J.K. Rowling's Other Prejudice

The Ethics of Reading Problematic Authors

“What must happen for evil to get a grip on a person, or on a country, and what does it take to defeat it? Why do people choose to believe lies even on scant or nonexistent evidence?”

-J.K. Rowling,
Foreward to The Ickabog

---

When I originally thought of writing about J.K. Rowling, she had largely stuck to transphobia. As a die-hard Harry Potter fan, I wondered how I could address the issue without being insensitive or stepping out of my lane. But when she attacked my own sexual orientation, I thought I’d finally feel the righteous anger so many LGBTQ+ activists feel, but I didn’t. I just pitied her. What must it feel like to be so consumed with hate that you need to publicize your every thought on it?

Her world is small and sad, but I hope someday she’ll open her heart.

I could write about how Rowling’s ideology endangers women—or how asexual people often force themselves to have sex because people like Rowling tell us we’re supposed to want to—but I won’t. I lived most of my life thinking there was something wrong with me, and now that I’ve finally realized there isn’t, I’m not interested in trying to convince anyone else. I can only hope that she’s lost all credibility to speak on social justice issues, and that her amplification of International Asexuality Day brings awareness rather than hate.

Now I want to dedicate the rest of my words today to her far more pervasive and entrenched prejudice against animals.

When visiting a used book store last year, I came across a few copies of Rowling’s 2020 children’s fantasy novel The Ickabog. The idea for today’s newsletter came to me as I stood in that musty aisle, reading the back cover under surprisingly dim fluorescent lights. Here’s the first paragraph of the Goodreads synopsis:

You can probably see why I was interested. The initial hook for this book is that it takes place in a fairytale land where each city specializes in a different form of animal agriculture. Where are the vegetables, the beans, the grains? It seems she forgot that humans also need to eat plants, or that the animals she’s slaughtering for her tearjerking cheeses eat plants too.

When the Ickabog makes their¹ appearance in the book’s final act, we learn that they eat only mushrooms. This is a surprise to the human characters who’ve been told by the government that the Ickabog is a bloodthirsty man-eater.

In her decision to signal the Ickabog’s benevolence through their dietary choices, Rowling (unintentionally, I presume) holds up a mirror to her human protagonists. The Ickabog could eat humans if they wanted to, but they don’t. The humans could be plant-based, but they aren’t. The potential implications of this remain unexplored, and the meat-eaters learn to live peacefully alongside the Ickabog, all the while condemning other animals to death.

How Does the Wizarding World Food System Work?

My ultimate hope for the world is that we can one day live in an anti-speciesist society, one in which the autonomy of all individuals, regardless of species, is respected. So when Rowling began flaunting her transphobia the same year as The Ickabog’s release, I wasn’t sure what to do. If I denounced and boycotted her only after her transphobia came to light, doesn’t that make me a hypocrite? After all, her crimes against animals are far more severe, violent even.

And that’s not something I can pin on Rowling alone. Virtually all authors—all people—are complicit in the systemic oppression of animals. If I want to exercise my ethics equally, should I boycott them all? That’s not hyperbole. I wonder about doing that sometimes.

But at the end of the day, I can’t worry too much about it. We are all imperfect creatures, and some of us fall to our worst instincts, our deepest flaws. I can only hope that we are all working toward becoming our better selves and that some of us are taking the scenic route on the way.

Rowling is not someone I want to support, but instead of worrying about putting more cash in her overfilled pockets or giving her space to speak on social media, I’m more interested in doing what I can in my own life to create real change in the world. If writing about her work can help make people more aware of asexuality or animal rights, then it’s worth it to me. And if reading (or rereading) her books brings you joy and makes you a better social justice advocate, then that’s worth it too.

(And if she loses a little sleep at night because there are trans and ace people lovingly flipping through the pages of her books with our grubby little fingers, then so much the better.)

It’s an uncomfortable fact of life that horrible people—and people who are just plain jerks!—sometimes make beautiful art. I’ve found a way to live with that, but I understand that not everyone can or wants to support people like Rowling in any way. That’s fine, too. To conclude my rather rambling thoughts on the topic, I’ll turn to a quote from Stephanie Wrobel’s novel The Hitchcock Hotel:

“We each have to decide which monster we’re willing to make hypocrites of ourselves for.”

---

---

On my mind: “God Is A Weapon” by Falling In Reverse

I had initially planned to discuss a book here, but as I was writing this, one of my favorite bands released a new song featuring Marilyn Manson. I’ve never been much of a Manson fan, but I do still listen to some of his old songs around Halloween. Since learning of his crimes against his ex-partner, Evan Rachel Wood, and about how he’s an all-around shitty person, I had no interest in listening to any of his new music. But now I’m at a crossroads. This collaboration makes me question if the bad boy vibe of Falling In Reverse’s frontman—they literally have a song called “Bad Guy”—is more real than I thought.

I haven’t listened to “God Is A Weapon” yet, mostly because I know I’ll like it. And if I like it, then am I condoning Manson’s actions? J.K. Rowling isn’t a sexual abuser as far as I know, but why does listening to one little song feel so monumentally different from reading entire novels? The human mind is a funny thing.

(On a semi-related note, readers may also be interested in the new book Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian. I will certainly be checking it out soon!)

1. Ickabogs have no gender, so Rowling calls them its. Instead of using objectifying pronouns, I choose to use they/them.