I read Harry Potter as a teenager, but my interest in the series faded as I got older. From time to time, I rewatched one of the films out of pure nostalgia, but honestly, I found the world-building very weak and the plot nonsensical, even for a children’s story. So when I learned that Rowling was a TERF, I just stopped caring.
So, I’m pretty clueless about how the franchise and its fandom have evolved. When I heard about “Malfoid,” a female version of Malfoy, I assumed it was meant to mock Rowling: making one of her main characters trans would certainly infuriate her. I’m not sure how I felt about the idea, but it made sense. However, someone said that it was actually a right-wing thing, a way to “own the libs.” I just don’t understand why Malfoy as a girl would be insulting to left-leaning people. Could anyone explain me?
From all the conversations I’ve seen the 3 big reasons for it being viral are:
- People, very online millennial libs and lefties specifically, got super pissed about the “foid” part of the name because incels, not realising it has already taken an ironic bend in gen alpha slang.
- Hot mean girls are a turn on to a lot of people, men and women.
- It’s uncanny how much more fitting a lot of the jabs and snide remarks Malfoy makes in the books feel when coming out of a girl instead of a boy.
I have long been proposing the theory that J.K. Rowling knows fuckall about boy socialization and social dynamics, and essentially made Malfoy a mean girl stereotype by accident, and I am feeling pretty vindicated right about now.
Internet hornyposting about the lamest taboos imaginable
Also galfoy is a better portmanteau
I like galfoy more. I’m going tk start using it. malfoid just sounds wrong and have that incel terminology attached to it. that’s why I thought at first of was some culture war shit at first but instead it’s just some genderbent thing artists and fanfic writers like to do that got trendy and viral.
Is it supposed to “own the libs?” All I have seen are people gooning over “hot girl Malfoy.” Tho it does make sense considering the name is “Malfoid,” incorporating chud language right into it. Not sure how it’s gonna piss off anyone not transphobic tho. They’re kinda stupid over there on the right, and I’m not capable of thinking that stupidly to understand the roundabout logic where this meme would make any sense.
Susu had a good video that examines it from different angles, if you don’t mind watching a vid
My interpretation is that it’s not really a political thing, it really was just a genderbent fanart that got wildly viral due to random internet reasons.
The name does derive from incel terminology, but I think that name was chosen mainly because it’s an awesome pun rather than for political reasons.
Nevertheless, as with all things internet, the degenerates made it political. And I assume the name probably didn’t help either.
My interpretation? Anyone saying that it’s political is just retroactively rationalizing someone’s fetish and/or fanart. I don’t see any way that either the left or the right can make a reasonable argument that it “stands for” anything other than quirky internet meme
It looks like a trend that has gotten into the hands of people with all sorts of intentions. Girl Malfoy is sometimes cis, sometimes trans, depending on the artist. Some people are rightfully mocking Rowling, while others like to feel the feelings.
I dunno why it would specifically be “owning the libs” (possibly it could be depicting women as overly arrogant/obsessive/Malfoy-like? I dunno.)
edit: I also know some people are not calling the character “Malfoid”, instead a variant of “Draco” like Draconia or Dracaena, or simply just “Draco Malfoy”.
Some more searching shows up that a lot of incels are using the character for their power fantasies, gross, and there’s plenty of generated AI “art” of the character too
The idea is that everybody likes pretty anime girl. Tsundere nontheless. And juxtaposing that in a setting which feels weird can also be titillating. Then some trend rose that tried to retroactively make it more sense as a story.
This, hah.
At first I had no idea it was related to Draco and the like. Just show a cool anime girl art. I’m not really into the relationships stuff, just the art itself.
People can make genuinely good art.
Looks like it’s fan art combined with the “femoid” derogatory term
I’ve only seen this second hand since I don’t browse X, but given images of Malfoid and Anakin Skywalker, sometimes together, were making the rounds pre-election, my guess is they have the same rational. Given I figure Anakin is a more obvious “wronged guy getting his due,” I think they’re repurposing villains as a weird conservative anti-hero twist against a lib establishment that took what they deserve? They do love a good persecution fetish.
But there’s definitely a sex thing with Malfoid, too. The original probably was a sex thing to begin with, but these conservatives probably find the child-like appearance attractive in a sort of pedophilic way. I see versions of her based on the first few movies Malfoy and it’s pretty gross, though the older versions couldn’t possibly be older that 18 either.
Suffice to say it all feels… a bit psychotic. Lots of revenge fantasy sex stuff on X, I gather.
I have understood it as a means of making overt the perceived sexual tension between Malfoy & Potter.
There’s a big reason why Drarry is one of the biggest ships in the HP fandom, and my guess is that Malfoid/Potter helps make the UST tangible for people who don’t like slash.
It has never been clear to me whether Malfoid is intended to be cis or trans, though I can’t imagine blood purists reacting well to a child of theirs being transgendered.
I think it depends on the artist’s interpretation, some show her as trans while others cis. People will write whatever stories they like (for the better or worse, some of them are not so nice)
Why would the blood purists care about their child’s gender? They care about blood purity, not if someone’s LGBT+
I doubt it’s as politically charged as taking fire on one side or the other. Genderbending characters has been a thing for a long time, Potterheads have always been a bit gaga for the Franchise, there’s currently more chatter around the IP because of the series, and the tsundere trope has been popular for a long time while we’re currently seeing a lot of animanga-isms make the leap to the west.
All combined, I think it’s as simple as people going nuts over a cute girl who happens to fit well into a franchise people have loved for a long time and otherwise have minor problems with. Throw in the plot tweaks people have been fanficking and it only stokes the flames of popularity.
I’m at a loss myself
Maybe it’s a Line Trap thing where right-wingers like to secretly fantasize about fem benis
The right memes in a really weird way
That right wing type shit might be a subtle thing about making one of the first recognized “villainous” characters a girl to imply transgender folks are some kind of evil, but that feels too smart for everyone involved, even the “libs” people be tryna “own.”
The only time I have encountered it in the wild, was when someone sent me an AI video. They said that the AI flipped the characters gender and the AI video was “so bad its funny.” So it might be a slop originating ‘joke’
Just someone’s perversion running wild. I don’t mind the idea of gender-swapping, but it’s the reasoning behind why is what makes me determine how I feel about it. Most times, it’s to explore someone’s personal fantasies and it comes out and it only appeals to those with degenerative mindsets.
