Hello everyone, and welcome to the Why We Fight series. I’ve asked some of our favorite wrockers from around the world to talk about what they’re feeling now that JK Rowling is openly transphobic. Please feel free to join the conversation in the comments, but do remember these are sensitive subjects and real people you’re talking to.

This first post is a basic overview of JKR’s history with transphobia and racism, for anyone who isn’t familiar.

Cecilia Tan is an award-winning novelist as well as the author of The Binge Watcher’s Guide to the Harry Potter Films. Her books include Slow Surrender, The Prince’s Boy, Daron’s Guitar Chronicles, and the Magic University series, recommended by Autostraddle in their list of top “trans-inclusive fantasy books for Harry Potter fans.” She is also the founder of Circlet Press, and was inducted in 2010 to the Saints & Sinners Literary Hall of Fame for LGBTQ writers and editors.

JK Rowling and the Great Transphobic Controversy

 

After years of making offhand comments and statements that made many advocates for trans rights— including many trans and queer members of Harry Potter fandom—skeptical of her views on trans issues, author J.K. Rowling openly stated her anti-trans stance in 2020 with two essays published to her website. The first essay[i] was a reaction to criticism Rowling received after she tweeted ridiculing trans-inclusionary language (“people who menstruate” includes both women and trans men; she commented “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”[ii]) and the second essay was published in reaction to the copious criticism the first essay received.[iii] In the essays Rowling reveals her fear of trans women is rooted in her own experiences with being abused and vicitmized by men, and while parroting right wing anti-trans talking points she makes clear that she believes that trans identities are not valid and are antithetical to both women’s safety and to feminist values.

While Rowling’s June 6, 2020, tweet was the one that both provoked the essays and international attention in the mainstream, LGBTQ media and communities had been criticizing the author for some time.

In 2018, writer Katelyn Burns’s essay published at website Them.us “Is J.K. Rowling transphobic?” laid out some previous examples of transphobic statements/tweets by the author as well as analyzing a transphobic passage in one of Rowling’s novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. As Burns’s reports, “[After] J.K. Rowling had liked a tweet that referred to trans women as “men in dresses”… her representatives claimed that the author had a “middle-aged moment,” blaming the awkward way she sometimes holds her phone for accidentally liking the tweets. However, this isn’t the first time the author has been caught “holding her phone incorrectly” — last October, Rowling liked a tweet promoting a transphobic Medium piece written by radical feminist Harvey Jeni — nor was it the first time she has been accused of transphobia.”[iv]

In 2019, Rowling tweeted in support of Maya Forstater,[v] a tax expert who lost her job at a thinktank after a judge upheld that her anti-trans sentiments were “not worthy of respect in a democratic society.” (Forstater’s position included such statements as “men cannot change into women” and equating that allowing trans women into “women’s” spaces would be equivalent to “forcing Jewish people to eat pork.”[vi]) Using the hashtag #IStandWith Maya, Rowling’s tweet disingenuously reduces Forstater’s anti-trans arguments to “stating that sex is real.”

The #IStandWith Maya tweet prompted several high-profile media reactions. Among them, The Washington Post published a piece by trans activist Charlotte Clymer addressing the author, and LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD issued the following statement: “J.K. Rowling, whose books gave kids hope that they could work together to create a better world, has now aligned herself with an anti-science ideology that denies the basic humanity of people who are transgender. Trans men, trans women, and non-binary people are not a threat, and to imply otherwise puts trans people at risk. Now is the time for allies who know and support trans people to speak up and support their fundamental right to be treated equally and fairly.”[vii]

Clymer, a former press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, expressed the sentiment in her Washington Post that many readers shared: “I naively held out hope that Rowling was probably confused about transgender identities and simply needed someone to clue her into the reality of our lives, helping her cut through the disinformation pushed by bigots.”[viii] But GLAAD had reached out to Rowling to try to educate her in good faith about trans issues and current knowledge about biological sex and gender identity, and was rebuffed.[ix] (Some UK-based organizations also attempted to educate the author and were similarly turned away.)

Rowling’s 2020 essays and subsequent tweets have proved that her anti-trans stance is not a “middle-aged moment” and have punctured her image as a progressive liberal. But it was not the first time Rowling seemed to contradict the purported message of inclusion, diversity, and fairness espoused in the story of Harry Potter. For example, advocates for lesbian and gay rights pointed out that her post-publication announcement that “Dumbledore is gay” did zero to reverse the lack of representation of gay characters in YA literature since the fact is never stated in the text, and in fact only served to reinforce the idea that gayness shouldn’t be talked about or stated openly. (Rowling has since also confirmed that the Fantastic Beasts movie franchise will not put Dumbledore’s gay identity on screen, despite his and Grindelwald’s relationship being a central linchpin of the story.[x])

