I'm not just talking about her being a TERF specifically (I know she was liking various transphobic tweets long before she was officially outed), but also her just being super shitty and neolib in general even by normal lib standards.
I've heard it goes back as far as the Harry Potter books themselves which, full disclosure, I haven't read for myself (Seen all the movies tho). I've heard from people who have tho that there's apparently shit in them like a subplot mocking Hermione for trying to stand up for House-elf rights (Who don't want to be free anyway of course) and Harry basically becoming a cop at the end (As part of the organization that pretty much just allowed Voldemort and the Death Eaters to take control again).
But to me personally, in hindsight, the moment when alarms really should've been going off is when she lazily retconned Dumbledore as being gay and Hermione as being black while acting like she totally intended those characters to be that way from the beginning.
Obviously the problem isn't them actually being gay or black, it's that it's very transparent in this case that she just wanted brownie points and pats on the back for having diverse characters without actually having to do any of the work.
I'm not saying every time Dumbledore/Hermione were in a scene that they needed to go "Say Harry, have I mentioned that I'm homosexual/of African descent today?", but you'd think those aspects of themselves would at the very least be alluded to at least once in the span of 7 fuckin' books.
The fact readers could go through the whole series and never notice those supposed aspects of the characters says it all imo.
(Also, in Hermione's case specifically, you think she would have said something about Emma Watson being cast as her and not a black actress if she really did have that planned all the way back then.)
Anything else I missed? Perhaps from actual Harry Potter readers that know something I don't?
I was 12 when she announced Dumbledore was gay, and I had only just realised gay people existed (after watching an agatha christie show with lesbian murderers) I think that was a good move for young children to find out about LGBT stuff from non-traditionally gay coded characters (despite the complete lack of textual evidence he is in fact gay)
Hermione being black was more of a 'who gives a shit, they can be black if they want? vibe
The worst HP shit was the SPEW garbage. So Lib it becomes conservative. Just insane that she wasn't FORCED to put that subplot in. Just conservative "This chick be mouthing off about civil rights for people who are totally fine!!! She's so goddamn shrill"
Also, if someone more versed in HP lore can help me out- why the significant lack of diverse female characters personailty-wise ? She's a female writer and I can only name like 3 women who aren't bitchy villains or bland love interests? Keep in mind there's 100s of characters she's written
I want to say internalized sexism. Like the reactionary women who don't want to be that girl. She seems to project all of the worst traits she dislikes about women onto most of the characters. It's actually kinda strange if you think about it. Then there are the ones portrayed as good, but in a backhanded way. Here's the ones I can remember off the top of my head:
Harry's aunt - bad and mean. Described as bad looking.
Hermione - good and smart. Described not as bad looking, but it's still fixated on appearance.
Ginny - good and Harry's love interest in the end. Described as pretty.
Ron's mom - good and maternal. Described as overweight, but in a pleasant way.
Cho Chang - shallow and mean when it comes down to it. Described as pretty at first, to my recollection.
Luna Lovegood - quirky and weird, but nice. Described as strange, but pretty.
Professor McGonagall - good and strong. Described as older, but generally respectfully.
Fleur - shallow, and maybe dim but not bad. Described as especially pretty.
Tonks - bold and clever. Gets with a much older man. Described as having different colored hair with some insults now and then.
Bellatrix Lestrange - evil and described as mentally ill. Described as pretty, but her looks were damaged by magic prison.
Ms Umbridge - sadistic with a fake front of pleasantness. She's the one with the centaur encounter I mentioned in my other comment. Described as overweight and unpleasant looking.
Rita Skeeter - a nosey and invasive reporter. She's described as having features considered masculine like hand size and she goes out of her way to sneak into places to spy on them for her journalism.
The oracle teacher - runs against Hermione's logical approach to magic. Shown as a fraud and airheaded in a transparent way. I can't remember how she's described, appearance-wise.
Moaning Myrtle - a sad ghost girl who cries all the time and invades personal boundaries.
Voldemort's mom - sad and lonely and magically brainwashes a man to marry her. She's been inbred for the sake of preserving the bloodline, and Rowling describes an appearance reflecting that. There are tons of horrible implications with her background.
wait so the halfway complicated ones were all killed off?
Or written out of the story unceremoniously.
Love the effort put in! Yeah Ron's mum is probably the standout female character- I dig your idea it might be internalised misogyny. Maybe at some point she was Hermione being devoted to activism, which she retroactively thinks was embarrassing. (Why bother stirring a fuss!)
Love the complete lack of effort with morally bad=bad looking