r/crafts • u/AMVilla86 • Aug 10 '26

Let's talk about Harry Potter

… and other problematic IP

Hi folks,

We need your input. The mods have been discussing for a bit now about crafts with complicated Intellectual Property creators. Occasionally a craft will receive reports due to the theme of the craft and not about crafting itself. While we try to be as open-minded as possible, and we follow sitewide rules (such as no hate speech targeting identity or vulnerability, etc), there is still some nuance with moderating these types of posts. These posts have raised many questions, but we realized we needed to ask the community what they thought. If the community is uncomfortable with something, we want to know and be sure to moderate appropriately.

Some of the ideas we had so far, and why they would be tough to implement:

- Ban specific IP→ Where do we draw the line of what is and isn’t allowed?

- Create specific flair for ‘problematic’ → again, where is the line drawn?

- When a post receives enough reports about the theme and not the craft, leave a high-level moderator comment explaining how to block a user and/or hide a post → might be ignoring a problem rather than solving the issue for the sub.

With that being said, there’s only so much we can police. We want crafters to feel welcome, but with all the moderating we do, it would be hard to add on a layer of “educate a crafter on why the creator of this IP is bad” on top of our normal roles. We also don’t want our subreddit to become a lightning rod for debate. Ultimately, we are a crafts subreddit. While a few comments about inspiration of a craft is allowed, and questioning of said inspiration is also welcome, once we're many comments deep in multiple comment threads with no mention of crafting, it is no longer an appropriate conversation for r/crafts. There are many other subreddits for discussion and debate where you can converse.

So, what do you all think we should do with these types of posts? If we receive a large variety of ideas, we'll put it together in a survey or poll to further gauge how the subreddit feels. Also, feel free to message the mods if you're uncomfortable commenting on the post.

248 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

505 comments sorted by

View all comments

731

u/DreyHI Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

So Rowling sucks. A lot. And in many different ways. The problem is so does Poe, and Hemingway, and Neil Gaiman now, and Harvey Weinstein and every movie he's ever touched. In fact, the more that you dig, the more that you will find that many famous artists from the producers, etc are not great people.

I am in favor of letting people draw their own inspiration from these works as long as it doesn't directly give financial gain to these people. So a Harry Potter themed craft magic wand would be cool. A bag made out of Harry Potter print fabric that gives money back to the world's number one transphobe, not cool. Someone recreates a prop from pulp fiction? Totally cool. Someone purchased a DVD of pulp fiction and bedazzled the cover, not cool.

And then for the inspired stuff, pin a mod comment that forces everyone to have their controversial fight about the source material underneath the mod comment so that op doesn't get all the notifications if they don't want to read about it. Any commentary that is not about the craft that is not under the mod comment then gets removed.

412

u/RatherBeAtDisney Aug 10 '26

There’s nuance though- what if that fabric has been sitting in my closet since before we knew Rowling sucks. Maybe it was given as a gift by a well intentioned grandma who just isn’t aware of the current issues or purchased second hand? Just trashing it is wasteful so I might use it.

I think a sticky mod comment on any craft with complicated IP is one good way to handle it.

175

u/nefretemerson Aug 10 '26

Yes, thank you for mentioning this. I have a good amount of HP fabric in my stash from decades ago. I’ve been using it to make some gifts for my nieces, who just finished the series and are obsessed. I am not financially supporting anyone at this point by using fabric in my stash, and I’m not about to throw away a bunch of perfectly good fabric that will bring my nieces joy. 🤷‍♀️

-73

u/evtbrs Aug 10 '26

But what happens when your crafts for them inspire them to want to collect more HP merch and they ask their parents for some of the new releases that are coming out, funkos or Lego or LOL or whatever. Then they’re putting money directly into the pocket of a terrible person.

No one says you have to throw the fabric away. You can redye it, use it for something for yourself that you enjoy in your private sphere without influencing others to spend money on IP, use it as a liner etc.

