Dr. Charlotte Proudman, a Cambridge academic and feminist founder of the U.K. group Right to Equality, was slammed on social media after she criticized the Harry Potter franchise as being too White and patriarchal.
"I never liked Harry Potter. I didn't even finish the first book. Potter is an English schoolboy genius living in a largely male, white fairytale land that looks like Oxbridge (for the elite). He's a little patriarch that resorts to magic and violence to rule," she wrote Thursday.
J.K. ROWLING CRITIC FORCED TO PUBLICLY APOLOGIZE FOR CALLING HER A NAZI AFTER LAWSUIT THREAT
Many online rebuked Proudman's contention that the Harry Potter series and character is contemptible.
"That's one view. Another is that the Harry Potter books engendered a love of reading amongst millions of kids (and adults) some of whom thereby expanded their horizons to become students of Cambridge academics when they might not have," Simon Scarrow, a British author, wrote.
Stuart Hazeldine, a British screenwriter, pointed out that J.K. Rowling - the franchise's creator - was poor herself when she wrote the first book.
"Yeah, would've been much better if it had been written by a woman with no money," Hazeldine wrote.
"I've never read or seen Harry Potter, but my goodness, this woman needs to lighten up!" health and science reporter Benjamin Ryan tweeted.
British journalist Sophie Corcoran wrote, "This woman was a ‘Cambridge academic’. One of the poshest, whitest, elitist schools in the country - and here she is screaming about a fictional wizard."
Jaakko Husa, a comparative law scholar, pointed out that the Harry Potter character himself comes from a disadvantaged background.
"Abused orphan boy living in a cupboard under the stairs, neglected by his guardians, haunted by a mad serial killer, friend of oppressed students, refuses to take the most magical tool. Somehow he is ‘elite’, ‘little patriarch’, and ‘resorts to magic and violence to rule’," Husa tweeted.
Rob Wilson, an author and chairman of WheelPower, a charity dedicated to wheelchair sports, tweeted, "I’m no Potter fan, but everyone should be able to recognise getting millions of children to engage in reading is an outstanding achievement for @jk_rowling - she deserves huge credit for that alone. The books have done so much for a generation of children from all backgrounds."
J.K. Rowling, the series' author, defended herself last month against continued attacks from transgender activists. "I'll be dead," she said on "The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling" when asked about how the attacks will impact her legacy.
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Before authoring the legendary series that defined fiction for an entire generation, Rowling overcame depression, poverty, and thoughts of suicide. She rose above these struggles to become one of the bestselling authors of all time.
