Can we continue to accept our addiction to Harry Potter despite its author JK Rowling’s stance against trans people, which includes very generous donations to transphobic funds? If you yourself are transphobic (remember that discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity is a crime), yes; otherwise, it’s more complicated. The question arises regularly among Potterheadsincluding when they belong to the LGBT+ community.
In the columns of the American media Vox, journalist and columnist Sigal Samuel answers the questions of a man in a gay relationship who adores the whole universe Harry Potterwhile his partner doesn’t care at all. While agreeing that JK Rowling’s transphobia is unbearable, she is not ready to mourn: “I want to continue to immerse myself in the world ofHarry Potterwhich I find sends an overall positive message», he writes, adding a little further that each time he buys an object linked to the little wizard, he makes a donation to the Human Rights Campaign, as if to compensate.
Sigal Samuel, who also confesses “have no problem reading books written by problematic authors» as she thinks “capable of separating the wheat from the chaff» in their works, takes the opportunity to remind us that JK Rowling’s uninhibited transphobia is not quite the only concern. Multiplying grossophobic barbs, using anti-Semitic stereotypes to characterize goblins, she was also singled out for her way of talking about slavery (through the famous Dobby, house elf) or using AIDS as a metaphor.
The journalist insists on the positive virtues of the saga, which advocates difference and even invites us to celebrate it (unless you are trans, visibly). “The books Harry Potter have succeeded in training a generation of young readers to be extremely sensitive to discrimination and to reject it”she writes. “And it is precisely on this basis that many of these young readers, now adults, reject JK Rowling’s anti-trans views.»
The equivalent of the Bible?
In an episode of the podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Textwhere co-hosts Casper ter Kuile and Vanessa Zoltan interview trans author Jackson Bird, an analogy is drawn between reading Harry Potter and that of the Bible. The holy book contains homophobic statements that can make reading painful for a queer readership, but they do not necessarily turn away from them. As Jackson Bird says of biblical texts, “we continue to question ourselves, but we always recognize and accept their usefulness, their healing power.”
Sigal Samuel therefore invites people who do not wish to turn away from Harry Potter to simply exercise their critical thinking on their work (there is something to be said), why not by discussing it in a group. This could in particular help to highlight the political weakness of this universe whose main characters are more inclined to the status quo than to real struggles for systemic changes.
“If you engage with the work of JK Rowling in this way, summarizes the journalist, I think it’s plausible that the positive social value you’ll generate will outweigh any negative social value you might create by continuing to be a Potter fan. And, above all, I think you will stop feeling guilty.”
On a financial level, it’s not easy to agree to continue to indirectly finance the fight against trans people when you buy a Hagrid plush toy or a Hedwig key ring. For Sigal Samuel, it’s too late anyway: JK Rowling being a billionaire, our cents more or less won’t make much difference: on the other hand, offsetting your purchases by donating in parallel to associations fighting against LGBTphobia can really help to strengthen them because their financial health is often uneven.
What Sigal Samuel doesn’t say is that we can also stop buying goodies bearing the image of this universe, or second hand. Same thing for books and DVDs. And as for the upcoming TV series, which will have as many seasons as there are novels? There, you will have to deal with your conscience. And ask yourself if it is really essential to tackle a new version of adventures that you already know inside and out.
