J. K. Rowling’s name was once synonymous with one of the most beloved franchises in history: Harry Potter. Now, though, she spends most of her time online attacking trans women (or women she suspects are trans), and she puts her money where her mouth is.
Rowling donated £70,000 (~$89,000) to the anti-trans organization For Women Scotland, which lobbied to have the Scottish government change its definition of “women” to exclude trans women. When the ruling passed, Rowling tweeted, “I love it when a plan comes together,” with a photo of herself smoking a cigar on a yacht, in a move of cartoon villainy.
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As much as I’d love for Rowling to fade from the cultural conversation, the upcoming HBO TV adaptation of Harry Potter—and all the money it will provide her—makes it necessary to address.
There are some simple ways to prioritize the safety, well-being, and rights of trans people over any lingering Harry Potter nostalgia you might have.
- The bare minimum is not giving Rowling your money, since she donates it to anti-trans organizations. Don’t buy the books, and don’t buy merch.
- Similarly, don’t watch the upcoming adaptation. In fact, cancel your HBO subscription, and let them know why.
- I know there are fans who still love the story, but don’t give Rowling their money. If this is you, consider the ways you might be promoting Harry Potter and keeping the IP alive. Those things add value to the brand, too. (Also, it’s far past time to take your Hogwarts house out of your bio.)
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That just scratches the surface, though. If we want to counteract the marketing power behind the HBO adaptation, we need to get loud. Any business that boosts Harry Potter or gives J. K. Rowling money should know that the brand is now synonymous with bigotry and that there will be pushback. Most companies don’t want to deal with the headache, so these actions can have a big impact.
Here are three ways the Harry Potter backlash has already begun, ahead of the adaptation.
1) Byrd Theatre in Richmond, Virginia held a marathon of all eight Harry Potter movies, which sparked a boycott. They closed the comments on their Instagram posts after receiving criticism, but the damage was already done: 20 businesses withdrew from their upcoming events in response. This kind of organized, targeted boycott can be extremely effective.
2) r/Crafts, a massive subreddit with hundreds of thousands of users, has banned all crafts related to Harry Potter and/or J. K. Rowling. The moderators said it was “due to JK Rowling’s increasingly vocal bigotry and use of her political, economic, and social platforms to further that agenda, as documented here and here.”
This is a direct result of users consistently voicing their concerns: “we found that Harry Potter posts generated far more issues and conflict than any other IP, and no other IP has been raised as a concern to the same degree.”
These kinds of policies do a few things at once: they prevent the brand from getting free publicity, and they reinforce the link between Harry Potter and Rowling’s bigotry, making the IP less attractive.
3) Bookish Type, a queer bookstore in Leeds, has a fundraiser where you can pay £1 to deface a page from Harry Potter: “taking cathartic revenge and funding trans healthcare!”
How can you contribute? These are just a few examples, but it will depend on your context. Consider where you can make the biggest difference. You can encourage your local bookstores, libraries, and theaters not to host Harry Potter events. You can spread the word, online and in person, about boycotting HBO’s adaptation.
For me, it was using my platform to write an open letter to John Lithgow, asking him to step away from Harry Potter. While it didn’t convince him, it did spark a conversation about the adaptation and Rowling’s bigotry: that open letter was covered by Rolling Stone, Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and even Fox News (yikes).
The Harry Potter backlash has been happening for years, but expect it to heat up in the coming months. I hope to see you there.
