Disassociating yourself publicly from things you find morally repugnant makes a difference. It certainly matters to people subject to the bigotry and those watching what’s happening who may not be aware of what’s occurring. And it obviously matters to people commenting who disagree with their actions.
It’s also not insignificant that the people doing this are super fans of the media franchise. Its fanbase & those most likely to excuse her bigotry.
Oh, I don’t know…
It’s not like it is actual damnatio memoriae.
And since we are talking about sports
Upon completion the arena was originally called the Reynolds Arena , after the club’s then owner, George Reynolds. After Reynolds’ bankruptcy and arrest on charges of money laundering, the name was changed to the New Stadium in April 2004.
I had thought that catching the Golden snitch would stop the game, freezing the score at how it stands at that moment. That would make it much more strategic. Making it a winner-takes-all provides no incentive to score any points.
I do not claim to have paid much attention to the films.
Making it a winner takes all is a perfect explanation of the british nobility system. You just know seekers were rich kids and children of rich adults.
Do golden snitches get stitches? Sounds harsh.
I personally don’t believe that playing pretend-Quidditch, or for that matter enjoying the Harry Potter books or films, means one automatically endorses J. K. Rowling’s views on transgender people (or anything else). These opinions, after all, do not even feature in the books themselves. There are many great works of art which people like a lot even though their creators have in the meantime been discovered to be jerks of some sort.
Absolutely. The pretend-Quidditch people are 100% correct in saying loudly and clearly that they don’t agree with Ms Rowling’s transphobic views, for the benefit of people who (IMHO erroneously) assume that pretend-Quidditch players must be transphobic just because the author of the books that feature actual Quidditch has expressed transphobic opinions. It’s just that I suspect that renaming pretend-Quidditch won’t really help with “disassociating” as long as people are still aware that the game, whatever it will be called, was originally inspired by the Harry Potter books, and that connection will be difficult to disavow after the fact.
No one presumes the players of the game that shall not be named of being transphobes.
I’m transgender- it literally did help my appreciation for them with them supporting my humanity. No idea who they are - like that they stood up. You may not be able to have a similar relationship to that. And of course- reclaiming things has a long and valuable history.
A very useful side benefit is that it pisses off all the wrong people.
Wingball. Parakeetball…
After my own personal benefit in having a little more acceptance in the world that is absolutely my favourite part.
There was a ton of queer phobia in say - comics.
“ As strange as it may seem, that scene in itself was a major leap forward for the publisher; one of the reasons Northstar had remained in the closet for his existence up to that point was, apocryphally, that former editor-in-chief Jim Shooter had decreed that there were no gay heroes in the Marvel Universe, with the only other instance of on-panel homosexuality in Marvel history having been an attempted rape of Bruce Banner in a 1980s newsstand magazine.”
I’m really glad things moved on from there and love the Marvel movies.
You’re right. Hate and bigotry is just inevitable and people doing stuff to show support with oppressed groups is pointless. We should just let the bigots win… After all, once we let them win, they never hurt the people they hate… /s
You absolutely cannot copyright the rules to a game or sport. You can copyright terms and names, but not rules.
Yeah, I’m surprised this isn’t brought up more. I’ve played quidditch on and off for coming up on a decade (!) now, and copyright issues have been a concern since I first started. As you mentioned, the press release mentions distancing the sport from JRK’s transphobia only after it discusses how the name change opens up sponsorship and broadcast opportunities that concerns around copyright previously blocked off (and my understanding is that they have been blocked off for just this reason). I think the transphobia was the final straw.
Anyway, no sport-formerly-known-as-quidditch player is trying to pretend that quidditch didn’t come from Harry Potter or something. But also, the rules (and field layout…) have changed significantly over the years, and it’s definitely its own thing now.
I’m not transgender but, for the record, I would not for one fraction of a second call into question the humanity of transgender people.
As far as pretend-Quidditch goes, not my thing, but kudos to its supporters for speaking out against transphobia, and especially so if it makes transgender people feel better.
I’m 100% in favour of “doing stuff to show support with oppressed groups”. That’s what the pretend-Quidditch people are doing by saying they don’t endorse Ms Rowling’s transphobic views.
Renaming their version of Quidditch to something else, however, is unlikely to do much as far as supporting transgender people goes. As @qballthrowaway points out, though, concerns over copyright may be much more important in that respect – as was mentioned, while the game itself can’t be copyrighted, the name of the game and of the different balls etc. likely can, and wanting to avoid getting sued (or having possible sponsors balk at the risk of getting sued) is probably as good a reason to rename the sport as any other.
Sometimes, doing nothing at all just isn’t enough, and “doing stuff to show support with oppressed groups,” as you put it, is simply what one does as a human being who cares about other human beings. It is not something that one favors or gives kudos for.
It brings awareness of the issue to the audience that enjoys the sport and it signals to the trans community that they are not in support of bigoted views expressed by Rowling. That’s not nothing, actually. YOU might think it’s a meaningless gesture, but in these times, where trans people are starting to live in fear of their lives once again, it does matter. It’s not the end all and be all, but it does matter.
And yet they are changing it for the reason they mentioned, rather than any of those other reasons, which they could have done years ago if they cared about those things. Unless they are just lying for the clicks to win over BIG TRANS… But I suspect that changing the name will more likely bring negative attention from her die hard supporters and the TERFs who now love her, so it will probably be less productive for them to make this change in association with this particular reason.
That’s made decades of her abuse much more palatable. Thanks for your service.
They have and are operating their group as a trans inclusive one. Opening up opportunities for trans people socially and in sport.
These are tangible actions supporting trans people & improving our lives - insomuch as inclusive private organizations contribute to people’s lives.
Renaming may be just a symbol of their values; but it’s hard to say that symbols are unimportant. Especially when not divorced from actions.
