Isn’t it amazing that just with a couple tweets, J.K. Rowling, the previously feminist heroine of
the left, set the whole internet ablaze. Woke folk everywhere turned against her,
taking to social media to unleash their fervent rage by ripping up or
burning the Harry Potter books and cursing their once beloved author,
calling for mass boycotts of anything and everything to do with the magical world.
In all this anger, there was a common thread of bewilderment - why, many asked,
why would J.K. Rowling be willing to undo her pristine legacy to spout bigoted ideas?
Luckily, it’s a question that Megan Phelps-Roper was able to pose to J.K. Rowling herself, when
she interviewed the author for her podcast - The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling. And her answer will
completely change the way you look at the Harry Potter author. But I’ll come back to that later.
After Rowling published what are now commonly referred to as THE tweets,
many of the Harry Potter stars were quick to turn on her. Starting with Emma Watson who tweeted -
Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives
without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.
I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you,
respect you and love you for you you are.
Bonnie Write was next tweeting -
If Harry Potter was a source of love and belonging for you, that love is infinite
and there to take without judgment or question. Transwomen are Women. I see and love you, Bonnie x
Rupert Grint followed suit saying“I firmly stand with the trans community
and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. Trans women are women. Trans
men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.”
Eddie Redmayne too popped in his head into the controversy and had this to say -
As someone who has worked with both JK 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 nonbinary identities are valid.
And finally, Daniel Radcliff, harry Potter himself, had this to say - “Transgender
women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender
people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations
who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”
After reading all these responses, you could fairly assume that Rowlings tweets
must have been heinous, bigoted, and deeply derogatory to an already marginalized community.
Well, why don’t we read the tweets that started it all -
Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting
adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out
of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandwithMaya @ThisIsNotADrill
Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate
‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to
be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
____
If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived
reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex
removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak
the truth. ____
I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them.
I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the
same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.
Yeah, doesn’t quite live up to the devilish reputation that JK Rowling’s haters want us
to believe right? In fact the tweet seems quite reasonable. It’s accepting of Trans people, but
also holds firm on the concept of biological sex. And a majority of people agree with this idea.
The problem is that the silent majority lives up to its name and chooses to stay silent,
while the squeaky minority that is obsessed with identity is quick to write off anyone
that deviates from their definition of acceptable ideas. This side is all for love and acceptance as
long as their beliefs are kowtowed to. But if there is a even a whiff of dissension or even
a request to discuss things furthest they crack down hard, calling for all forms of
violence against their newly declared traitor - in the name of protecting marginalized groups.
And the level of threats of violence that J.K. Rowling has faced in the last
3 years is not for the faint hearted. No wonder the silent majority stays silent.
But the real cause for shame are the actors that chose to throw Rowling under the bus,
and use her as a stepping stool so they could deny biology and facts in order to virtue signal.
Something J.K. Rowling could have easily done. She too could have given in,
and proudly declared that trans women are women. But why is she
refusing to do this? Well she said it herself - that would not be the truth.
Definitions matter. Truth matters. And if we cannot protect the definition of a woman,
we cannot protect women. We cannot protect mothers, young girls, we cannot provide single sex
spaces like bathrooms, locker rooms, prisons, and crisis centers to women at their most vulnerable.
“You know there is power to words with history. both good and ill. And to me
the word woman has it’s own power. and I do not believe we can meaningfully analyze
the harms done to women and girls without using language that has concrete meaning.
THIS is what J.K. Rowling is arguing for. She is arguing to maintain the
social taboo of keeping men out of these spaces, especially psychotic violent men
who would use blurred definitions as cover to sneak into such spaces.
And this is why we need J.K. Rowling because she is willing to stand up for women,
to stand up for the truth, where others dare not.
When Rowling was asked about her fans who claim that she has “ruined” her legacy
during her interview for the witch trials of J.k. Rowling, here’s what she had to say.
They could not have misunderstood me more profoundly.
I do not walk around my house thinking about my legacy. What a pompous way to live your life,
walking around thinking, what will my legacy be? Whatever,
I'll be dead. I care about now. I care about the living.
And this response is what distinguishes Rowling from the rest of the people rushing to virtue
signal on this issue, willing to lie that sex is not real, and willing to play into the delusion
that anyone can just become a woman thanks to some hormones and a good plastic surgeon.
Rowling’s detractors have tried so hard to wrench away her work from her,
separate her name from her creation, claiming that she does not understand
the values that the Harry Potter books stand for. But they’re wrong.
Harry Potter is such an interesting hero. Despite being the main character of one of
the most popular book and movie franchises of all time, Harry is surprisingly overlooked.
People often talk about Snape, or Hermione, or even Dumbledore, but rarely about Harry himself.
He’s a magical orphan, but he isn’t particularly smart. Hermione has all the brains, and Dumbledore
has all the power. But what makes Harry the hero is his willingness to speak the truth.
In the fifth Harry Potter book, the Order of the Phoenix, Harry clashes
with the new teacher at Hogwarts, Professor Umbridge, over what constitutes as a lie.
A clash that leads Harry to undergo a very cruel punishment.
Reading this book as an adult I kept wondering why Harry always, ALWAYS insisted on speaking up,
despite being warned many times, despite the act of telling the truth making his
already difficult life, worse. Why was it important to him to stand up to Umbridge?
But J.K. Rowling understands, and we all need to understand too.
When lies are forced onto a society under the penalty of ostracization,
when scientists are fired for speaking the facts of biology,
when teachers and professors are ousted from position for arguing for the protection of
women, when people are afraid to speak their minds…we are on a very bad path as a society.
Harry needed to speak up so that the people around him
too could find the courage to do the same, and stand up against tyranny.
The price for telling the truth is often steep, but the price of accepting a lie is worse.
And that’s why J.K. Rowling is refusing to back down,
You have said that you respect trans people. But you also say
that there's a real difference between biological women and trans women and a
meaningful distinction between the two in their experiences.
And I think some of your critics point to that and say you're essentially making trans
women second class women. You know, like you're almost women. You are essentially saying I'll
treat you as a woman. You are an honorary woman. But this distinction that you are
emphasizing the biological distinction that you see as being so important,
it can feel hurtful to them. Can you understand the pain that that could cause?
Yes, is the short answer. Yes, I can understand that hurt. The thing is women are the only group
to my knowledge that are being asked to embrace members of their oppressor class. Unquestioningly
with no caveat now on an individual basis. And I think many people new to this argument
would, would see it on that level because many people of my generation particularly think
that we're talking about old school transsexuals, people who have been through full sex reassignment
because of profound gender dysphoria. And I, I feel 100% compassion for such
people and I would absolutely respect their pronouns always have always will and would
want as I say them to have comfortable easy lives. This movement though is pressing for
something different, very different. This movement has argued continues to
argue that a man may have had no surgery whatsoever. But if he feels himself to be
a woman, the door of every woman's bathroom changing room. grape center should be open
to him. And I say no, I'm afraid I say no. And we are in a cultural moment where that
individual's hurt is being prioritized over the hurt of women whose rights and
boundaries are under sustained assault. And I think it's interesting to ask why the pain
of one group is being prioritized over the pain of, of other groups.
And that why we need her, that’s why we need to follow her example,