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JK Rowling urges students not to volunteer at orphanages
Author highlights evidence suggesting that ‘orphanage tourism’ drives families apart and makes children vulnerable to abuse
JK Rowling has called on students around the world not to volunteer at orphanages, pointing to emerging evidence that “orphanage tourism” drives family separation and child trafficking.
Speaking at the One Young World summit in London, the global forum for young leaders, the Harry Potter author and founder and president of children’s charity Lumos, said orphanages do “irreparable harm” and “perpetuate the abuse” of children and communities.
“Despite the best of intentions, the sad truth is that visiting and volunteering in orphanages drives an industry that separates children from their families and puts them at risk of neglect and abuse,” she said.
[...] Rowling was launching a three-year global campaign to challenge attitudes toward orphanage tourism and volunteering, #HelpingNotHelping. The campaign is backed by recently revised travel advice from the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office warning of the potential harm of orphanage tourism and volunteering.
[...] Children in institutions are 500 times more likely to take their own lives, 40 times more likely to have a criminal record and 10 times more likely to be involved in prostitution, the charity claims.
[...] “Most children in orphanages are not even ‘orphans’ – they are placed there due to reasons such as poverty, disability, or to receive an education, and many have a family who could care for them, given the right support,” said Alex Christopoulos, deputy CEO of Lumos.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Monday October 28 2019, @01:08AM (7 children)
The franchise consists of books, the main 8 films, the new Fantastic Beasts trilogy (w/ DVD releases), and a play. So even if the main book series was over, there were other things to advertise.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday October 28 2019, @01:14AM
Good point. Forgot about the movies and disc sales.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday October 28 2019, @01:39AM (5 children)
People can make what they want out of "outing" the professor. I can't judge without seeing the books. On the face of it, it's just targeted marketing.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by Arik on Monday October 28 2019, @05:44AM (4 children)
But given that it's a children's book and people are nuts when children get involved, it was completely predictable a lot of people would be bothered by it. And honestly, it seems like a weird thing to do. Why would a novelist announce the sexual orientation of a character in a talk at Carnegie Hall rather than write it into the book?
I mean, if there was something in the books that established it, and everyone was missing it, sure, point it out. But it wasn't like that. She just outed him. As far as I know, there's still nothing in the books to show it's true, it's just a total side-channel assertion. Seems a bit odd.
The fact that these are children's books with no sex just makes it more odd. I mean, just by reading the books, we don't really know anyone's sexual orientation. We can probably guess that a few of the younger characters are either hetero or bi because there are a few suggestive bits to indicate some hetero pairings, at least a kiss here and there. But for most of the characters, particularly the adults, there really just is no trace of this aspect to be seen in the books and there probably shouldn't be. What child wants to read a book with a bunch of old people expressing their sexual orientations in any way? And if it's never expressed in a scene in any of the books, why announce it to the world?
Odd, odd behaviour.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday October 28 2019, @06:15AM (3 children)
Ron and Hermione finally got all mushy, and that scene with the visual and sound effects could not have been more obvious. Harry and Ginny weren't so subtle either. Lots one one liners in there too that were very funny. The movies were full of sex.
What gave the professor away? He took the knitting magazine ["I do love knitting patterns"]
I think everybody is reading too much into it. Looks like the gimmick worked.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by Arik on Monday October 28 2019, @07:04AM (2 children)
OK so far.
"The movies were full of sex."
WTF?
Nah. No sex at all. Some mild and funny suggestion of it, as you described above.
"Looks like the gimmick worked."
I'm not sure I follow you. How did it work?
It's boosted her reputation with people who tend to have relatively few children, while pissing off a bunch of people that tend to have a lot more children.
And she's an author of children's books.
That doesn't strike you as somehow counterproductive?
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Monday October 28 2019, @07:31AM (1 child)
Some mild and funny suggestion of it...
Yes, throughout the series. It wasn't entirely a children's movie
That doesn't strike you as somehow counterproductive?
Only if the spreadsheets say so. She knows the crowd better than I do. From my point of view it was a gamble that may or may not have paid off. Nobody is saying how it went. It's strictly business.
And she's an author of children's books.
Yes, but she's perfectly aware that adults read the stories and watched the movies also. Much marketing is directed at them.
children's books... Doesn't the pairing of Dick and Jane imply anything?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by Arik on Monday October 28 2019, @07:49AM
Sure, sure, true enough. The best children's works are fine to stand on their own, deserve and get adult audiences as well.
The Hobbit. All of Heinlein's juveniles. The Princess Bride.
But there's still no sex in them. Little hints of it, that will not cause children viewing them any cognitive distress, cause the adolescents to giggle a little, cause the adults to remember and sigh.
You really think extra sales to adults will counterbalance the losses?
I doubt it. Even from a purely financial point of view. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it doesn't seem like a sound bet.
And an author, particularly one that is writing children's books to influence the next generation, might be more concerned with effects other than with $. Particularly after passing the world record mark on that anyway.
If that were my primary concern, and I wanted the young readers to understand that Dumbledore was gay so they would feel like they were allowed to exist... see that's not a far stretch for me to imagine at all. But I can't imagine going about it the way she has. I'd have just dropped little hints throughout the books. The sort of hints that a young gay man would notice.
And I'd leave it at that and let all the Mormons and Muslims and Orthodox and so on buy my book in bulk to hand out to their kids.
The LAST thing I'd do would be to announce publicly he was gay so that the most homophobic parents would quit buying the books!
Either to do money, or to do good, I just don't see it.
So I'm left thinking this is just seeking approval from the people she wants to think are her peers.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?