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Do you have snacks? Do you have
water, and are you sitting
-
comfortably? Because this will be
a long one.
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Hey spuds, it's Jamie. Welcome
back to another video,
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first time on my channel? I don't
know, but welcome either way.
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And today we are breaking down
JK Rowling's transphobia.
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We are looking back at a timeline
of the transphobia
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shared by JK Rowling.
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Are you ready?
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We're doing a non-exhaustive, but
still pretty detailed look
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back over the years of JK Rowling's
transphobia,
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and how it turned from an
"accidental" like of a tweet
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into full-blown transphobia and
denying that
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trans women are women and
going even further
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than that as well, all in the space
of around six years.
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So why am I doing this video?
Partly because there are
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still a lot of people who don't
believe that JK Rowling
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is transphobic and still deny that
she has said anything anti-trans,
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even now with everything that's
happened, and that is a problem.
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So, as with other longer video
essays that I have done
-
in the past, I wanted to give you
the tools to,
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one, decide for yourself, and two,
have evidence points
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that you are able to express to
people who may not understand.
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Some of the common messages I
get are asking,
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"How do I help the people in my
social circle understand
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that people like JK Rowling are
contributing towards transphobia
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and that this rhetoric isn't a useful
or feminist stance,
-
but primarily a transphobic and
discriminatory stance?"
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So hopefully this video can help
with that.
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I think the trajectory and
development of Rowling's
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transphobia is also something that
we've seen more generally
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among anti-trans views and
people with anti-trans
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views over recent years.
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Rowling is a very prominent
example of this.
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It's where people start off very
tentative, testing
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the waters on their opinions,
keeping them mostly private,
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or they're unsure of their opinions
themselves to begin with,
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and then eventually over time this
spirals into outright transphobia
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as their confidence in their views
grow and their echo
-
chambers strengthen.
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Firstly, I want to point out that
transphobia and discrimination
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towards trans people causes
genuine harm.
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This is something we already
know,
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and there's a lot of evidence to
back this up.
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And there are multiple instances
of JK Rowling's transphobia
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being linked to causing harm.
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One is the International LGBT+
review, saying that
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the UK faces serious damage from
JK Rowling
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and other transphobic rhetoric.
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Another is the Women's Media
Center, who have outright said that
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Also mentioning the fact that a
Republican senator
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shut down legislation that would
have protected the LGBT+
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community in Oklahoma and cited
Rowling's essay
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in defense of his position.
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And these are just a couple of
examples.
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And what this goes to show is that
people with huge platforms,
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whether they have an intention to
cause harm or not
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to a specific community,
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the impact of their words can still
have a huge
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and negative effect on large
groups of people.
-
This topic is also important to
explore because JK Rowling
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has effectively become the postal
woman for
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TERFs and transphobes in the UK.
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So even if people are refusing to
believe that
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she's transphobic herself, she's
being used by very transphobic people
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as a source of confidence to share
their own hateful views.
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Prominent TERFs show public and
active support and/or adoration
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for JK Rowling. And at anti-trans
gatherings
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you are highly likely to see some
form of
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'I love JK Rowling' merch such as
t-shirts, banners and stickers.
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What I really question is how a
cisgender woman
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has become the listened-to voice
and the go-to voice
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for quite a lot of people when it
comes to trans issues.
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Even if you ignore that what she
relies upon to justify her position
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are half-truths, dog whistles,
subpar "scientific" findings,
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and her statements are often
shown to ignore
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the actual truth of situations,
actual evidence, science, facts
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and numerous real-life accounts
from the trans community.
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A bigger issue than JK Rowling
herself is the fact that
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some people in society view her
as an authority on a topic
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that she isn't qualified to talk
about
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in the way she talks about it.
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How did a cisgender fantasy
children's book author
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become a go-to source for TERF
groups and
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other people on trans people?
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And what we're seeing now is
other people,
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also unqualified and with no lived
experience
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of being trans themselves,
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being given televised platforms to
"debate" trans rights
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when it shouldn't even be a
debate in the first place.
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JK Rowling's anti-trans
"arguments" all seem to
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boil down to a belief that trans
women as a group of people
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are dangerous and pose a risk to
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cis women's safety in public
spaces.
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Something that there is no
evidence for.
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Other sources have said:
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Trans women have been happily
using women's spaces for decades,
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a very long time, and no one has
even noticed or cared
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to the extent that they are
noticing or caring now,
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because at the moment trans
people feel like
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the popular group to pick on.
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So with the intro out the way, let's
get into the actual timeline
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and the details of JK Rowling's
transphobia over the years,
-
and it kicks off in 2017.
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Going back to 2017, we have
Rowling "liking" a tweet
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that linked back to a now deleted
article
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that was being, let's just say, not
very nice about trans women.
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This is when some people began
to initially question
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JK Rowling's stance on trans
people.
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Fast-forwarding to the following
year, we have another
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"like" incident on Twitter, but then
this was unliked soon after.
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This tweet referred to men in
dresses
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it's believed in reference to trans
women.
