WTF, HP fandom?

[urbandruid]

Oh, HP fandom, I've been totally ignoring you forever, and you're still carrying on just the same. Isn't it lovely to know that some things never change?

/sarcasm

Normally I probably wouldn't even mention this, but I just got up from a nap, I'm in a weird mood, saw this, and thought, "WTF?"

I was going to try and explain the whole thing, but I'll just link to the fandom_wank post, it's easier: http://www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1227910.htm

And then we have the OP's follow-upish thingy here. It's a lot shorter than the original posts, and I think it illustrates well the reasons I want to tear my hair out and hit my head on my desk repeatedly, because this woman is a MORON.

I'm not even gonna get into the whole Lily/Snape vs Lily/James thing. Nope. What's really driving me nuts about this is that the OP seems to think not liking Lily = misogyny.

ARGH! That does not mean what you think it means, OP.

Unless, you know, she's really into this whole Lily = Eve thing she's got going, and since Lily is The Original Woman Who Represents All Women, disliking her means you hate all women.

Seriously, people? Seriously?

If I wasn't used to this kind of nonsense from HP fandom this would be pissing me off a whole lot more, but it's still the stupidest thing I've heard in a while.

And I felt you all needed to know that. :)

Comments

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

FWIW (because, um, I really liked that essay), I didn't get the idea that she was saying not liking Lily for any reason at all = mysogyny, but rather that condemning Lily but excusing Snape for doing similar things is.

[urbandruid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I see what you're saying, but that's a double standard, not misogyny. Misogyny is hatred of women. I think it goes a little bit far to use that term. I do agree that there are a lot of people who blame everything on Lily, but that doesn't make them misogynists.

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

But the pervading double standard used against women is part of mysogyny. And it's so disturbingly institutionalised that people don't even recognise it anymore. Like, to take it away from Snape and Lily, the old chestnut about how men who sleep around are studs but women who sleep around are sluts--a double standard and different perceptions of the same behaviour, used against women.

[urbandruid.livejournal.com]

I'd still call that prejudice or bias, not hate, though. And I get that it's wrong. Personally I think anybody who sleeps around, male or female, is a slut.

I just think that you can dislike Lily, or whatever female character for whatever reason, without being slapped with the misogyny label.

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

I disagree, because 'hate' does not have to be a violent, Knoxian diatribe, but can be much less overt, but I think we will just get very frustrated if we go on about the semantics of it. I think that one can dislike the character without being misogynistic, yes--one can dislike anybody they wish, really--but that a lot of the reasons a number of people use for disliking her or justifying that dislike are misogynist. Not all of them, surely, but I really think saying that the OP was a moron is a bit drastic. ;) In terms of feminist literary theory she didn't even say anything terribly controversial, and her points were well-addressed. And there was a conversation later on in the comments where someone with very little grasp on the text that existed outside their own head really illustrated all those points--it's like how there are plenty of people who legitimately think Obama is doing the wrong thing/not enough/too much, and then there are those who swear up and down he's a Muslim communist terrorist from Kenya who sacrifices babies to Satan and yet refuse to entertain the notion that this might be ever so slightly fueled by racist tendencies. :p

[urbandruid.livejournal.com]

Very true. Agree to disagree? :)

To be honest I was probably- okay, I WAS- out of line to call her a moron. Sometimes my facepalm reaction to fandom stuff is automatic, and I've not been in a great headspace lately.

Let's just point and laugh at the really rabid fans whose heads are seriously exploding over this. :)

[ashkitty.livejournal.com]

That sounds fair. :) And really, if it were about anything else I wouldn't have said anything anyway, but since analysing gender in literature is all I ever do with my life anymore, I was apparently compelled. ;)

And watching the crazy people is always entertaining!