There are some open questions that I ponder over the years, hoping to figure out a bit more of my own mind. One of these is the question of what to do with art made by hateful people. And maybe the place this most touches my own life as a reader is in the Harry Potter books, which were a lifeline and height of pleasure starting when I nine, and then through my teenage years. Their author, J.K. Rowling, has spent the last decade-plus reorienting her energy to be one of the leading haters and persecutors of trans people. What to do with these books, then?
This article—“Burn Harry Burn: Reckoning With My Harry Potter Fandom as a Trans Person”, by Sandy Ernest Allen—bothers this problem with a great deal of empathy and insight. If you haven’t been paying attention to this saga, or like me you have unsettled thoughts, I highly recommend giving it a read.
One bit that really resonates is a discussion of how discordant it is for Rowling’s committed and prominent transphobia to be common knowledge, yet the Harry Potter spinoffs and Broadway show and Disneyland rides are all endlessly promoted. (Lisa pointed out to me that Rowling is doing all this partially to re-cast and reclaim her characters after the lead actors from the movies all came out and denounced her bigotry). Here is Allen on this:
I have tried to ignore J.K. Rowling through these last years, as no doubt many still try to ignore all of this. But it’s also impossible not to notice she continues to be absolutely fine, even as she is relentless in her persecution of my people.
Her bigotry has only gotten louder as she continues to accumulate wealth from her toxic IP: the books, the movies, the merchandise, the parks, all that continues on just fucking fine.
I was in Manhattan earlier this year and all around me were advertisements for the Harry Potter show on Broadway; they followed me on billboards as I drove home on the thruway. Tourists bustling around Union Square carried bags from some Harry Potter café. Every day, more news about the impending show on HBO.
As a trans adult just trying to live life it’s impossible for me to even glance at the news without being consumed by dread. Given what’s coming for all trans Americans these days. Where on earth might I be safe? Like many of us, I wonder this now, a lot.