49

u/perfectlyfamiliar Aug 10 '26

But what happens if it does the opposite and they decide that what they have is enough. That’s what makes this whole topic complicated, you can’t be sure what it will cause people to do. I can’t imagine trying to navigate this as a mod of a public forum, trying to find the line.

-15

u/evtbrs Aug 10 '26

You raise a good question and it’s easy to find out by broaching the subject with the people involved.

But the gross majority of “oh but I have perfectly good HP fabric lying around” people are not looking for solutions so will neither have that conversation nor think about how they can responsibly use their scraps.

9

u/IndividualUnlucky Aug 10 '26

Wouldn't a handcrafted item that doesn't use merch (let's say just something knitted or crocheted with yarn and self drafted pattern) potentially inspire the collect of HP merch? Where do you draw the line? People don't necessarily become uninspired to collect because one is handcrafted and one is official merch.

-10

u/evtbrs Aug 10 '26

That’s exactly my point. You give them a handcrafted IP item, chances are they’ll want more stuff, especially when it’s an IP they’re already obsessed with. So they’ll either be influenced by ads/socials/friends if they’re old enough to ask for things they specifically want, or their parents will just buy merch because handcrafted isn’t as easy or cost effective to get.

33

u/evtbrs Aug 10 '26

You can use it but you don’t have to share it online for others to see. I’ve seen a lot of booktubers hide away their HP novels so they’re not inspiring new readers to buy the books or merch, while being too attached to them to trash/donate them.

26

u/vomit-gold Aug 10 '26

I think this is the things people are missing. You are completely free to use your HP material but some people just aren't down for seeing it.

Having it as a banned topic or a controversial tag gives people the ability to chose not to see it.

21

u/toicegannaire Aug 10 '26

I do think there is a high likelihood that banning topics or forcing a ‘controversial’ tag will just end up causing drama, even when done with good intentions. As a commenter above mentioned — where does the line get drawn?  You can dig up something problematic about a lot of (maybe most?) celebrities, IPs, etc. That’s not to say that —using a recent example from another craft sub — someone like Hank Green is comparable JK Rowling, just that it’s unlikely people will agree on who should be included as controversial vs. who is still ‘okay’. 

To take the examples back to IP itself — Harvey Weinstein is a monster, but it seems over the top to cancel or mark as controversial every movie he ever contributed to (not something you suggested, just saying in general). It also seems unrealistic that everyone who wants to post in this sub would even be aware he was involved with a given project or IP. 

I do like the idea mentioned elsewhere that a catch-all flair for any IP might work. This avoids the need to explicitly draw lines that people will not agree on while also  allowing for targeted discussion (e.g., via a designated comment thread, etc) as people choose. 

23

u/a-beeb Aug 10 '26

Some people legitimately buy and showcase their HP or other merch by problematic individuals specifically because they know it upsets some people. They think is funny. They have a strange definition of funny, but okay.

It happens in other hobby communities all the time.

6

u/Culinary_Fruit_Salad Aug 10 '26

oh is that like why I had to leave a bunch of Facebook cast iron groups because people kept using them to show off racist cast iron figures like sambo etc?

it's frustrating how many people suck when the reddit blocklist caps at 1000 🤬

15

u/abitofasitdown Aug 10 '26

Are you down with hiding all your other problematic stuff, too?

4

u/vomit-gold Aug 10 '26

I mean if someone doesn't want to see something I post, they have that right.

If I made a craft that got the 'problematic' flair, and some people want don't to see -that's completely fine.

3

u/settingdogstar Aug 10 '26

Kinda fucked to categorize people’s joy as problematic

10

u/vomit-gold Aug 10 '26

You can admit that something you like has a problematic origin and still enjoy it. That a part of being an adult.

It's like you can talk about your amazing memories of Sea-World while also admitting that some of the things Sea-World does is not cool.

