Drama Post 3 of 3

[olivermoss]

Really just fucking sick of people using 'oh but we are anti-TERF, we are the good guys' as a shield

* There was a Harry Potter film fest in Portland this weekend that was... pro-equality? It was put on by "SPEWW - the Society for the Promotion of Equality for Witches & Wizards" They say they are anti-TERF and it's totally striking back at her.

2 teeny, tiny problems. It was an HP film fest with artist alley at a location that absolutely and definitely only shows properly licensed movies and pays royalties. Since they run indie theaters, their split is worse than, say, what Regal pays. So, literally worse than seeing the films at national chains.

Second, I know some of the artists involved and certain people involved are absolutely transphobes. This is so not an anti-TERF event. I know a certain subsection of the Portland art scene very well, and that subsection is 'people who table at geek events'. Not just as someone who hits up as many as I can find, but also as someone who has run artist alleys and events, and also just as someone who is at a lot of events. I know what some of them have said about me behind my back, because they were within earshot. When I say 'behind my back' I am being literal.

So yeah, this is just a pile of bullshit.

* RomanceCon is an evolving situation right now and I want to start by pointing out that they have changed who is managing the con, but as far as anyone knows, they did not change ownership. Unless, new info comes to light, it looks like they involved an indie bookstore so they could go 'oh, look, it's run by an indie bookstore now, how wholesome, come to our con to support them!'

It looks the majority of authors have pulled out, a lot of the big names definitely did. I would like to have hard numbers, but most places I'd go to for sourcing have banned discussion of this about two weeks ago so the numbers are old. The management company bringing in Julie Soto and having a lot of focus on Harry Potter at the con was the point of contention. They were going to have several HP panels because 'fans don't have a safe space online' to discuss HP anymore and they are all about safe spaces. Basically, the romance con was going to have a huge HP focus and the attending authors were not expecting that.

Here's the thing, while authors were scattering they put out statements talking about how some of the panels were the idea of trans people and also if authors decide to return then they'll donate part of the table fee to trans charities. The table fees are non-refundable, so if the authors didn't come back it just goes to the con's owners. They really tried to pull 'we have trans staff, coming to our con is listing to trans people. And if you don't come money wont be donated to a trans charity'. What the shitfuck? When it comes to trying to use trans people as a shield this is just next level.

We've got enough shit going on without transparent and cynical attempts to use trans people as a shield. There is even a local bookstore that is making a point of carrying HP books because 'they are so important to queer people, the next gen of queer kids need these powerful experiences too'. What? Just carry the books or don't*. Stop with the weird using 'for queer people' or other weird insane bullshit. This convoluted 'oh but it's FOR people like you' bullshit is driving up a fucking wall.

(* I'd prefer not, obviously, and I have the option of shopping at stores that wont carry her. But like, don't try to paint carrying her as even more supportive)

Comments

[mistressofmuses]

"We totally hate TERFs, you guys (we just like giving them money.)"

I saw mention of the Julie Soto thing. Gotta say, I *really* hoped we'd be beyond "pull to publish" HP fics being the trend of the now. I didn't think I'd miss it being thinly-veiled Reylo so much.

Trying to pretend that giving more money and attention to one of the world's richest TERFs is ~empowering queer people~ in some fashion is just so fucking gross.

[olivermoss]

I wish I didn't recognize the name Julie Soto. For the Reylo stuff I don't know enough to have an opinion, and I'd like to be that way about HP stuff but their dramas do a lot of splash damage. With Soto, it's being promoted as HP fanfic. There is no thin veil, it's trying to make HP Fanfic the current moment in romance land and obviously, some people are not having it. Also, like, however many people were going to table at the con are effected whether they stay or go. People are eating travel costs and stuff, the authors need to deal with the drama, etc.

That management company is so vile, trying to use trans people as a shield and then some indie bookstore. I know some people have dropped out of one of their other events, but I don't know if it's a mass exodus, yet.

It's just all so freaking insane. People are just saying insane stuff, or outright lying. Dunno which is worse

[mistressofmuses]

I think I mostly do recognize Julie Soto from the drama around this event, and just how heavily her work was being marketed as being HP fanfic. I saw the promo graphics that someone shared in a tumblr post about this, and yeah, it's not even a wink and a nudge, it's just straight up proudly announcing it!
I don't know anything about the Reylo stuff beyond a few titles that were well known to have been fics that were pulled and then had the serial numbers filed off to publish. I never read any of them as fic or original, but knowing something was originally Reylo doesn't fill me with visceral *yuck* the way hearing that yet another "dark romance" was originally a fucking Dramione fic. (I know there's another Dramione fic, the one that had a bunch of people selling bindings of it, and it was a big deal that the author took the fic down... but I think that one is also forthcoming as an "original". Maybe it's really just those two, but that feels like two too many.)
(Though to be fair, Twilight fic turning to 50 Shades is still probably the MOST well-known pull-to-publish and that gives me the ick too, so.)

I'm glad that not everyone is chill with all this stuff heavily pushing HP fandom connections, and not having this be The Current Thing, but... the whole situation sucks. Because yeah, authors having to eat the cost of tabling, dealing with travel costs and plans that may not be changeable, plus yeah, just the drama in general... having your name attached to the event at all, even if you pull out from it...

