okay so I'm expecting I might piss
a few of you off in this rant but I posted
my opinion a while back both on insta
and on my message board but let's
get into it here and let's let me explain
why I think fanfiction is an amazing
thing to have in a situation like that.

So I think most people in the world now know of exactly what JK Rowling did and what kind of person she truly is. And I know many of my close friends and myself included have a VERY different opinion from her. Some of you may agree with her and that's your right to an opinion, but I beg of you to please not attack me for stating my opinion and view on this situation.

For those of you who have NO idea what she said here's just a little run down; she's been outed as a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) for a while now and continues to voice her opinion against a very large group of the people who love her series. She has completely invalidated trans and non-binary people by speaking of only biological sex. She also spoke up and said that women were only women when they had a menstrual cycle which bothers LOTS of people because not all people who have periods are women and not all women have periods.

This has also brought a lot of other things to light as well, one of those being the complete and utter lack of actual representation within the Harry Potter Universe. When you look at it most of the main characters are white and all of the often seen minor characters are as well. Other characters such as Cho Chang, Pavarti and Padma Patil, Lee Jordan, and many others have had little to no characterization and backgrounds that are considered to be very wrong. Take Cho's case for an example, that is a huge gripe that many Asians/people of Asian heritage have with JK Rowling. She's a badly written stereotypical character who is written off into Ravenclaw (playing into the stereotype that all Asians are smart) and tends to be emotional. And for YEARS they sat back and dealt with it because "at least they had representation" but did they really?

They didn't have a strong female character that looked just like them to look up to. As a white cis woman I have had no problem finding a character to look up to that looks just like me. Many people have never had that luxury and that's why I'm speaking up and out against this. It's unfair that R*wling's opinions and somewhat racist beliefs made it into a series and no one called her out on it until recently.

The Harry Potter book series is one that I hold near and dear to my heart, I love so much about the series and I could never not love it. But I can love the series while still recognizing it's flaws and I hope you guys understand that.

No, you don't have to stan the author. I don't. And no, you don't have to love every single thing about the book series either, but you can continue to love bits and pieces of it.

And no, we cannot separate the world from the artist like so many people joke about. JK R*wling has put so many of her radical ideas into the series and it's not perfect at all. You have to recognize that the series is flawed and show how it can be better.

That's why I love the fanficition community. We can take a world that is something so close to our hearts and write for it so that it's better. So that these characters actually have a background and a culture to them that makes sense. So that young girls and boys can start reading and find a character that looks just like them to look up to. As a fanfiction author you have the ability to do that and it's right there at the tip of your finger.

Don't let what the original author said bring you down to not doing anything. Harry Potter is as much a part of me as it a part of you and you can ALWAYS write it to be just as you've seen it. It's been amazing to see so many people start writing fics and including so much more culture and diversity into them, I hope I get to see SO much more of it over the years on wattpad.

And finally, let's leave off on the words of the one man who has yet to fail me, Daniel Radcliffe;
"... if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much."

So anyways on from that very long rant, I just wanted to let you guys know that you are very valid for still loving the series. You can love and support the series without loving or supporting the author. And I will always stand behind that.