2

u/just_flying_bi Aug 10 '26

Having a tag is an appropriate response for this just as any other common trigger warning. Art is subjective so certain things will upset some folks that don’t upset others. For me, it’s repurposed animal parts. It personally upsets me but I don’t need to demand that others view it in the same manner. It’s just not my thing.

21

u/DreyHI Aug 10 '26

I found some of that fabric in a scraps bag that I bought. I found that it makes an excellent paint or garage rag.

18

u/a-beeb Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

Or stuffing for inside a plush project, if you're so inclined! I know many people use "undesirable" fabrics for that very purpose. That is, if you legitimately do not want to use it for other things.

It's also great for sewing prototypes before you have a pattern down perfectly and you're still working out the kinks. I had a MASSIVE roll of (non-hp)* patterned fabric from my grandmother I used for this purpose. I wish I knew where it went...

Edit: *added specification

Edit 2: just so everyone is aware, conservative transphobes are going through and downvoting every single comment they can giving any advice about how to deal with this issue or give alternate ideas for how to use their materials. They do it in every post of this kind, in every subreddit I'm in. Please pay it no mind and keep discussing regardless!

17

u/auntie_eggma Aug 10 '26

I would say in that case you'd add a note in your post to say you're using up old stock and not in any way supporting that jerk.

7

u/Euphoric_Waffle Aug 10 '26

Downvoted! Who the hell owes justification to anybody for their use of a craft?? I sure as fuck am never going to say, “hey peeps, I know there’s bad lore here but I have to use up my materials.”

3

u/auntie_eggma Aug 10 '26

Oh however shall I recover?

If you don't care about appearing to support bigots, good for you.

I do.

-5

u/Euphoric_Waffle Aug 10 '26

Be careful what you wish for. We will become just as self-righteous as the religious bigots of whom many despise. Try recovering from that.

12

u/sillygoofygooose Aug 10 '26

If refusing to propagate current direct harm to trans people is self righteous then I guess that’s who I am.

-3

u/Euphoric_Waffle Aug 10 '26

We’re way past that. We’ve got everyone declaring their morality as supreme. This is a fucked up way to live. I can’t fix it. Nobody can fix it, so if tolerance is preached, then tolerance must be applied in 360 degree sphere in every single direction.

14

u/sillygoofygooose Aug 10 '26

If we tolerate violent intolerance, those who are violently intolerant will destroy those who are tolerant.

This is commonly known as the paradox of tolerance. We cannot tolerate intolerance, else it will attack and destroy tolerance

1

u/Euphoric_Waffle Aug 10 '26

This is a damn good point. But it is once again blemished by declaring a morality as absolute (which escalates into violence for those incapable of tolerance). The human condition is FUBAR.

But if I choose to live in my morality and you choose to live in yours (let’s hypothetically say without the escalation of violence), we tolerate each other. No intolerance. Paradox broken.

→ More replies (0)

-1

u/just_flying_bi Aug 10 '26

Exactly. Just like sending the books to a landfill when they were purchased a very long time ago. I think it’s important to not just jump to conclusions all the time.

42

u/CheshireRaptor Aug 10 '26

I think this illustrates exactly why I don't think the subreddit should try to make "financially supporting a problematic creator" part of its moderation rules.

The distinction between recreating a Pulp Fiction prop being acceptable but bedazzling a purchased Pulp Fiction DVD being unacceptable sounds straightforward until you actually try to moderate it.

What about Harry Potter fabric someone bought five years ago? Fabric from a thrift store? A gift? Leftover fabric from another project? Something they inherited? Does the OP now have to explain where and when they acquired their materials before we're allowed to discuss the craft?

And even if someone walked into a store yesterday and bought licensed Harry Potter fabric specifically for their project, I don't think it's reasonable to make the moderators determine whether that purchase financially benefited Rowling, how much it benefited her, or whether that makes the resulting craft inappropriate for the subreddit.