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This time, a spokesperson for
Rowling said that this was
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an accidental like caused by a
"middle-aged moment".
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This was the first time I personally
started noticing things bubbling
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around Rowling's potential
opinions about
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the trans community, and it raised
a lot of questions at this point.
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And I'm not sure how many people
bought into
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the "middle-aged moment" thing.
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But I think we can safely say that
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at this point any anti-trans beliefs
and opinions that JK Rowling held
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was something that she was not
really public or open about.
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Personally, Harry Potter was
something I enjoyed in childhood.
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It's also something that a lot of the
LGBT+ community enjoyed
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and related to in many ways.
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Rowling is seen as such an
influential figure
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because of the success of Harry
Potter.
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So the concept of someone
whose work was viewed
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as an escape and a source of
comfort for many people,
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including LGBT+ people, is now
being so anti-inclusive
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when it comes to the trans
community
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doesn't feel great to say the least
-
and I think has left quite a few
people feeling baffled.
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2019 saw the initial shift of JK
Rowling
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voicing her anti-trans
opinions/support of
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anti-trans views more openly.
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She vocally supported someone
who was called out
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for sharing anti-trans views.
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This person was suing the
company that chose
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not to renew their contract, and
there were hashtags
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and support going around on
Twitter
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at the time that JK Rowling took
part in.
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It was a turning point because
there was no excuse
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of "accidentally" liking something
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or having a "middle-aged
moment".
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This was obvious support of
someone who tweeted things like:
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At this point there were a lot of
questions
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over Rowling's personal beliefs
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and why she was supporting
someone
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with such openly transphobic
ones.
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Rowling herself at this point then
tweeted things like this:
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It's pretty difficult to keep on
denying that JK Rowling
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didn't have any anti-trans beliefs
at this point,
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but this definitely still could have
been put down
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to a one-off incident, a
misunderstanding of a situation,
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or support for an individual in that
particular scenario.
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But then we move to 2020.
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2020 saw a big escalation in both
her frequency of sharing
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and her obviousness of her views
on people who are transgender.
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It all seemed to kick off in June
2020, when she tweeted out
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a response to the use of the
phrase "people who menstruate".
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This tweet was rightfully called out
because there's no need to mock
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or feel threatened by the use of
gender-neutral language.
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By its very nature, inclusive
language does not exclude anyone
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and is used only on a top level
when necessary.
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Women who menstruate will still
be referred to
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as women on an individual level,
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but neutral language like this in
things like articles
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and healthcare leaflets helps
reduce dysphoria
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and make sure that trans men and
AFAB non-binary people
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are aware that they are involved in
those conversations,
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and also that women who don't
menstruate don't feel forgotten about.
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Because women's rights have
been fought for years
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to ensure that women are seen as
equals, as people,
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not just a means of reproduction,
and not just boil down to
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their parts and reproductive
organs.
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So why wouldn't people want to
make sure that the language
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we're using doesn't demean
women or exclude others,
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including many women who for
reasons such as medical issues or,
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most commonly, age also don't
menstruate?
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When called out, Rowling
somewhat
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doubled down on her stance,
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but sugar-coated it by including
something about loving
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and respecting trans people.
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An important thing to point out
here as well is that nobody's
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denied that sex is real.
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There were a lot of mixed
messages in there,
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and she also claimed that she
respects trans people's
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rights to live authentically
and would march with us
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if we were discriminated against.
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Looking back at this now and
seeing
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how vocal she's since been and
where her views have escalated to,
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this feels very surreal to read.
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Neither statement has transpired
to be true
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based on how her views and her
sharing of her views
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has evolved over the past few years.
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Also, even in 2020, that "if trans
people were discriminated against
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and march with them" was not an
"if",
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it's constantly happening. It's a
when next,
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it's happening right now.
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And supporting transphobes and
mocking the use of
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gender-neutral language and
using straw-man
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arguments such as 'I just think sex
is real'
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is not the way to go about
marching with trans people
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who are being discriminated
against
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or showing that you love and
respect them.
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Very shortly after these tweets
happened,
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Rowling shared an essay she wrote
about it.
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Sharing the article in a tweet that
said "TERF wars".
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This essay was filled with
half-truths, dog whistles,
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outright misinformation and just
lacking justification
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or evidence for the claims that
she was making.
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Plenty of people have broken this
essay down,
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myself and my partner included,
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I will leave a link to the video down
in the description box.
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We've heard it was important to
address this essay
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and its Insidious transphobia, as
many people were not aware
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of the inaccuracies and
took it at face value.
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This is where a lot of the
comments about
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"oh, she's not really transphobic"
come from.
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And honestly, for people who
didn't really understand
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trans issues, and if they weren't
close to a trans person
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who they could talk to, I could see
how they might come away
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from reading JK Rowling's essay
feeling confused and conflicted.
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That's why we made a video to
break it down further
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and show how these half-truths
were packaged
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and the information was packaged
in a way
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that was harmful to the trans
community.
