According to Kotaku:
The Harry Potter books, and the universe they spawned, are beloved by millions. It’s so unfortunate, then, that the franchise’s creator, author J.K. Rowling, has repeatedly proven herself to be the worst kind of anti-transgender bigot. That bigotry is in the spotlight once again as the big-ticket Harry Potter game Hogwarts Legacy is due out soon. It’s also likely why the popular left-leaning subreddit r/GamingCircleJerk basically just exploded in anti-Hogwarts Legacy sentiment.
As its name suggests, r/GamingCircleJerk is a “circlejerk” subreddit meant to be a tongue-in-cheek riff on r/Gaming. Most posts are jokes, but the occasional “unjerk” posts are sincere, as was the case last Wednesday when moderator GrizzlyPeak72 posted a photo of Rowling and the game’s cover along with the text, “A friendly reminder from your modteam that this woman is a TERF and anyone who pledges to support her monetarily is also a transphobe.” That post alone elicited over 3,700 comments, and it was just the start.
“TERF,” of course, is the abbreviation for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist,” which refers to self-identified feminists who, when you get down to it, more or less oppose trans people’s right to exist in society. Rowling’s history of transphobic comments can be easily researched online, and I won’t repeat them here. Suffice it to say it’s not a stretch to describe her as a TERF.
Discussion of the post and the wider mentality underlying it spread through Reddit and across social media. Some voices protested, claiming that supporting Hogwarts Legacy didn’t mean supporting Rowling’s beliefs. Others said it does, in fact, as buying the game supports the bigoted author monetarily. Some commenters brought up the questionable parts of the Potter canon itself. And yet others, somehow, seem to still believe Rowling isn’t a TERF at all despite her openly repeating TERF ideology.
Many members of the GamingCircleJerk subreddit have shown support for mod GrizzlyPeak72’s initial post, in both joking and serious ways, which is unsurprising as the group often mocks the closed-minded anti-gay, anti-women, anti-trans views that unfortunately still proliferate in gaming communities. GrizzlyPeak72, who posted the initial “unjerk,” said more than 1,000 transphobes have been banned from the subreddit since their post last week. There are also plenty of people who have said they still plan to play the game after pirating it. And even some in the Harry Potter subreddit have expressed concerns about the game, both because of its content and the creator’s views.
