Do you like JK Rowling even after what she said/did?

[Elena]

Personally I don’t like her but love her books. A lot of people found comfort in her books such as trans youth.For her to say that trans women aren’t real women and trans men aren’t real men hurt. I do not support her but I still love the books and the fandom.

[Francis]

As a trans person, no, I do not like Rowling at all. I used to like her when I first read the Harry Potter books, but my change in opinion was not sudden and all at once, rather I became gradually disillusioned.

If I remember correctly, the first thing that made me question how good of a person she is was her antisemitic portrayal of the goblins. That alone I would have been able to forgive, had she addressed it and apologized (though, to my knowledge, she hasn't), but it didn't stop there.

The next thing were the house elves - I do not know what they are supposed to be a metaphor for, but I don't see a way to interpret them that isn't problematic. If you use your book series as an allegory for real world politics (Voldemort is clearly a nazi), then you should probably avoid a slave race that is happy to be enslaved. This goes especially if you portray the one person who is trying to help them, namely Hermione, as annoying and overreacting.

Rowling's statement that lycanthropy is a metaphor for AIDS? Not good either. Fenrir Greyback is a werwolf who intentionally infects a child with lycanthropy, and if we apply this to AIDS, here is what we get: A man who has AIDS intentionally infects a male child with it. How does he do that? Well, you can get AIDS through means other than sex, but this is clearly not what anyone reading the above sentence woud assume. So here we have Rowling using the stereotype of gay men being child rapists and intentionally infecting people with AIDS in her children's books. Great! /s

Well, those are all just things about her books. You should not judge a person exclusively by what kind of fictional stories they write. But here's the thing: I knew that Rowling was a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist, for those who aren't aware) long before her transphobic tweets and her anti-trans manifesto. More than a year before those things happened, she had already been caught liking transphobic tweets comparing trans women in women's prison to foxes in henhouses (ugh). She just wasn't open about her bigotry yet, likely because she knew how much backlash she would get for that. I decided to mainly ignore her after this.

Well, we all know what happened next. She made a tweet not only saying that all people who menstruate are women, but also strongly implying that this is an obvious truth. And, after she was rightfully called out for her blatant transmisandry, she chose not to listen to any criticism and instead double down. Suddenly it wasn't just the basic transphobia of "trans men are women and trans women are men" anymore (which would have already been awful enough), but a conspiracy, a sinister plot where trans people were either perpetrators intentionally hurting people or helpless victims. And to make it even more disgusting, she added some good old ableism, in which autistic people are apparently easier to manipulate, and thus shouldn't be trusted to make their own decisions. And autistic girls need to be protected from the evil manipulators by being denied agency, "for their own good". It's a three for one deal. You order transphobia, and you get transphobia, misgogyny and ableism. Except that no one actually ordered transphobia, and it's more like a company spamming you with newsletters that you never signed up for.

After Rowling has openly expressed her opinion on trans people, I can no longer just merely ignore her. I will not let anyone in my vicinity talk well of her without mentioning that she's a transphobe who should not be supported. I will encourage anyone who wants to read Harry Potter to get it from a library or buy it second-hand, because this woman does not deserve any money. I will speak out against her, because the ideology she supports has led and is still leading to trans people being denied basic rights, women (both cis and trans) being harassed, and trans people being murdered.

[Carla]

I discovered that I don't need to like her to continue liking the books.

[Layla]

I don’t agree with everything she said, but I will continue to enjoy the books that have been given to me and that I bought long before she announced her opinions. But, after what she had said, I will no longer continue to support her in anyway that makes her money. The fandom and the magic that has given my childhood happiness can never be taken away, even by J.K. Rowling herself. Although, it is disappointing that someone who has given millions upon millions of children happy memories could ever believe in such a disrespectful, harmful, and hateful ideology.

[Maddie (Taylor's Version)]

I do not. I already own all the books tho and can continue reading them without supporting her and the transphobia she spews.

[[deleted user]]

I do not agree with her (notice how the cast of the movies disagree with her too) I have all the movies and have been to harry potter world in Florida and read all the books. But since I've already gotten the stuff, it means there's no use boycotting because I still gave her the money before.

[[deleted user]]

Its not ok what she said.

[Fabulous Unicorn]

I like the books
Not the author