A Warhammer: 40K: Space Marine 2 and Gotham Knights writer recently implied that if you play the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy game you are transphobic.
The writer, who calls himself Ashley Cooper, wrote on Twitter, “If you’re going to insist on playing The Wizard Game, stop bending yourself into a pretzel trying to find a way to explain or justify doing so and have the conviction to just say ‘transphobia is not a dealbreaker for me.'”
In a subsequent tweet, the writer tweeted, “For anyone that thinks they’re clever for mentioning that I own an iPhone: Capitalism commonly backs us into a corner and forces us to choose between various bad options, but unlike me needing a smartphone of some kind for work, no one needs a certain piece of entertainment.”
Cooper doesn’t make it explicit on why he is accusing people of transphobia if they play Hogwarts Legacy, but it more than likely has to do with Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling’s stance on sex and gender.
In a blog post shared to her website back in June 2020, Rowling explained her reasons for speaking out on sex and gender issues.
Detailing one of her reasons she wrote, “I’m concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility.”
“Some say they decided to transition after realising they were same-sex attracted, and that transitioning was partly driven by homophobia, either in society or in their families,” she added.
In elaborating on this point, Rowling would also write, “I’ve read all the arguments about femaleness not residing in the sexed body, and the assertions that biological women don’t have common experiences, and I find them, too, deeply misogynistic and regressive.”
“It’s also clear that one of the objectives of denying the importance of sex is to erode what some seem to see as the cruelly segregationist idea of women having their own biological realities or – just as threatening – unifying realities that make them a cohesive political class,” she stated.
She would later write, “But, as many women have said before me, ‘woman’ is not a costume. ‘Woman’ is not an idea in a man’s head. ‘Woman’ is not a pink brain, a liking for Jimmy Choos or any of the other sexist ideas now somehow touted as progressive.”
“Moreover, the ‘inclusive’ language that calls female people ‘menstruators’ and ‘people with vulvas’ strikes many women as dehumanising and demeaning,” she asserted. “I understand why trans activists consider this language to be appropriate and kind, but for those of us who’ve had degrading slurs spat at us by violent men, it’s not neutral, it’s hostile and alienating.”
Cooper is also no stranger to making controversial comments, back in 2017, the writer expressed racist and misandrist opinions.
He wrote, “Let’s not cast cis white men in stuff for a year and see what happens. Just for fun.”
In January 2018, the writer said, “Sorry, cishet white dudes. Comics don’t belong to you. Comics never belonged to you.”
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Also in 2018, Cooper tweeted, “Boycott any media that features a cis person playing a trans person. No exceptions.”
Cooper is also anti-police calling for defunding of police and using the term ACAB which stands for “All Cops Are Bastards.”
What do you make of Cooper’s tweets accusing people who plan to play Hogwarts Legacy of transphobia?
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