Regarding racial and ethnic diversity, which Rowling supports, her writing nonetheless tokenizes nonwhite characters.[xi] Although the cast of characters in Harry Potter includes kids of many ethnic backgrounds, every non-white character is a secondary or background character, while all the principle characters, including all the major adult characters, mentors, and villians, are white. (Perhaps in reaction to this, Rowling supported the idea of casting a black woman to play Hermione in the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and in each production of the play that has been staged in London, New York, and elsewhere around the world, this has been done.) There was the appropriation of Native American spirituality and culture for her worlbuilding essays about the “History of Magic in North America” (the setting for Fantastic Beasts).[xii] There was her statement of support for Johnny Depp, in which she was “genuinely happy” to keep him in the role of Grindelwald even after the news broke that Depp assaulted and abused wife Amber Heard.[xiii] (Depp has since been fired by the movie studio, anyway.[xiv])

Rowling has rarely learned from her missteps, as she seemed to with the casting of Hermione. When it was pointed out that her depictions of the goblins who run Gringotts bank rely on anti-Semitic stereotypes (the goblins are described as greedy, with physical characteristics typical of anti-Jewish stereotyping including hooked noses, swarthy skin, etc), she denied that was her intent, seemingly without realizing that intent is not a defense for unconscious bias. The harm caused by perpetuation of negative stereotypes is real, and is the same whether the writer intended the harm or not.

In the case of Rowling’s anti-trans stance, however, the bias is definitely conscious, as she took to her website to publish a nearly 3700 word essay on the subject on June 10, 2020. Entitled “J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues,” the essay outlines the reasons she is “worried about the new trans activism” and proceeds to enumerate a series of fears (like “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria”) that have long been debunked by the scientific establishment, and states that she finds inclusive language such as “menstruators” or “people with vulvas” to be “dehumanizing and demeaning,” as if the existence of women is being erased by not maintaining exclusive terminology. By doing so, Rowling ignores both medical science and biology that show not only gender identity but biological sex itself is more complex than “X=female, Y=male,”[xv] and invalidates the existence of intersex people who make up amost 2% of the world’s population.[xvi] Rowling’s central fear, though, and the one that is the most trans-phobic, echoes the right wing talking points on “bathroom bills,” about fear of men claiming “female identity” for the purpose of invading women’s restrooms and changing rooms. While the cliche of the “man in a dress” who preys on women or is violent and mentally unstable is a staple of Hollywood (The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, Dressed to Kill), there is little evidence to support the fear that allowing trans women access to women’s restrooms leads to assaults on women. The danger that has actually resulted from these negative stereotypes is to trans people themselves, especially trans women. The HRC reported that 2020 was the most dangerous on record for trans women,[xvii] with a rise in attacks and murders, and attributed the rise to the ways “anti-transgender stigma, denial of opportunity and increased risk factors compound to create a culture of violence.”[xviii] Studies have shown that a significant number of trans teens avoid using the bathroom at school for fear of being attacked.[xix] In an open letter to the author, Mermaids UK, a charity that supports non-genderconforming children, debunked Rowling’s claims, stats, and pseudoscience thoroughly, and affirmed that “trans rights do not come at the expense of women’s rights.”[xx]

Rowling followed her June 10 essay with additional writings and posts, including an August 27, 2020, post (“Statement from J.K. Rowling regarding the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award”) in which she wrote, “As a longstanding donor to LGBT charities and a supporter of trans people’s right to live free of persecution, I absolutely refute the accusation that I hate trans people or wish them ill, or that standing up for the rights of women is wrong, discriminatory, or incites harm or violence to the trans community.” Just like with the negative Jewish stereotypes embodied by Rowling’s goblins that she claimed she never intended, she is unable to see how her biases have harmed people and is unwilling to apologize or change.

In fact, as criticism mounted, the author doubled-down on her anti-trans stance. In September she tweeted to promote a UK retailer that sells anti-trans merch like T-shirts and coffee mugs that declare “transwomen are men” and “f*ck your pronouns.” The controversy continued when, in October 2020, Rowling published her fifth “Cormoran Strike” thriller novel (which she writes under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) and it featured a serial killer who disguises himself as a woman to lull his female victims.[xxi] An advanced review in The Telegraph opined that Troubled Blood was “a book whose moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress.”[xxii]

Rowling has not taken the criticism of her stance well. Her August essay was spurred specifically by the critique of her by Kerry Kennedy and published on the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (RFKHR) organization’s website,[xxiii] the organization that had awarded Rowling its top honor for people advocating “social change,” the Ripple of Hope, in 2019. Kennedy said she had spoken with the author, but was rebuffed much the way GLAAD was. Rowling also returned the award.[xxiv] Rowling also sued a children’s educational website, The Day, for libel, over an article that implied that Rowling’s views were harmful to trans people. (Note: Her views are harmful to trans people.[xxv]) The Day was forced to issue an apology and make a large donation to a charity of Rowling’s choice.[xxvi] Rowling also was a key figure in a letter in Harper’s magazine in which she and other high profile writers including Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and Martin Amis, spoke out against the dangers they believe “cancel culture” poses to freedom of speech. (The irony that they were able to publish their letter in a major international publication without any censorship whatsoever apparently escaped them.)

