Topic: Hogwarts Legacy Switch review

It is absolutely bigotry to claim that trans women aren't women or that women's rights don't apply to them. Trans women are one of the most vulnerable and most discriminated groups on the planet, so for someone like Rowling with millions of fans to use her public platform to go against them is despicable.

JKR has repeatedly stated on record that trans people should not be mistreated or discriminated against (most people are likewise sympathetic towards them). What she disagrees with is the stickier bits like male sex offenders being placed in women's prisons, children being chemically and surgically castrated (the Tavistock clinic was shut down, effectively vindicating JK Rowling's concerns about it), biological males competing against biological women in sporting competitions, and language that effectively erases women (a group that is vulnerable and discriminated against in much of the world). The silent majority agrees with her on these issues, which is why the campaign to cancel the Hogwarts Legacy game was a total flop outside of gaming journalism and like one or two websites.

Comments like the above are a good illustration why trans women and men are so discriminated against. Folks who clearly don't know much at all about transgenderism or trans people's lives still seem to think that they are experts on the subject, and that they have the right deny their gender and their right to be who they are.

@Euler The problem is that the arguments Rowling uses are the same ones anti-trans activists all around the world use against trans people as a whole. So even if she thinks she's against discrimination and that she's only talking about certain individual cases, in practice she's using her wide public platform to parrot and amplify anti-trans propaganda.

@Polvasti But why is it so bad to just say that trans-women are trans-women and trans-men are trans-men?

It is just a new role in the society and that is that. You can't change your race, so it is the same here.

Using buzzwords like "bigots" and "transphobes" does not make your points more valid.

@Polvasti They use these arguments because they're all real things that have happened and, in the eyes of the silent majority, trans-rights activists have not successfully addressed any of them. Hence Hogwarts Legacy has sold 15,000,000 copies and grossed over 1,000,000,000 USD despite the so-called boycott.

@Euler Trans-rights activists have addressed those issues, but you're right that the silent majority probably doesn't care about that, because the majority of people in most Western societies don't really care about rights of trans people in general. Though that, of course, doesn't mean that the majority is right. It wasn't so long ago that the silent majority of people here in Europe considered people of African descent to be lesser human beings, and therefore not deserving of the same rights as white Europeans.

@Zuljaras It's not wrong to say trans women are trans women, but it is wrong to say or imply that they are not women at all. Even most women's rights activists don't think that way. The ones who feel they have the right to deny someone's gender and exclude trans women are a minority among feminists.

@Polvasti That is fair. My only issue is the biological factor. I care for it above all else and I get the feeling that it is not taken into consideration when discussing those topics. Like the self-identity is somehow more important than universal biological facts. A cosmetic operation will not change the way people think or act around a person.

If we can go past that I think it is a good start for less hateful arguments.

I really don't like getting involved in this stuff but it's very easy to find counter-examples to this claim and I'm tired of the willful ignorance of the 'genuine concerns' defence. Case in point: https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1714279937279160596?s=20

@Polvasti Of course the majority can be wrong. That's a big part of why freedom of speech, particularly for unpopular or controversial opinions, is so important. Equating viewing Africans as lesser humans with JK Rowling's comments is ridiculous on its face and probably not helpful for winning people (again - most of them are largely sympathetic towards trans people) over to your side.

@Dogorilla None of that disproves what I said. Disagreeing with someone isn't the same as mistreating or discriminating against them.

@Euler This is the last I'll say on the matter, but erasing people's identities counts as mistreating them in my view.

@Euler If you are publically saying trans women aren't women (which is what Rowling is essentially doing there), you are definitely discriminating against them. Discrimination isn't just about concrete physical acts, it's also about perpetrating ideas and ideologies that deny someone's core self and personhood.

@Dogorilla "Rightful President of the United States" may be a core part of Donald Trump's identity, but I don't think disagreeing with his claim would be mistreating him. It's the same thing here.

You're being disingenuous and your comparison doesn't really work. Being the president of United States is an unique gained privilege, not something that's an essential part of most people's lived experience and selfhood. Gender, on the other hand, is those things, especially for people who've suffered years or decades of being misgendered. So telling those people that the misgenderers and bigots are actually right, that they're not women, is a whole different kind of mistreatment (both in quality and in how many millions of people it affects) than telling Donald Trump he's not the rightful president.

Public opinion polls show that most people agree with her specific statements, and sales figures show that the big boycott was little more than a bizarre sideshow. It's what we call a revealed preference.

Ah, so women should just calm down because they're unlikely to personally ever be assaulted in prison by one of these men. I think that's what we call gaslighting.

JKR spoke out against it, and it got shut down because it was a total snake pit (even though trans-rights activists, such as the CEO of Mermaids UK, went to the mat for it). That's called vindication. The World Professional Association of Transgender Health doesn't seem to agree with the claim that kids are still going to be transitioned.

@Polvasti Yes, and JK Rowling doesn't think that Dylan Mulvaney's lived experience is comparable to hers in any way, shape, or form (hence the word "woman" should be defined the same way it was from the beginning of human history up until the year 2015).

This sort of nonsense only plays into the far rights hands, and increases their power/popularity. It's this nonsense which gets people like Trump elected and Tucker so many views.

I dont think it's fair for the developers of the game, that their hard work in making one of the best games of the year is dismissed just because of one persons comments.

What next? Not reviewing a game, as it's promoted on Twitter, and we ALL know what Musk thinks?

Or not reviewing a Ubisoft game, due to how they've behaved in the past?

Do I detest the stuff she's said? Yes.
Do I agree with it in any way? No.
Do I still love the Harry Potter books and think they're great for kids? Yes.
Am I still going to consume HP franchise stuff? Yes, as long as it's good, and this games is very very good.
Could some of the vitriol which is placed against this franchise exist because of far right groups and their hatred of "witchcraft" and the fact she made Dumbledore gay? And them stoking the flames here? Well, that's just an interesting question..

Sales figures show that the manufactured controversy had no negative impact on consumers' decision to buy the game. It was much ado about nothing. Opinion polls can be tricky, but multiple opinion polls saying the same thing show a clear pattern.

JK Rowling, and most people, think even a single woman being locked up next to a convicted sex offender is too many.

JK Rowling's comments about Tavistock were corroborated by the investigations and lawsuits. She was right, and trans rights activists were wrong. Sadly, thousands of children suffered extreme and permanent damage in the name of a medical experiment.

WPATH doesn't seem to think UK is going to go the "careful approach" (recall also that they supported Tavistock right until the bitter end), they compared the UK's new care model to "conversion therapy".