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?
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