People are absolutely free to decide that they won't financially support a creator they object to. I do that myself with certain IPs. But I think there's a significant difference between making that ethical decision for yourself and requiring every crafter in the subreddit to follow the same one.

I'd much rather the rule be about the content actually posted here. If the craft itself violates Reddit's rules or promotes hatred toward a group, moderate it. Otherwise, critique the craft as a craft and let individual users decide which creators and companies they personally feel comfortable financially supporting.

Otherwise I think we're going to end up scrutinizing people's receipts instead of their crochet.

38

u/ChelleInSand Aug 10 '26

But how do we keep track of what is considered problematic? There are probably tons of things some people wouldn’t even know are problematic. This seems like it would be really difficult for mods to deal with.

8

u/amakurt Aug 11 '26

for real. if they actually implement a ban it'll turn into a major fucking mess, and might completely split the subreddit apart. i wouldn't be surprised if people started jumping ship in favor of different craft subreddits.

5

u/____ozma Aug 10 '26

It sounds like they will base this purely on reports and comments

11

u/g1zz1e Aug 10 '26

I understand where you're coming from and I feel similarly about financially supporting the problematic creators, but I also don't think the mods here policing it in that much detail is practical. Who knows where that fabric came from? Maybe a small creator made it and no money went to JKR. Who is going to track down the origin to make sure? Are we going to require dated receipts? Are we going on the honor system, in which case can't people just lie and say they've had the fabric for a while?

I think it makes the most sense to look for ways for people who want to avoid the IP to avoid it, rather than stop others from sharing their crafts.

I think I like the idea of the sticky/pinned comment at the top to contain the convos, too.

0

u/amakurt Aug 11 '26

if they started actually doing that i bet most of this subreddit would migrate to different one. i certainly would.

130

u/Pancakefriday Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

Yeah, we’re glossing over the fact that only Rowling out of those is currently openly using her funds to further her organization which harms and actively legislates against a group of people, which puts her and Harry Potter in a different bracket of “is a current and ongoing threat”.

Which is a very important distinction between “problematic” and “actively, currently, harming people’s lives”

54

u/auntie_eggma Aug 10 '26

This is a really important point. I think the blurry lines get a lot clearer when active funding of damaging things is happening.

45

u/Ladyghoul Aug 10 '26

I agree. as someone dating a trans woman and who has many trans friends, I have an upsetting and angry reaction to current crafts, baking, decorations, whatever it is even if it is not directly funding Rowling, it is still *advertising* for that IP. saying "I am ok showing off or selling this HP branded thing that encourages the continuation of its fans that at minimum, are misinformed and oblivious... or at worst, actively malicious and transphobic." it is perpetuating the support of someone who is CURRENTLY alive and funding laws and hate targeting specifically trans women. HP cakes in the baking subs get downvoted and subsequently locked soon after. they know what they're doing; *most* people are aware of what she and her brand represent (not all, but I would say most as these are adults whose nostalgia is more important than the safety of trans people).

People can make what they want... but I'm not naive enough to assume that publicly posting something made with or advertising for HP is not also endorsement of Rowling's beliefs. "people only say to separate the art from the artist when the artist is a piece of shit. you never see that same sentiment when the creator is wonderful and kind"

20

u/constantchaosclay Aug 10 '26

Exactly! Death of the author used to require the death part. Which is intregal to the concept that the shitty creator is no longer profiting from putting forth and keeping those ideas going.

When JK or Gaiman dies, then fine, its back open for discussion and examination.

Until then, no, let's not give any oxygen to their vitriolic fire burning our collective cultural environment.

10

u/Lexilogical Aug 10 '26

Gaiman, so far as I know, basically was outted for past bad behavior and the most he had done since then is sorta fade away from the public eye.

He isn't using his wealth to try and legalize the shit he did.

I think the argument here is that JKR is still actively harming people. Gaiman is not, unless you have information I don't.

