Remember when JK Rowling revealed herself as a TERF with a particularly bad case of transphobia after sharing a bunch of unsavoury anti-trans tweets? Well it seems like she hasn’t had enough of that backlash because this time she’s written an entire anti-trans essay so horrendous that it’s caused big-name Harry Potter alums like Eddie Redmayne and Emma Watson to publicly say “yeah, JK Rowling’s views are wrong.”
The GOAT team dive right into the whole JK Rowling anti-trans debacle on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
In a ridiculously-long essay on her website titled “JK Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues,” the anti-trans author inexplicably doubles down on her transphobia while trying to explain her TERF origins, all of which is covered with a gross dash of “this is about meeeee!”
The essay is as long as a Harry Potter book and its views so insidious (and easily debunked) that it’s not worth writing too much about it so I’ll sum it up as best I can.
Rowling explains how she became interested in “trans issues” after a British woman lost her job after posting transphobic tweets. This led to a “toxic” relationship with trans activists and allies after an “accidental” like of an anti-trans tweet, and it snowballed from there as her transphobia was reinforced by “avalanche of emails and letters that came showering down upon me, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, grateful and supportive.”
Since then, Rowling has cemented that anti-trans stance and goes on to explain how after leaving Twitter for a while for her “mental health,” only for the backlash to increase when she came back, especially since she refused to change her views. Rowling also reveals how she’d rather make fun of organisations like GLAAD because, well, she doesn’t like how they keep correcting her incorrect transphobic views.
After rehashing some very right-wing talking points about trans people, like the ridiculous bathroom argument, and citing some seriously flawed trans studies in an attempt to back up her weak arguments, Rowling then inexplicably tries to make it all about her by revealing how she thought about transitioning out of curiousity.
“The more of their accounts of gender dysphoria I’ve read, with their insightful descriptions of anxiety, dissociation, eating disorders, self-harm and self-hatred, the more I’ve wondered whether, if I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge.”
Hoo boy.
If you really, really, want to read JK Rowling’s awful anti-trans essay and get an idea on how deeply rooted her transphobia is, you can read it here. Just a warning, it is a long manifesto riddled with inaccuracies and will likely enrage you.
JK Rowling’s strategy of doubling down on her transphobia with a story-length anti-trans essay didn’t exactly go down well as the backlash was stronger than any Unforgivable Curse and it even caused Harry Potter stars like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Eddie Redmayne, Katie Leung, Evanna Lynch, and Noma Dumezweni to speak out against her stance.
Eddie gave a statement to Variety saying “respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative, and over the years I have been trying to constantly educate myself.”
“As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo’s comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid.
“I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I do know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse. They simply want to live their lives peacefully, and it’s time to let them do so.”
Emma Watson also shared a number of supportive tweets for the trans community though she was kind enough to not reference JK Rowling in any of them, not that she really needed too since we know what this is all about.
So this anti-trans saga involving JK Rowling began with a series of tweets revealing (again) her membership into the TERF club and her transphobia before escalating into a full-blown essay filled with incredibly unsavoury views. At this rate, we can probably expect an entire book from her.
Perhaps Rowling should just quit Twitter (again) and just not write anything for a while. The world is already crazy enough as it is and we don’t need the author of Harry Potter to pour more fuel on that dumpster fire.
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