This video was brought to you by the lovely members of my Patreon.
Hey guys, it's Kat.
And I'm here to talk to you guys about something that I've actually already discussed five
months ago, J K Rowling and her interesting thoughts about transgender people. So yesterday
J K Rowling retweeted an article from a website called Devex. The article was called "Opinion:
creating a more equal post COVID-19 world for people who menstruate." She replied
to this tweet with the quote "People who menstruate? I'm sure there used to be a word
for those people. Someone help me. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?" And of course she
was responding to the usage of "people who menstruate" instead of outright just saying
women. She followed up that tweet with a few others. She says, "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 for
many women to meanfully discuss their lives. It isn't hate to speak the truth." She continues,
" The idea that women like me, who have been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling
kinship because they're vulnerable in the same way as women, i.e. To male violence 'hate'
transgender people because they think that sex is real and has lived consequence is
a nonsense." She also tweeted, "I respect every trans person's right to live. Anyway,
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 that it's hateful to say so". So let's start off this conversation
by establishing a couple of things. First of all, this did not upset me.
I'm not angry with J K Rowling. So anyone in the comments section of this video saying
that I am is literally not listening. I honestly don't know why people are surprised she feels
any other way. To me personally, while I understand that a lot of people love Harry Potter, and
I understand that a lot of people have this sort of connection to J K Rowling, I also
recognize that she's already made her positions on this clear for me, people who are still
acting surprised, have not been paying attention or have listened to what she's previously
said and held out hope that she didn't actually mean what she said. In my opinion, J K Rowling
is old enough and thoughtful and educated enough to feel a certain way about something.
And to say it, I believe that J K Rowling is completely within her right to express
these things. I think that she has the right to go on to
Twitter and say that she thinks that sex is real. And that everyone who has a menstruation
cycle is a woman. I think that that is her, right? She can say that out loud and proudly.
Right? But I don't think she gets to say that and somehow not be transphobic. Right? So
in this video, I actually wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about transphobia and
what it actually is. Cause I think that some people get wrapped up in the semantics of
that particular conversation, but I wanted to sort of outline some of the things that
she said in this video, because while I'm not mad at JK Rowling the truth is I've known
so many people like JK Rowling right? I've known so many people who on one hand say that
they support and love transgender people. But on the other hand say that their identities,
their lived experiences, how they experienced gender is not valid, right? So let's start
from this, right? The baseline of transphobia is an outright rejection of a transgender
person's identity. The article that she shared deliberately uses the term "people who menstruate"
to be inclusive of trans and non binary people who do have menstruation cycles, right? And
that was a deliberate choice. JK Rowling went out of her way to counteract somebody who
was attempting to be inclusive to transgender people. And I think, for that reason, let's,
I mean, there's a lot of other things to unpack, but for that reason on its own, I don't think
she gets to claim that she is in support of transgender people. You don't get to sort
of be a person who says, well, actually you're just a woman to a non binary person or to
a trans guy and still consider yourself to be an ally to the transgender community.
You just, you just can't right. So this is really common. We have people like JK Rowling
who are feminists, who have created this sort of space for women to discuss their stuff.
And they have a hard time wanting to shift that around because they fought so hard for
that spot. Right? So JK Rowling can, I'm sure, of course know that there are transgender
men and non binary folk, et cetera, who menstruate, who can express and have experienced
the same sort of things that she has, even though they don't identify as women. I'm sure
she kind of, to some degree understands that. Right. But if for her to concede that point
would be her losing the sort of protection that she has sort of created for other women,
women, obviously in this context being cis women, I know that in these videos, a lot
of people don't like for me to use the term, cis woman now, because we're talking about
trans people and we're acknowledging the fact that cis and trans folk have different experiences,
we'll get to that later, I'm going to use the term cis. Trans is a word and cis is the
opposite. That's just what it is. For me, the phobia part of the transphobia is revealed
in the fact that JK Rowling reads a phrase like "people who menstruate" and believes that
it is some sort of great movement against women. For her to consider that to be this
great movement against women. I have a hard time not seeing that as a fear. It's something
that she has totally fabricated in her mind to justify her position. For me, one of the
frustrating parts of this conversation is this assumption of how transgender people
experience their biology and feel about their biology. Most of the time when you're transgender,
you're transgender because you were designated one sex at birth, and you said... No. Or you
said that may be my sex, but my gender is this right?
Most transgender people are very, very aware of how they experience, you know, their gender
and how that disconnects with their biology, right? That is really what being trans is
for most of us. Right? And the thing is, most people are not saying that most women aren't
oppressed by their sex. That's not an argument that anyone has made. The problem of course,
is that there are plenty of people who were designated female at birth. The way that
JK Rowling was, who do not identify as women. And that's why terms like "people who menstruate"
exists because those are terms that are being used to deliberately include people like that.
I know that this is going to be really sort of upsetting for some people, but I think
some people just need to accept that this is how JK Rowling feels. She feels this way.
She's made how she felt very, very, very clear. I don't think she's ever tripped over her
words. She might not have been as blatant as this, but this is how she feels. And I
think she's entitled to it. I think that she is allowed to feel how she feels. I just also
don't think she can feel that way and then consider herself to be a meaningful ally to
the transgender community. Right? And I think that that's something that some people really
need to think about when they are bucking against the idea that they are a transphobe.
When they are trying to make the argument that they are on our side and that they would
fight for us. Right? Part of fighting for us is working to deprogram a lot of that language
that excludes us, right? I don't really call a lot of things transphobia, but I think it's
silly to sort of act like something like this. Isn't transphobia. When you're trying to say
that the only people who menstruate are women, you are alienating trans folk. You just are,
you are completely alienating a whole group of the people that you say you advocate for.
I don't think you can do that. I don't think you get to alienate certain aspects of the
trans community and then claim to be a trans ally. It does not work that way. She feels
how she feels. She's made her feelings known. It's time to move on. It's time to read another
book. This might be the Hufflepuff and me speaking, but there are so many great books
out there. You don't have to read this one. You don't have to cling on to this one. JK
Rowling feels how she feels. We know her, her position on transgender folks. It's time
to move on and spend our energy elsewhere. This really is not the kind of person that
I think you should be expending any energy on. I don't think that that's something that
you should even try to do. It's just not worth it. I know you're heartbroken, but there are
other books. I would love to know how you guys feel about this. So please feel free
to share your opinion and perspective and the comment box below. Of course, let's keep
it cordial. We like to be a productive community over here and actually talk about things.
So if you're into that, please feel free to join us in the comments and yeah, I'll see
you guys next time. Bye.