and this includes the casting-interpretation, too.

I think her point isn’t necessarily that the new canon for Hermione is now a black girl, but that with the limited description of Hermione (frizzy hair, looking brown, et al) that Rowling is okay with and encourages reimaginations of her characters in a diverse number of ways. I took her support more as “Hermione…

The only acceptable kind of yellow face.

Assuming she intended Hermione to be white, though it was never specified, and then she was like, “Hmmmm, this interpretation totally works,” what’s wrong with that? I get it’s not as good as defining Hermione as a WOC from the get-go. But it’s better than her denying the interpretation or worse, staying silent.

She’s not trying to change it, though. She’s saying that this interpretation is a valid one, even if she did imagine Hermione as white originally. It’s almost as if people don’t understand that once something becomes part of the cultural zeitgeist, it becomes open to interpretation. This is why there are so many…

Changing it after the fact is better than not changing it after the fact.

Nuanced conversations about azealia banks can’t happen on jezebel. If you don’t blindly despise her and agree with all complaints they just twist it into saying you agree with everything she does and that you’re probably homophobic too. Nuance rarely flies here lol.

Don’t apologize for using your own experiences as insight into what can be a very complex issue. If someone who disagrees with you feels strongly enough to reply, they should explain why they disagree rather than throw out a condescending dismissive response, especially given the civil tone of your original comment.

Dynamics I have seen in domestic violence and that I have read about and been told about by counsellors, psychologists, and cops in the course of volunteering.

I’d say it’s a little more complicated than that. The first denial wasn’t very explicit and happened the same year she released a song she wrote that more explicitly implied it did happen. Yes, there are benefits to holding someone responsible for wronging you or even to falsely accusing, but they both come at a cost.…

Because women are more likely to lie to protect abusers than they are to make false allegations of abuse? It’s really fucking hard to tell people that someone as beloved as Sean Penn did a terrible thing to her, it’s not that hard to say he didn’t.

Yes, that’s very common. Sadly, it’s also common to never completely let go of wanting the approval of the abuser.

I never said I knew for sure. I said wasn’t calling for him to be jailed or referred to as an abuser. I admit I could be wrong. I’m just saying, based on a LOT of seeing these dynamics, that I don’t believe what she is saying.

I feel the same way. I know people who have moved past abusive relationships to become friendly with their abuser. In order to keep the peace, they decide to “forget” the worst incidences of abuse. To do otherwise would be too emotionally devastating because they know the abuser is a good person and a person they care…

Did I ever say that? Abuse survivors actually often say things that aren’t true. People sometimes say they were abused when they weren’t, that they weren’t abused when they very clearly were. Sometimes they say they were abused by one person, when it was really by another. And did I ever say the only abuse survivors I…

I have seen the same thing so many times. Some people also find it too humiliating to admire they were abused. Some people also never get away from wanting the abuser to them as a good girl or good boy.

Yup. I have a friend who when escaping her abuser, made audio recordings of the abuse, in order to be able to help with her eventual escape. In the recordings, you can hear her being struck and crying out, but she swears that he never hit her. When you ask her to clarify what the noises are in the tapes, she will tell…

Dictating others’ experiences?

As I said, I am drawing from my own experiences. I know that could be projection. I’m not advocating throwing him in jail and I wouldn’t refer to him as an abuser, except of the men he abused in public.

Sadly, I understand where she is coming from, coming from a violent family and having worked with abuse survivors. They are friends, she has made her peace, and she doesn’t want to be associated with those stories. It’s her life and her story, but I don’t believe her.