Rin

Mar 11, 2025

Patronising, out of touch and makes reference to hate figures

Unbelievably patronising and activities and extracts have made direct positive references towards hateful figures, which was the final straw with my tolerance for this site. At my school, bedrock was initially trailed with that year's Y11 top sets and no one gave positive feedback but their trail ran out so we're stuck with it until god knows when. Just to add to the mentioned of the hate figure (since more information was requested) the first instance, and the worst, is during an activity within B9 T13 Women Writers (I can't remember which lesson but it is in reference to learning the word alias) there is a mock text message which says "Did you know that the author Robert Galbraith isn't a real person? It's an alias!" (direct quote). For those who may not be aware Robert Galbraith is the pseudonym used by hate figure Joanne Rowling and the only thing this can possibly be referencing. It is also important to note that Robert Galbraith isn't a name Rowling made up and chose, but is also the name of conversation therapist Robert Galbraith Heath, who did many abusive things such as illegal drug trials with black prisoners, and most prominently for my complaint, mounted electrodes to an man's skull in an attempt to turn him straight, which is reflective towards Rowling's views and opinions on certain members of the LGBTQ+ community today. It's also important to note that many books that Rowling has published under the Galbraith name have contained extremely hurtful and transphobic stereotypes. The second instance again references to Joanne Rowling within the same block and book, this time lesson 79. It is within the extract itself and makes reference to her more commonly known alias, J.K Rowling. I understand that it is within the spirit and the tone of the book to mention her among many other successful female writers and it may have been written before Rowling really started to spread her transphobic rhetoric. However, we should not be giving this woman a platform at all. The inclusion of her name within the text is completely out of touch, especially considering the money she gets from the series she's written under the name J.K Rowling has been used to fund hate groups and destroy the lives of many trans and trans+ people throughout the UK and beyond. I understand that Harry Potter is a culturally significant series but that success is now overshadowed by Joanne's social media presence. A bit of an extreme sample but it's like saying Hitler was a great artist and not acknowledge the mass slaughter of political opposers, Jewish communities, disabled people and many other minority groups that he orchestrated. All in all, I believe that we shouldn't give Joanne Rowling a platform and when we do we should make reference to the genuinely horrible things she's done. I expect better from an award winning site such as Bedrock to not include hate figures in such a positive light.