Her decision to weigh in

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Nice impartial lede:

JK Rowling has defended her decision to weigh in on the debate about transgender issues in the past few years.

Ah yes, her “decision” to “weigh in” – as if she had absolutely no business saying anything about a debate that impinges on women’s rights at a million points. As if she’s a presumptuous pushy intruder talking about something that’s none of her business. Now she has the gall to “defend” this bossy meddlesome move. Really, where does she get the nerve.

In the years since, Rowling has shared a number of controversial social media posts and essays on the debate, leading to accusations of transphobia. She has denied that she is transphobic.

Same again. The “reporter” labels Rowling’s posts and essays controversial and then sneers that she denies it. The “reporter” poisons the well right at the beginning and then carries on poisoning it thereafter.

Comments

3 responses to “Her decision to weigh in”

  1. Papito Avatar
    Papito

    Odd that nobody ever questions a TIM’s decision to weigh in on women’s rights issues.

    In terms of this article, I see that they’ve presented Rowling’s very coherent and sensible statements, which rarely get reprinted, e.g.

    I would say that some of you have not understood the books. The Death Eaters claimed, ‘We have been made to live in secret, and now is our time, and any who stand in our way must be destroyed. If you disagree with us, you must die.’ They demonised and dehumanised those who were not like them.

    “I am fighting what I see as a powerful, insidious, misogynistic movement, that has gained huge purchase in very influential areas of society.

    “I do not see this particular movement as either benign or powerless, so I’m afraid I stand with the women who are fighting to be heard against threats of loss of livelihood and threats to their safety.”

    The final quote, from a TRA, looks utterly nonsensical in comparison, and the preceding contextualizes his statement very well.

  2. J.A. Avatar
    J.A.

    Papito, about that ending statement, the fact that I may say to him he’s not a woman being “hurtful” to him isn’t that I’m actually being hurtful, it’s that the reality I’m recognizing isn’t always going to make him happy. Rowling is the one who is one the side of reality here with respect to men pretending to be women, and how that can threaten women. His playing the victim card is mainly a dodge that evades this issue.

  3. Papito Avatar
    Papito

    J.A., if by the ending statement, you mean this one:

    I just hope [Rowling] can try to see why so many trans people are angry and hurt by this… and understand why people who are being constantly rejected and humiliated by our families and governments, who are losing our access to healthcare or being threatened with it, who are fighting for our basic ability to participate in society, why we might feel hurt and betrayed by her contributing to fear about us.

    then yes, I agree that him playing the victim card is nothing but a dodge. In comparison to the statements by Rowling, in addition it seems impersonal and insincere, more a recitation of official grievances than a statement of genuine feeling.

    Like a child, the TRA throws all the accusations in the world – all the pots and pans in the rhetorical kitchen – against a woman whose only interest is in helping other women to be safe. Why should this man’s claim that he is rejected by his family or humiliated by his government have anything to do with Rowling? Why should the fantastical assertion that he’s being denied healthcare have anything to do with her? Has he ever actually been denied healthcare? Has he really lost his basic ability to participate in society? It’s absurd. He might as well claim that Rowling magicked all his oxygen into xenon, or that she stole first his legs and then his wheelchair. It’s such overblown catastrophising that it only makes him look unhinged.

    Rowling is not only on the side of reality as regards what a woman is, but on the side of reality as regards genuine consequences of actions. Her supporting a women’s refuge that only allows actual women, or sex-segregated prisons, or same-sex medical care, doesn’t prevent him from participating in society, or relating to his family, or getting the same medical services any other person gets. Those are just crazy lies, and they are the same crazy lies you hear every day, sort of the spam call of the social justice world.

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