Just call her Joanne

I came across an online discussion about how the Harry Potter books can't count as representation (for the LGBTQ+ community) because things were only implied not flat out stated.

My problem, where I take issue, is that everyone in the thread called her JK, JKR, or or Rowling.

If this is going to be a fair debate, EVERYONE needs to call her Joanne (maybe Jo). Because she wasn't allowed to publish under her name. "Boys don't read books by women."

This matters because the argument is that she could have gotten away with being more blatant about the characters she,  AFTER THE BOOKS WERE OUT AND HER CONTACT WAS FULFILLED, now says were gay. Joanne told people that the subtle hints were real. Joanne did that publicly.

The argument is that Joanne had the ability to make that distinction clear in the books, but that she, JOANNE, made the choice not to do so. No one in the debate stated if they had read her contract. No one in the debate claimed to be on the editing team or working as someone in that publishing house who was in charge of approving the words JOANNE submitted.

All I'm saying is that we should use her name,  Joanne, because she wasn't allowed to. But yeah, she probably could have been plain as day clear about gay characters and had zero repercussions... as long as she didn't write the name JOANNE on the cover,  because that was a power she didn't have at that publishing house.

Just call her by her real name when you're criticizing her for not wielding power that you've proven she must have had.

And maybe drop a statistic about how many books that do have representation have come since she made her announcement, forcing the publishing company to no longer say they don't publish that sort of thing. Just throw out a stat.

Because when book one came out,  Joanne was a zero-power no -influnce author and she signed whatever just to get the book out there.

You can say a lot of things about her,  but at least call her by her real name when you do so. Why? Because boys read her books, and kept doing so even after she CAME OUT as being a woman. (Feel free to also drop a stat about how many books the first one had to sell before she was allowed to reveal that.)

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