Engaging with Harry Potter books, movies, theme parks, etc and announcing it to social media is a bizarre thing to do in 2026.
We have been screaming from the rooftops for almost a decade about the harm this causes to trans people. You have no excuse.
If I see it, it’s an immediate unfollow.
I hate having to say this, I hate having to turn my back on people whose work or posts I otherwise enjoy, but it keeps happening and it’s so fucking depressing.
It’s the lowest possible bar. and yet.
@BenRiceM And it’s going to get worse when HBO start their MASSIVE subscriber drive towards the end of the year with the TV series.
@jonathanreed @BenRiceM Ugh, this end of year will suck so hard. I can already foresee how everyone will be talking about this fucking show every week and how fucking moody that'll make me
@nileane @BenRiceM My hope is that it will encourage more awareness of how horrific her actions have been and how engaging with the franchise is now very toxic.
It could also just be a terrible show which would make everyone ask why we’re still doing this franchise.
But let’s be honest, these hopes are exactly that. No guarantee any of it will happen.
@jonathanreed @BenRiceM At least it will be a good opportunity to highlight where various publications and creators stand on the matter.
Aug 10, 2026, 9:36 AMEven if all the ethical issues weren't there - why exactly do we need this tv series?
There's less and less new culture, new stories to be told. New perspectives to be seen. It's impoverishing us all.
@thisislieven @BenRiceM Let me introduce you to this concept: money! 🤣
Aug 10, 2026, 10:40 AM@jonathanreed @BenRiceM it is already hellish on Audible who push their new dramatisation in your face everywhere they can.
Aug 10, 2026, 2:30 PMI have to say, one of the things I am looking forward to is not having my ex wife queue up the show and running me out of the room.
Aug 10, 2026, 9:34 AM@BenRiceM There's also the issue that so many people just do not want to acknowledge exactly how harmful she is.
They treat her as an author with maybe some poor opinions rather than someone who made it her life's mission to eradicate trans people from society and uses her millions of £ and millions of followers to make this happen every single day - with infuriating success.
Aug 10, 2026, 10:10 AMI have some sympathy with people who have just not been paying attention and are on the fringe of Potter fandom. It's easy to miss how bad specific people and institutions are.
Somewhere I used to work did a gift drive before Christmas for the Salvation Army. I pointed out that, for a company with a stand at Pride that is actively trying to hire LGBTQAI+ folks, this is probably sending the wrong message. No one in the leadership team who approved it had any idea why this would be the case.
I don't blame the person who proposed them as a charity to support, who had seen only their publicity materials.
I do blame the people who approved supporting a charity without even looking at its 'controversies' section on Wikipedia.
I do blame the leadership team who, having been informed of this, continued to run the gift drive, rather than redirecting it to one of the (many) more inclusive options in the local area.
Similarly, if you've read the Potter books as a child and ignored them since then, I can understand your not knowing how much harm their author is doing and maybe being excited by the new series. But HBO management who approved it and anyone who acts in it cannot claim ignorance: they have actively decided that they want to participate in harming trans folks. And people who are reengaging with Potter fandom and are told about Rowling are making an explicit choice if they continue to do so.
Aug 10, 2026, 10:23 AM@david_chisnall @BenRiceM I struggle with this one.
To some extent I am with you, and there are plenty of issues where I lack the knowledge, but at the same time I do believe we have a duty to be informed even if only on a cursory level. Yet it's also impossible to keep up. I find it difficult.
I'm not trans but I am a queer person of colour and having to acknowledge that many people aren't actively trying to harm me and people like me yet vote for people who do so nonetheless, or engage with content that causes harm either directly or indirectly, is a bitter pill to swallow. Especially as the harm is downplayed time and time again, particularly by people who never have to deal with this.
There's just such a vacuum of any sense of moral leadership in business; politics and media.
Aug 10, 2026, 10:12 AM@BenRiceM ughhhh, so true.
I have already had multiple conversations with my 5 y.o. as to why I won't buy her Harry Potter-themed LEGO sets or Kinder Surprise eggs...
"The person who created this character is very bad; she hurts others and I don't want to give her my money". My 5 y.o. gets it.
Harry Potter is EVERYWHERE, le sigh. It makes me angry how much money J.K.R. is making with merchandising alone.
@BenRiceM
In all honesty, that might be me at some point. Preemptively block me if you want.
I will not buy any of #Rowling's products. I only use materials available from my local public library or ones that I've owned for 20 or more years, before anybody knew #JKRowling is living garbage.
@BenRiceM Yup, it’s not even that good and there’s so much better out there without an actual monster who created it
Aug 10, 2026, 11:47 AM@BenRiceM Luckily the fandom continues to exercise sanity... jfc.
@BenRiceM I have seen this mentioned once in your replies but it is entirely possible that audiences are enjoying the universe while completely unaware of J.K. Rowling as a person.
Furthermore; a lot of people are capable of separating the art from the artist. I personally cannot. Some who are aware of her don't allow that to pollute their personal experience with the art.
I don't think most lovers of HP are doing it for hate reasons or eagerness to line a hateful, resentful creature's pockets.
Aug 10, 2026, 12:29 PM
@BenRiceM Crendospai, que povinho inflacionado. Quer dizer que se um perfil parar de seguir outro perfil a vida por trás dessa máscara será profundamente modificada?
@BenRiceM same. I occasionally see Harry Potter as someone’s interest on a dating app profile and it’s like 🙅🏼♀️
yes
and this really annoys me:
https://mas.to/@afewbugs@social.coop/117070276725917015
(read the last paragraph in the story; ugh)
@BenRiceM
Ten years of 'you have no excuse' framing hasn't changed anyone's mind — it's just made discourse exhausting. HP gave a lot of people a genuinely good childhood. Threatening to unfollow people over a theme park photo isn't activism, it's just moralizing.
Aug 10, 2026, 1:06 PMJK posted an upskirt image of a Trans woman on her Shitter account, which is sexual harassment. If that isn't someone's last straw, then they're not worth associating with.
@BenRiceM hey folks, don't be a dick about kids enjoying Harry Potter.
And if you are a parent of kid that wants to read/watch HP buy things second hand or pirate stuff
Aug 10, 2026, 1:55 PM@BenRiceM thanks to these maniacs, the Greenlink cable from UK to Ireland will be rerouted. Thanks to these manaics, trans people are becoming non gratea in the UK.
Aug 10, 2026, 2:19 PM@BenRiceM "I don't like what the Nazis and Slavers are doing, but that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy Triumph of the Will and Birth of a Nation."
Aug 10, 2026, 2:23 PMJK Rowling certainly wasn't obsessing about trans people when she was on the dole.