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The Free Press Investigates

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling | 6. Natalie and Noah

The Free Press Investigates

The Free Press

Society & Culture

4.7 • 16K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2023

⏱️ 72 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Transgender fans of Harry Potter share their criticism of J.K. Rowling—and the experiences that inform their views. Produced by Andy Mills, Matthew Boll, Megan Phelps-Roper, and Candace Mittel Kahn, with special thanks to Emily Yoffe. This show is proudly sponsored by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. FIRE believes free speech makes free people. Learn more at thefire.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello, dear listener. I'm Megan, host of this series. And before we get into the show,

0:09.9

I wanted to take a minute to tell you about our sponsor, Fire, the foundation for individual

0:14.9

rights and expression. We live in a moment when free speech, the bedrock of our democracy

0:20.5

and of all free societies, is often viewed as suspect, where many argue that the right

0:25.4

to free speech is too dangerous, and that even listening to ideological opponents is morally

0:31.4

wrong. Many people just don't see a problem with using the law, corporate power, and even

0:37.8

extraordinary social pressure to censor viewpoints they disagree with. But many of us feel

0:43.4

the cost of all this in our everyday lives. We feel it when we self-sensor, afraid to say

0:49.1

what we really think. Sometimes even in private conversations with friends or loved ones, we

0:54.6

feel it when we opt out of a growing number of public discussions, afraid of the potential

0:59.6

cost to our jobs and even our relationships. Fire shares a mission with this show. To remind

1:06.3

us why a culture of free speech in open dialogue matters, and regardless of how loud the calls

1:12.0

for censorship are, fire's defense of that culture is unshakable and invaluable. And if

1:18.9

you want to remember why we choose freedom, even for people we strenuously disagree with,

1:24.6

you can learn more about fire's incredible work at thefire.org. And now, onto the show.

1:42.4

One of the things I've been asking people about, kind of the elephant in the room, so to speak,

1:47.2

is the author, J.K. Rowling. Has your relationship to J.K. Rowling changed since the early

1:54.3

days? I don't really care for J.K. Rowling, unfortunately, because the comments that she's

2:01.3

made, I don't agree with. It's really sad, actually, because she seemed so progressive.

2:07.5

The Harry Potter books, like when we were kids, they seemed progressive. I think to have

2:13.0

the author of these beautiful, loving, accepting stories, hurting, marginalized communities,

2:21.1

sucks. Yeah, she's super transphobic, she's a turf, she's pretty terrible. I really wish

...

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