12

u/constantchaosclay Aug 10 '26

No, I completely agree with you. My argument with Gaiman would be that my buying or amplifying his work puts money in his pocket which he uses for lawyers to get out of repercussions for his behavior. I dont want to fund his defense and the faster he's too broke to avoid consequences, the better.

But JK is 1000% times worse because she actively uses the platform and funds to harm large amounts people - legally strip them of rights, culturally make them pariahs while helping make hate speech acceptable, and physically put their lives at risk.

People literally die with every penny she earns and it lasts as long as people keep sharing the IP and keeping her relevant.

The fact we even are having the discussion is frustrating. Imho, we shouldn't be platforming current and active fascists. Full stop.

9

u/Lexilogical Aug 10 '26

Alright, so long as we're on the same page! Cause yeah, I hate to defend Gaiman, but when people put him at the same level of awful as JKR.... It's like "Okay, one of these people fucked up the lives of a few people around him. The other one is trying to fuck up EVERY SINGLE MEMBER OF A MINORITY and will take your money, claim that means you also hate that minority, and lobby a government for why we should be able to legally ostracise them."

Like "But these other people are bad!" sorta pales when one of those people is trying to give everyone a right to be bad on a scale of millions and is still actively doing so. Like, do we give Hitler's book a pass because we know Poe was also racist?

2

u/Agreeable-Sun368 Aug 11 '26

Neil Gaiman is a rapist. He might not be funneling his money into harm (who knows; it was the wealth that he leveraged to rape his son's nanny and the wealth he's using to bankrupt his ex wife (no peach herself, tbh) in custody/divorce proceedings), but he is a rapist. That's more than bad behavior. JKR could wake up tomorrow realizing the error of her ways and funnel that money into pro trans groups. She won't. But she could. Neil Gaiman can never wake up not a rapist.

I'm not defending JKR or her bullshit but I think this is really minimizing the harm Gaiman did and the degree to which stuff related to his IP could be harmful to victims of sexual assault.

5

u/Lexilogical Aug 11 '26

Gaiman raped one person. Maybe there was more people that didn't come forward, we can assume that more people were harmed tangentially from his shit, his son was harmed, the friends and family of the nanny harmed.... We are still numbering in tens of people. Also, Gaiman is not trying to say what he did was okay, he is saying he didn't do it

JKR is actively harming millions of trans people every day. If she woke up tomorrow and had a change of heart, it would take years for her to undo it, during which millions more of trans people would continue to be harmed, some in unrecoverable ways, thanks to her work. While she might not have personally harmed or killed a trans person, her words and actions have lead to trans people being attacked and killed.

Yeah, I'm definitely saying JKR has done far more harm. Gaiman is a shit person, but JKR has done harm on an exponentially worse degree

1

u/obtusewisdom Aug 11 '26

This is precisely why Redditors shouldn’t be trying to parse who is “worse” like some villain Olympics, and why trying to mod it is insanity.

10

u/mensfrightsactivists Aug 10 '26

let’s be honest tho, joanne has absolutely set up her foundation or whatever to be funded through royalties past her death. it’ll be back open for discussion after that date, for sure, but i imagine it’ll be a pretty short conversation lmao. hateful ol bat.

2

u/OscarAndDelilah Aug 11 '26

Yes, this part. I think JKR is well over the line as someone who is funding an active hate campaign that is going to result in dead trans folks. I don't think anything associated with a hate group should be permitted. This is quite different from how all sorts of creators and fandoms are problematic.

-1

u/obtusewisdom Aug 11 '26

Well, no. There are plenty who got rich and used their money to abuse and/or exploit people, or promote screwed up gender messages, etc. The Epstein mess is only the most obvious recent one. People with fame and money frequently do bad things with it.

3

u/bioticspacewizard Aug 11 '26

There's nuance there as well. Because platforming fandom is a tacit endorsement of the IP. It gives it greater visibility and elevates fandom above the real human rights concerns that Rowling's platform creates.

