Just Another Book About Harry Potter Ships

Some General Harry Potter Opinions: Dislikes

I thought that it would be fun to briefly go over some of my more general fandom opinions before diving into my ship specific ones, so I wrote up a list of Harry Potter fandom/fanfiction tropes sorted into likes, dislikes, and depends! This chapter, we'll be going over my Dislikes list. (And remember, these are just my opinions — you are more than welcome to like what I dislike, dislike what I like, or any combination in between!)

DISLIKES

- Accidental Baby Acquisition — I don't ever want to have children, and childrearing is definitely not what I go into fanfic looking to read about, so this one's a "no thanks."

- Alpha/Beta/Omega (A/B/O) Dynamics — I'm REALLY not into A/B/O, especially what's called "traditional" A/B/O dynamics. The exaggerated gender roles, the emphasis on alpha = strong = dominant = masculine and omega = weak = submissive = feminine, the lack of trans inclusivity despite all the mpreg, the handwave-y and completely improbable biology, the heterosexualization of gay ships, and the way that biological kids are implied (or sometimes even outright stated!) to be "better" or "more real"/"more valid" than adopted children are all big nopes from me. I also don't really enjoy the use of the word "mate" or the possessiveness that's often involved, although those things bother me less than they used to.

The aspects that frustrate me the most are the queer erasure and pervasive heteronormativity in what could be a very queer space; the misogyny/sexism; the fetishization; and the unthinking devaluation of adoption, "nontraditional" families, and childless romantic/sexual relationships (though we should really push back at the concept that the modern "nuclear family" with husband, wife, and two-and-a-half kids is truly "traditional," because what does that even mean? By whose tradition? In what culture and time period? What about all the other global/historical traditions that don't fit into the "modern" Western definition of family? "Tradition" is not necessarily what you think it is, y'all.) And while it's true that some A/B/O fics avoid these pitfalls or actively work to subvert the trope's expectations, the vast majority of it contains material I dislike to see, so I usually stay away from it altogether. (See also: Mpreg: Male Pregnancy.)

- Bad Boy with a Heart of Gold — This trope is usually applied to Draco, but it can be (and sometimes is) applied to any Death Eater and/or Slytherin and/or villain/"bad guy" character. Now, don't get me wrong; I completely understand the appeal of fictional villains (just Google "Geto Suguru fanart," "Chitose Kizuki fanart," or "Hannibal fanart" to see examples of villains who people thirst after (it's me, I'm people)), and I totally think that fiction can be a safe place to explore messed up stuff that you'd never actually want to happen to yourself or other people in real life. HOWEVER, I dislike the idea that "bad boys" are secretly carrying within themselves a "heart of gold" that can be brought out by the right person. "I can fix him"/"He'll get better for me"/"My love will fix everything" doesn't actually work in real life. People won't change unless they decide to. You can't take it on yourself to fix others. And honestly, fictional villains are fun precisely because they give "voice to the unmentionable," as a favorite TV show of mine once said. They're fun because they're "bad." Trying to justify their abominable actions by saying that they secretly cared the whole time or were only doing it because they were sad, lonely, and misunderstood leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

In this fandom specifically, I dislike when people turn Draco into a "bad boy" in general, because he was a cowardly bully during his time at Hogwarts, not a "bad boy" (and this is coming from someone who likes Draco as a character and thinks he has a lot of potential for growth and redemption!) The same applies to characters like Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, or Tom Riddle/Voldemort...they don't have hearts of gold (and someone like Snape is definitely not a "bad boy," although Lucius and Tom fall closer to that definition). Of course, you can argue all you want about nature vs nurture and what makes someone truly "bad" versus morally gray, and at what point do they become irredeemable, etc. And again, I'm not saying that I don't appreciate villains/"bad guys," because I do! It's just that this trope in particular is unappealing to me.