Tony Atkinson
2 min readSep 11, 2022

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OK, so the first thing you have to understand is that the woman is as dim as a Toc-H lamp! To thick to appreciate the distinction between sex and gender, true, and clutching her pearls at the thought that anyone born with a penis (whether or not they still have it) might be allowed into a Ladies toilet or changing room.

She had one decent idea - a schoolboy wizard - and wrote about it in pedestrian but readable prose. Kids picked it up because here were books actually written for them to enjoy. No unreliable narrators, dysfunctional families and grim urban backgrounds - all the shit they had in their real lives and found in 'modern' childrens' books. In default of anything else for kids too young for Tolkien or Pullman to enjoy, the books got massive (supply and demand, anyone?).

Problematic tropes? All the tropes were borrowed. Harrys' background is the same as King Arthurs', Perseus', Theseus' and Luke Skywalkers'.. The Golden Trio comes straight out of 'Star Trek (TOS)'. Dumbledore is just a rewrite of Gandalf/Ben Kenobi. The boarding-school story, of course. Kids solving mysteries the grownups miss or ignore - shades of Enid Blyton. And so on.

Racism? Not really. Yes, characters of colour like Dean and the Patils were assigned background roles. But I'd've done the same, because I have no real, experiential knowledge of what everyday life for a Black or Asian person in the UK is like, and I wouldn't want to cause offence by getting it wrong.

As to Cho Chang - not many Western people fully understand Chinese/Korean/Japanese naming conventions. Don't call conspiracy where there's only cock-up.

LGBTQ representation? Not in a kids' book! Not if you want to sell said book outside the UK!

Positive depictions of slavery? Well, what about 'Star Wars', because if C-3PO and R2-D2 aren't slaves, what are they? Not human? Neither are House-Elves. Intelligent beings? Yes, both droids are independently intelligent, as are all the droids in the films. Nobody questions that, do they?

In sum, a not-very-bright person becomes celebrated by an accident of time and place. Said person continues to be not very bright but now has a public platform for their stupidity. Now, a smart person would ignore them -the opinions of stupid people are ipso facto without value or importance -except to other stupid people.

Seems there are a lot of stupid people about!

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Tony Atkinson
Tony Atkinson

Written by Tony Atkinson

Snapper-up of unconsidered trifles, walker of paths less travelled by. Writer of fanfiction. Player of games. argonaut57@gmail.com

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