I hope that it turns to a mass exodus from all their events, because they're deeply shitty in what they're doing and how they're behaving, even more so than just the initial choices made. I'd side-eye and avoid anything wanting to do a bunch of HP fandom stuff at a con, but the way they doubled down has been far worse.
Though I can also see some of the other events having enough of a buffer that a lot of authors or congoers won't know about this from the management company. I hope that this gets enough attention that it becomes common knowledge for any and all of their events.

[olivermoss]

There are a few Dramione fics set to be released this summer and and there was a promo plan to call it 'Wet Hot Dramione Summer' and do lots of cross promo. I don't know if the other authors were on board with all that or just stuck with it, but Soto was 100% leaning into it and trying to push the whole thing as the current moment.

The people behind RomanceCon also ran LeakyCon here in Portland and they 100% used Portland as a shield from criticism. Very 'it's Portland, of course it's queer and for the artists and all about community'. But locally they were very controversial. I basically tuned out the drama because it was very clear that the visible parts of the local queer community were not okay with the bullshit, and also JKR was less of a problem back then. I do remember some instances of people coming to Portland for LeakyCon and being surprised to get a cold shoulder when also visiting gay bars. They were like 'we thought Portland was a geeky city and this was a beloved queer indy event, what is the problem?' and then people would tell them the problems. The con runners are well aware of the dramas and are used to using queer people as a shield. They've got a whole history.

It's taken way too long, but I feel like fandom and geek spaces are hitting a tipping point with HP stuff. If anyone uses 'but we have trans people in our community uwu therefore' as deflection one more fucking time

[mistressofmuses]

Yuck, lmao. I know there's been a lot of cross-promo attempts with it. Same in terms of not really knowing how into it any of the rest of the authors were, but... I am not the target audience. But marketing anything to me by saying it was part of Wet Hot Dramione Summer could not make me *more* disinterested.

It's really shitty that they have such a history of doing this sort of thing. Trying to use Portland as a setting, and the queer community there and beyond, as a shield is just so gross. Especially when this time they kind of initially tried to make it sound like all the HP connections for the organizer were in the past, even though it was extremely obvious (including having fucking panels and promo *at this event*) that it was not the case.

I really do hope that it's reaching a tipping point. Obviously it's still way too fucking popular in a lot of circles, with the outrageous popularity of some of these pulled-for-publishing fics and all, but at the same time, I really do think that people are getting really sick of it. Especially the insistence that participating in that fandom (actively! spending money!) isn't supporting the work, as long as you say you hate TERFs.

The deflection of "but we have trans friends, and there are trans people in the fandom, so therefore supporting HP and giving JKR money *is* the true queer activism" is vile.

[olivermoss]

They were still called Mischief Management until the con started blowing up. They were trying to make Romancecon into a stealth Harry Potter con with all those panels and focus. Nothing was in the past. They are just very used to getting away with stuff using a combination of pure bullshit and using queer people as a shield.

I feel like the tolerance for some HP fandom bullshit, people claiming to be anti-TERF but also freaking out in excitement over the new show, is falling fast. Actually, it may be the new show that is causing a lot of people's bullshit to be obvious. A lot of the 'I only engage responsibly guys' crowd are basically telling on themselves suddenly.

'If you don't know how much this fandom is a sanctuary for trans people then you are out of touch with the trans community' is a phrase I never fucking want to hear again, for multiple reasons

[mistressofmuses]

They really weren't being that subtle, and the really thin veneer of "oh, yeah, the organizer was like, a HP fansite mod a million years ago, but that's all" really didn't hold up to any scrutiny whatsoever, and it's insulting (among so many insults...) that they thought that it would.

I think the new show stuff has definitely highlighted it a lot more even than the stupid video game did. It's suddenly super obvious how many people aren't as "removed" from the actual media as they were pretending, and yeah... telling on themselves all over the place.

That is such a rage/nausea-inducing thing for anyone to say. Deeply gross.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, the usual deflections just don't work when people are running to express their squee over the TV show online.

[kay_brooke]

That all sounds awful.

I am vaguely aware of the recent spate of HP fics having the serial numbers filed off for publishing but also marketing them specifically as HP fanfic with the serial numbers filed off, and I'm still confused as to why? Obviously there's the name recognition aspect, but why specifically HP? An older fandom that a huge portion of the target audience wants nothing to do with anymore. Why now and why not something else? Some kind of backlash against HP's downfall? In a social media world where the staying power of anything is about twelve hours, why is HP still even relevant?

[olivermoss]

I don't know, but despite all the backlash HP still has an amusement park and does massive merch sales every year. There's the upcoming TV show which might bring a new surge of interest. But also, the plans to market this fic as fic don't seem to have gone to plan. Julie Soto is controversial, but in a way that sparks consumer interest.

I don't know if she's the main reason why RomanceCon is falling apart, but I do know that seems plausible to a lot of people. Over a hundred authors taking a financial hit to not be associated with her definitely seems plausible to people. Hopefully we'll know more at a point. Part of me wanted to wait until we knew more and had hard numbers before I posted, but then the local event was going and I just needed to vent.