But the backlash against Rowling’s transphobic words and deeds is undeniable. Both of the internet’s largest Harry Potter fansites, Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron, disavowed the author’s stance and pledged to no longer report news about Rowling’s non-Harry-Potter projects, writing in a joint statement, “we must reject her beliefs.”[xxvii] Four authors quit the Blair literary agency, which also represents Rowling, when the agency refused to post a statement in support of trans rights.[xxviii] Staff at Hachette UK, publishers of Rowling’s then-upcoming children’s book “The Ickabog” were also told they could not opt out of working with her (implying that some of them wanted to refuse). Nearly every actor and writer involved with the original Harry Potter movies spoke out against her stance including Daniel Radcliffe,[xxix] Emma Watson,[xxx] and even screenwriter Steve Kloves,[xxxi] as well as Eddie Redmayne,[xxxii] star of the Fantastic Beasts movies, and Noma Dumazweni, the black actress who originated the role of Hermione in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. In fact, the only person from the HP movie cast who has spoken in support of Rowling is the man who played the villain Voldemort, Ralph Fiennes, who told The Telegraph in a March 2021 interview that he “can’t understand the vitriol directed at her.”[xxxiii]

The damage does not stop with the trans, non-binary, and intersex people whose words Rowling has hurt. When anti-trans posters appeared on trees and telephone poles in Brooklyn in autumn 2020, they were attributed at the bottom to “Dumbledore’s Army.”[xxxiv] Whether she intended it or not, anti-trans advocates have taken Rowling’s statements as validation for their hate and violence. The website that sells the of the anti-trans stickers also sells “I Heart JK Rowling” T-shirts. The order page for the stickers literally says “These stickers are as dangerous as a lethal weapon, use with care.” They know full well they are promoting violence against trans people, trans women in particular. JK Rowling has done nothing to disavow the violence and in fact retweeted the link to the shop.

Ultimately Rowling has become her own villain. Like Voldemort, she has allowed past fear and trauma to define her worldview, and has chosen to push a narrow, divisive, and harmful agenda as a result.

[i]           J.K. Rowling, “J.K. Rowling Writes About Her Reasons for Speaking Out on Sex and Gender Issues,” JKRowling.com, https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/

[ii]          J.K. Rowling, “People who menstruate” tweet, June 6, 2020: https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1269382518362509313

[iii]        “Statement from J.K. Rowling regarding the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award” https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/statement-from-j-k-rowling-regarding-the-robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-ripple-of-hope-award/

[iv]         Katelyn Burns, “Is J.K. Rowling transphobic?” Them, March 18, 2018, https://www.them.us/story/is-jk-rowling-transphobic

[v]          J.K. Rowling, #IStandWithMaya tweet, December 19, 2019, https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1207646162813100033

[vi]         “Maya Forstater: Woman loses tribunal over transgender tweets,” BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50858919

[vii]        Adam B. Vary, “GLAAD: J.K. Rowling’s Support of Anti-Trans Researcher ‘Puts Trans People at Risk,’” Variety, December 19, 2019, https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/glaad-j-k-rowling-anti-trans-researcher-1203448964/

[viii]      Charlotte Clymer, “Why can’t J.K. Rowling accept transgender people like me?” The Washington Post, December 21, 2019: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/12/21/why-cant-jk-rowling-accept-transgender-people-like-me/

[ix]         John Paul, King, “GLAAD calls out J.K. Rowling for Transphobic Tweet,” The Washington Blade, December 19, 2019:  https://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/12/19/glaad-calls-out-j-k-rowling-for-transphobic-tweet/

[x]          Laura Bradley, “Dumbledore Won’t Be Explicitly Gay in Fantastic Beasts 2—but Why?” Vanity Fair, https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/01/dumbledore-fantastic-beasts-explicitly-gay

[xi]         Shubanghi Misra, “JK Rowling has always been tone-deaf. Just look at the Harry Potter Universe,” The Print, June 10, 2020, https://theprint.in/opinion/pov/jk-rowling-has-always-been-tone-deaf-just-look-at-the-harry-potter-universe/439064/

[xii]        Allison Flood, “J.K. Rowling Under Fire for Writing about Native American ‘Wizards,’” The Guardian, March 9, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/09/jk-rowling-under-fire-for-appropriating-navajo-tradition-history-of-magic-in-north-america-pottermore

