well. Any help or suggestion is welcomed.

Any thoughts?

Thank you so much! I was very worried I would end up offending people, and I’d grown quite attached to them.

Zaneerah and Saida will be portrayed to be quite intelligent and I’d go as far as to say that they were ahead of their time. Especially Saida, who’d worked so hard to be inclusive of everyone and offered a leg-up while simultaneously encouraging people to accept themselves as they are. Zaneerah becomes one of the most powerful wixes in the magical world, despite the fact that she’s blind (and proud).

I read a post that suggested that perhaps the children who’d showed signs of magic would be seen as being blessed by Allah. I rather like the idea, as it would explain maybe why their parents would be thrilled while also be a bit nervous around magic; they love that they have the Gift of Allah, but also, magic has a lot of bad rep and they don’t quite know how to act.

Hello!

I just found out that Muslims believe that every kind of magic is Black Magic (correct me if I’m wrong). Now I’m a bit afraid of writing them into my Harry Potter rewrite, since I wanted to represent them but if it’s going to offend my Muslim readers, then I think I probably shouldn’t. Still, here’s what I had in plan for them (there was supposed to be two characters who were Muslim).

They’re best friends whose family are also very close. They’re supposed to be muggleborn witches. One of them (Zaneerah) is blind, and the other one (Saida) doesn’t have any disability. So once they get to Hogwarts and they realized just how inaccessible the school is for students with any kind of disabilities, the two muslim best friends work together to find magical ways to make life easier.

After their project is done and over with and Zaneerah begins excelling in her classes with her new spells and such, Saida finds that her passions lay in helping those with certain disabilities. She spends the rest of her school years working closely with other disabled students to find something that helps them without actually erasing their disability (if they don’t wish to).

I’m disabled, so I thought this would be a cool idea. But if it’ll offend my Muslim readers then perhaps I shouldn’t proceed? What do you think? Because I do believe that there must be magical people all over the country regardless of where they’re from or their religion, should these girls struggle with their newfound identity while at school? Maybe have some issues with their families? They would have to attend Hogwarts or some magical school because otherwise they’d become Obscurials.

Again, if it’s too complicated, or would still offend my Muslim readers, just tell me the word and I’ll remove this idea and replace it with someone else.

Hi! I think it's completely okay to write that! Since it's a fictional story and you're doing it to represent Muslims, I don't think it would offend the muslim readers and from what you've described of your characters, they don't seem to fall into the problematic and stereotypical muslim representation media often shows (as in you know portraying them as terrorists and always violent) And speaking of, muslim families being shown as not accepting their children's differences is also a somewhat repetitive and harmful trope in many media, so I'd suggest to not have that and have them be supportive even if they don't understand

But yeah I think you should go for it! It's a very good idea! I love that you're writing this to represent the muslim and disabled community

hey how come you've been interacting with cryptoterfs lately.....

May I ask what cryptoterf means? I tried looking it up but couldn’t come up with a solid meaning.

I have some advice for a way to portray the Marauders and Snape's relationship! They bullied him, but Snape was never defenseless (except for That Prank) and I think it started from some animosity on the train during their first year, them Snape continued to be a jerk. Snape seemed to be the only person that they were constantly picking on, so must've done something to earn their ire. They were pranksters, but not normally bullies. Most of the students and teachers had mostly good things to say about them.

I think a good way to portray it is that the Marauders and Snape constantly being at each other's throats in small, petty ways. The Marauders would only go after Snape when he deserved it or was being extra bloodcult-y. They were bullies because they all ganged up on him, but I don't think that was always the case.

I think they had some kind of moral code - they were Gryffindors after all, if nothing else, their honor would've stopped them from always going after him physically - so it was usually just one on one or two to one. The others would be the lookouts, or help them plan. They'd insult him and he'd fire right back.

Most of their pranks were harmless, I think, except for The Prank. Mostly cutting words and petty actions that didn't mean much at the time, but mounted up to he quite annoying.

Hope this helps!

Hey Anon!

Firstly, thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it.

Secondly, I've been interacting with some Snape stans because I wanted him to be humanized. Snape, as well as the Marauders, are going to have a lot of flaws, but also a lot of good traits. There are going to be times in which the Marauders prank Snape unprovoked. There are going to be other times where it is going to be Snape who's going after them.

We're going to see a lot of Snape's softer side during their fifth and sixth years, after his relationship with Lily ends. Lily will be grieving for their lost friendship, and will sometimes talk about fond memories with Snape. I don't want to spoil it too much, that is all you'll be getting.

Now, Snape is not going to be defenseless. He will lash out and get his revenge when he feels is needed. But neither will the Marauders. For the majority of the story, it's going to be a mutual rivalry, until the moment they humiliated him in front of the school - this incident is going to shift something within a lot of people, for the better or for the worst.

Hey, same anon about trans!fleur.

Maybe a trans!cedric ?

I mean, his father would be so proud of his SON and how HE's so amazing in school/quidditch ?

Give us supportive parents of queer kids, please!

Thanks for your hardwork and amazings ideas!

I actually never thought so Trans!Cedric and I am honestly going to say that I love it so much. Cedric having loving and supportive parents? Yes please!

Cedric wouldn’t be the only queer kid who has supportive parents, since one of the main themes in my series would be discovering and coming to terms with one’s identity so I’m excited.

And thank YOU for the awesome idea! And to everyone else who’s also joined me in my journey, I love y’all!!

Reblog if you will answer LITERALLY ANY anon questions.

BRING IT ON

challenge accepted