21

u/brainparts Aug 10 '26

A big thing that separates Rowling from other creators is that she views support of her IP as support for her views and she quite literally uses money earned from her IP to lobby against trans rights. Old dead guys don’t do that, and people whose deplorable behavior/abuse is focused on interpersonal relationships don’t do that.

24

u/ahhcherontia Aug 10 '26

Rowling is currently, actively, aggressively funding legislation in the UK and supporting bigotry in other countries with at least her platform if not with funding as well. She's stated that she's going to use the money she gets from Harry Potter to keep doing the same thing. As horrible as all of the other people you've mentioned are, they aren't currently contributing to the oppression of an entire minority group.

30

u/Culinary_Fruit_Salad Aug 10 '26

she created a private legal fund (so it only uses her money, you can't donate to it) to specifically support transphobic women and to try and dismantle trans rights in the UK

article about it – https://www.them.us/story/jk-rowling-fund-anti-trans-lawsuits 

the website for the fund. you can scroll to the bottom to read her "what we fund" part - https://jkrwf.org/

Poe is dead and never used any money he had to legally attack the rights of an oppressed group

I'm just in a whole, throw the whole thing away camp

15

u/Bearded_Pip Aug 10 '26

Dead artists aren't hurting anyone anymore and no one is doing PR clean-up for their crimes and misdeeds. Let's not compare Poe to Rowling. We can discuss Poe's issues openly and hoestly.

2

u/mensfrightsactivists Aug 10 '26

the pinned mod comment to help manage OPs notifications is something we managed to automate in the sub i mod! we did it manually for a few months but i’d be happy to ask our head mod how she managed to automate. pretty sure it’s a rule associated with a specific flair that we had to build a custom tool for, but saw recent news that flair-specific post guidance is coming to native reddit

2

u/mensfrightsactivists Aug 10 '26

not sure why i was downvoted but tagging u/AMVilla86 for visibility bc now my offer to help is more missable lol. dm me if you wanna brainstorm over the pinned comment idea! coming to ya from a sub mentioned in other comments as the inspiration for the idea 😘

-6

u/headache_inducer Aug 10 '26

Not to mention Lovecraft

27

u/blanketcrochet Aug 10 '26

He's literally dead and doesn't currently fund discriminatory laws.

1

u/just_flying_bi Aug 10 '26

One thing to consider is that the bedazzled DVD might have been thrifted or salvaged from the garbage, which in either case, the creator does not benefit from. This is like burning/destroying Rowling or Gaiman’s books that no longer benefit them at all because they were originally purchased a long time ago. It’s not automatically a black-and-white issue.

1

u/pm_me_homedecor Aug 11 '26

Also probably Lewis Carrol and I still love to see any Alice in Wonderland themed art and would never tell anyone they can’t share it. Although probably easier to mentally deal with since he’s been dead way longer.

-3

u/SnappyBonaParty Aug 10 '26

Normalize Harry Potter and the Stone as the original canon and Rowling's work just a shitty off-brand telling of this masterpiece

-24

u/Potential4752 Aug 10 '26

Why would you spend any time caring about whether any of these already rich people receive an additional 0.000001% increase to their wealth. 

32

u/Tractor_Goth Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

Because she’s actively using those dollars to influence real, actual legislation that affects the lives of real, actual people. The more she gets, the more freely she can continue financing her own lobby for her own personal crusade against trans people. She also uses that money to give legal defense to bigots who are in legitimate legal trouble for harassment or discrimination. I guess you could argue in a roundabout way buying and modding sandman merch contributes to Neil being rich enough to get away with whatever personal crimes he commits, but at this point she has so much money and influence that buying her merch is effectively donating directly to an ideologically hateful political cause.