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This essay really marked a turning
point,
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and alongside the tweet shared
earlier,
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they sparked the beginning of JK
Rowling being seen
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by trans people and trans allies as
anti-trans,
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but it's also the time that she
started getting very passionate
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support from TERFs and other transphobes.
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Some of the allies who spoke out
against her views
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included some very prominent
stars from the Harry Potter series,
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with Daniel Radcliffe saying:
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Emma Watson has also
commented on the situation
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and voiced her trans support.
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Rupert Grint has also spoken out,
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stating he stands firmly with the
trans community.
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Eddie Redmayne said:
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And Bonnie Wright said:
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All of them spoke out shortly after
the essay
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was posted by JK Rowling.
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They have received backlash for
their pro-trans stance,
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even being accused of betraying
JK Rowling,
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but it was so important for them
to speak up,
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and I'm personally grateful for it,
as are many other trans people.
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Rowling has managed to garner
such passionate support
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and, albeit much smaller than the
support
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that the trans community has.
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Her words still carry such weight
and power,
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and transphobes are so loud, it's
sometimes difficult to remember
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that they are not the majority
viewpoint.
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But just because they're not a
majority view
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doesn't mean that they're not
causing harm,
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and it doesn't mean that they're
not being used
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as pawns in wider media and
political campaigns.
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But still, to see the main cast
speak out like that
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so quickly after Rowling's essay
was uplifting as a trans person
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at a time that felt very unnerving
to be trans.
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We're still not done for 2020,
though -
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this all happened in June, and
Rowling
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was not done with Pride Month
just yet.
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JK Rowling tweeted a thank you to
fellow author
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Stephen King after he retweeted
one of her tweets.
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Someone then asked Stephen King
what his retweet
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of Rowling's tweet meant for his
opinions on the trans community,
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to which Stephen King replied:
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Rowling then deleted her thank
you tweet to King.
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Jumping ahead slightly to
conclude this element,
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almost a year after this happened,
King spoke about the incident.
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Apparently, Rowling, also blocked
him after his trans supportive
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tweet, and he further stated that
he felt that
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her belief about trans women was
wrong.
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Alongside the pro-trans stances,
this time showed
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an interesting shift and evidence
for the increases
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in Rowling's transphobia over the
years
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and, more importantly, an
unwillingness to see or hear
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views that were different from her
own,
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in that she seemed to block
and/or ignore
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anyone who was calling her out or
saying
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that she was causing harm.
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What this achieves is an echo
chamber where people believe
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that their opinion are more
supported than they actually are,
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and thus this will strengthen one's
resolve
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to stick with their opinions and
even increase
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their beliefs and willingness to
share those opinions.
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2020 is still not done. As the very
next month in July,
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she posted a very long Twitter
thread after being called out
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for liking a tweet that compared
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hormone therapy to
antidepressants.
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Just adding to that as well, the
assumption that
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healthcare providers are always
really happy and provide
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hormone replacement therapy
really easily to
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trans people, when that's not the case.
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Her thread made medical claims
about hormones
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and liken the access to medical
transition
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as a kind of conversion therapy for
young gay people.
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The point about conversion
therapy, in particular
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in reference to young gay people,
is a very dangerous
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and horrible viewpoint to share.
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It is based on several assumptions
that are wrong.
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These are that, one, a majority of
trans people identify as straight.
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Post-transition, they do not.
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Two, that being gay is more
difficult or more
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discriminated against than being
trans, so people, therefore,
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transition to escape homophobia.
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Both transphobia and
homophobia exist, are prevalent,
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and no one would choose to face
either.
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And three, the people going to
healthcare professionals
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for support with their gender
identity are then being forced,
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persuaded, manipulated or
pushed in some way
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to transition when it's not the right
thing for them to do.
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This is not happening and the low
regret rates evidence this.
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To liken trans healthcare in any
way to conversion therapy
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is abhorent and shows a complete
lack of awareness
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to the weight those words can
carry and the harm they can do,
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as well as a lack of understanding
about the trans community
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and trans healthcare as a whole.
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If transphobia was a rabbit hole, at
this point
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JK Rowling was head first in the
hole up to her ankles,
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and was deliberately or
accidentally building a very loyal
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fan base who believed and trusted
her every word.
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It's completely irresponsible in my
opinion to tweet so confidently
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and so frequently and with such
authority
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about a marginalised community
that you are, A) not a part of,
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and B) you are lying about and
spreading misinformation about,
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and also going directly against
what the community
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is telling you is the truth.
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And even more problematic is that
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people are trusting what she's
saying
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because she's rich, white, cis and
has a following,
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which makes what she says all the
more harmful.
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Why are we not listening to the
scientific and
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medical professionals who know
the evidence and the facts
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about the trans community?
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So many trans people have called
and totally
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debunked Rowling's viewpoints
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and the evidence that she tries to
use to back up her views
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and still she carries on and still
other people carry on
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listening to and trusting her voice
above the trans communitiy's.
Captions Requested
