We are not upset that June Egbert exists.
I think a lot of people are jumping to a defence of something that isn’t even being attacked. Let me run down the situation:
The reason there’s people upset about June Egbert is not June Egbert herself. No one is mad that she exists. They’re mad that John Egbert got changed. And those two are completely different.
John Egbert has been a cornerstone of identity to plenty of people, this is a character we grew up with. I want to emphesize, this isn’t a week long story we picked up in our 30s, this is a decade long story that people grew up and matured reading. This is a character people formed attatchments to. I personally know several people who realized they are trans thanks to their attatchment to characters in this story. Overhauling John is understandably going to upset a lot of people, no, not because they’re transphobic, they’re not actually mad at June Egbert.
We are not upset that June Egbert exists.
We are upset that John Egbert was changed.
And i will repeat that until it’s clear.
June Egbert as a concept is wonderful. She could have been a wonderful character, a person who underwent a life changing adventure, met an alien race, lost a parental figure, and ascended to godhood, and only then realized she’s trans. It’s a great concept, which is what people are celebrating. Her concept. The only problem is that she has to be patched ontop of John Egbert, a character that had over a decade to situate himself in the minds of people and help millions of people grow up through him. June Egbert is now forced to be dragged down by the identity of John Egbert which people have already stabilized in their mind. She doesn’t have the room to be her own person, because she has over a decade of a different identity to carry. If she was her own character, introduced in the epilogue or afterwards, people would still celebrate her, she would still be loved, but no one would be upset. Because no one is actually upset at June.
We are not upset that June Egbert exists.
We are upset that John egbert was changed.
I will keep emphesizing that.
This is becoming a war of two sides who don’t even share the same battlefield. The people who celebrate are celebrating June Egbert existing. The people upset are upset over John Egbert being changed. These are not the same battle because there are people who share it. I adore June as a concept, i want to celebrate her, i want to see her as a character. But unfortunately i can’t because she has to be sown ontop of John, a character that had over a decade to astablish himself. And i understand that in real life not everyone knows they’re trans by the time they’re 13. But this isn’t real life, this is a story that millions of people grew up reading, and that’s the issue with telling a story about 13 year olds, you astablish them as characters and solidify their identity for over a decade.
If JK Rowling went on twitter right now and announced that Harry Potter is actually a trans woman, sure, a lot of people will celebrate it, but a lot of people will be upset. Not because they’re transphobic, but because Harry is a character millions of peope grew up with, he’s a cornerstone to the identity of people. And overhauling that without warning is going to shake up a lot of people. The same goes here. No one is actually upset that June came to be, we are upset that it overhauls Johns character.
We are not upset that June Egbert exists.
We are upset that John Egbert was changed.
Next time you see someone complaining on this situation, i want you to read their words carefully instead of seeing it as blind hate towards June. What are they actually upset about? 99% of the time they’re not upset over June. They’re upset over John. Try to think about it, imagine yourself in that situation. A character you grew up with, a character you’re attached to, maybe a character you even transitioned with for over a decade, in one fell swoop had their identity changed, overturning a cornerstone of your own identity. People have the right to feel upset, this is upsetting, people i personally know have had emotional hurt over seeing someone they built themselves upon suddenly replaced.
We are not upset that June Egbert exists.
We are upset that John Egbert was changed.
And we have the right to be upset about it.
You can celebrate June, we are not stopping you. But this isn’t a battle, nor a war. Don’t pretend it is one. Let people be upset. Let people celebrate. We are on two different islands feeling things over two different issues.
Just please be respectful.
germansingergirl
annaxmalina
ellievsbear
2087
theartofmadeline
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