While I personally don’t want to see HP crafts (and unless you’re doing a direct tribute to like, a specific character/house you can always label it as a magical/wizard/fantasy thing! She didn’t invent magic!) I also don’t really support actions that lean toward censorship of things that aren’t themselves hate speech. And I am trans! I have a trans kid! Maybe I think your choice sucks but it’s still a choice.

I do think people should be educated why there’s so much controversy about it, and why other people might feel that their harmless fandom crafting is bringing up real tangible harm they’ve experienced related to it.

-17

u/Potential4752 Aug 10 '26

Do you end that line of thinking at Rowling? Every time we fill up a gas tank to drive somewhere non-essential, is that a direct donation to oil lobbyists? Every time you give money to Apple is that a direct donation to Trump?

It just seems like a big waste of time worrying where every fraction of a penny you spend intersects with a political cause. 

11

u/Tractor_Goth Aug 10 '26

People need to drive to go to work and most of them can’t afford electric cars. People need phones to be able to work, call their doctors, talk to their family, do their business.

You don’t NEED to buy Harry Potter merch.

-11

u/Potential4752 Aug 10 '26

People don’t just drive to work. They drive to the bar, the beach, everywhere. 

You don’t need an iPhone to make basic calls and texts. 

But really you’re avoiding the point, unless you really think that all of your discretionary spending flows to perfectly ethical places. 

11

u/Tractor_Goth Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

Dude, you’re the one avoiding the point here. Just because you CAN take a car to the beach doesn’t stop you NEEDING one to get to work. Your slytherin bathmat ain’t gonna do that for you. One is a need, one isn’t, plain and simple.

Rowling isn’t the only celebrity who uses her creative IP to fund sketchy bullshit. But she’s definitely doing it on a staggering scale that isn’t remotely approached by other celebrities (and it’s not like people don’t voice their objections to those, either) in respect to cash, politics, publicity, and sheer vitriol. She’s a fucking BILLIONAIRE, and like most billionaires that puts her in her own category of dangerous when it comes to the influence a single person has.

I’m done here but you might want to consider yourself why you’re putting so much effort into defending this person just so you can keep buying cheap merch crap from a kids’ book series, when you know damn well why people are asking you not to.

-5

u/abitofasitdown Aug 10 '26

This is disingenuous - people also fill their gas tanks up to do entirely frivolous stuff, too. And we could all just use old Nokias to call our families, but here we are doing non-neccesary shit on reddit.

Bear in mind, too, that a lot of HP (and other IP) merch is also for practical stuff - you need a blanket, or a lunchbox, or a new pair of socks, and you buy a Slitherin one because it brings a little joy into your life. You don't need it to be Slytherin, that's entirely true, but it's not as frivolous as us wasting time here on reddit.

6

u/Pancakefriday Aug 10 '26

You act like boycotts don’t work, when in reality they are very effective. There’s only one thing those people actually care about, and it’s “number go bigger”

1

u/Potential4752 Aug 10 '26

Boycotts work against companies, not filthy rich individuals. Also note that this one has been going on forever and has not worked one bit. 

6

u/Pancakefriday Aug 10 '26

Yeah, that’s mainly because this has been the most half assed boycott ever because A) majority of people don’t care about trans people, or B) people care more about their childhood nostalgia than trans people.

You can see it all over this thread all the main comments are “she’s problematic but here’s a way to justify to yourself that it’s fine to continue participating in this fandom”

You see it out in the wild. If people were boycotting it they wouldn’t continue making Harry Potter a 1/4 of every Barnes and Noble and a huge LEGO line.

I guarantee you, if people actually boycotted the franchise, JK Rowling would change her tune, or at least fall out of relevance and have no money to hurt trans people.

What’s your prerogative? Rich people are super rich so we should just do nothing? No thanks.

-2

u/kamakamabokoboko Aug 11 '26

would it surprise you to know that “this prominent voice in women’s rights is just like a bunch of guys with a litany of rape allegations” is not the most misogynistic thing i’ve heard today