[xiii]      J.K. Rowling, “Grindelwald Casting,” December 7, 2017, https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/grindelwald-casting/

[xiv]       Corey Chichizola, “Apparently Responded When Fantastic Beasts 3 Decided To Drop Johnny Depp,” Cinemablend, November 12, 2020,  https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2558645/how-jk-rowling-apparently-responded-when-fantastic-beasts-3-decided-to-drop-johnny-depp

[xv]        Claire Ainsworth, “Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic,” Nature, October 22, 2018, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/

[xvi]       “Fact Sheet: Intersex,” United Nations Freed & Equal project, UN Human Rights Office, https://www.unfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/UNFE-Intersex.pdf

[xvii]      Madeleine Roberts, “Marking the Deadliest Year on Record, HRC Releases Report on Violence Against Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming People,” November 19, 2020, Human Rights Campaign, https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/marking-the-deadliest-year-on-record-hrc-releases-report-on-violence-against-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-people

[xviii]    “Fatal Violence Against the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Community in 2021,” Human Rights Campaign, https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-community-in-2021

[xix]       Elliott Kozuch,“J.K. Rowling’s Screed Is a Betrayal for Harry Potter’s Trans Fans,” The Advocate, June 10, 2020, https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2020/6/10/jk-rowlings-screed-betrayal-harry-potters-trans-fans

[xx]        “Dear J.K. Rowling,” MermaidsUK.org, June 12, 2020, https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/dear-jk-rowling/

[xxi]       K.W. Colyard, “How J.K. Rowling’s New Book Became the Most Controversial Novel of the Year,” Bustle, October 10, 2020,  https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/jk-rowling-new-book-is-just-as-problematic-as-her-transphobic-tweets

[xxii]      Jake Kerridge, “Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith, review: JK Rowling fails to Strike again,” The Telegraph, September 13, 2020. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/troubled-blood-robert-galbraith-review-jk-rowling-fails-strike/

[xxiii]    Kerry Kennedy, “A Statement from Kerry Kennedy,” RFKHR website, August 3, 2020, https://rfkhumanrights.org/news/a-statement-from-kerry-kennedy-president-of-robert-f-kennedy-human-rights

[xxiv]     Allison Flood, “JK Rowling returns human rights award to group that denounces her trans views,” The Guardian, August 29, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/28/jk-rowling-robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-award-trans-views

[xxv]      Suyin Haynes, “’More Fuel to the Fire.’ Trans and Non-Binary Authors Respond to Controversy Over J.K. Rowling’s New Novel,” Time, September 15, 2020, https://time.com/5888999/jk-rowling-troubled-blood-transphobia-authors/

[xxvi]     Jim Waterson, “Children’s news website apologises to JK Rowling over trans tweet row,” The Guardian, July 23, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/23/childrens-news-website-apologises-jk-rowling-trans-tweet-day

[xxvii]    Rohan Patil, “J.K. Rowling Faces Disavowing From Two Major Harry Potter Fansites For Her Anti-trans Take,” Republic World, July 4, 2020, https://www.republicworld.com/entertainment-news/hollywood-news/j-dot-k-rowling-harry-potter-fansites-j-dot-k-rowlings-controversy.html

[xxviii]  Naman Ramachandran, “Four Authors Quit JK Rowling Agency Over Transgender Comments,” Variety, June 23, 2020, https://variety.com/2020/film/news/jk-rowling-trans-blair-partnership-harry-potter-1234646196/

[xxix]     Daniel Radcliffe, “Daniel Radcliffe Responds to JK Rowling’s Tweets on Gender Identity,” June 8, 2020, The Trevor Project, https://www.thetrevorproject.org/2020/06/08/daniel-radcliffe-responds-to-j-k-rowlings-tweets-on-gender-identity/

[xxx]      Ellise Shafer, “Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe, Sarah Paulson and More Condemn J.K. Rowling’s Anti-Trans Tweets,” Variety, June 10, 2020, https://variety.com/2020/film/news/emma-watson-daniel-radcliffe-sarah-paulson-condemn-jk-rowling-anti-trans-tweets-1234630870/

[xxxi]     Adam B. Vary, “‘Harry Potter’ Screenwriter Steve Kloves Speaks Out on J.K. Rowling’s Anti-Trans Views (EXCLUSIVE),” Variety, June 12, 2020, https://variety.com/2020/film/news/jk-rowling-steve-kloves-trans-controversy-exclusive-1234633314/

[xxxii]    Brent Lang, Eddie Redmayne Criticizes J.K. Rowling’s Anti-Trans Tweets (EXCLUSIVE), Variety, June 10, 2020. https://variety.com/2020/film/news/eddie-redmayne-jk-rowling-anti-trans-tweets-harry-potter-fantastic-beasts-1234630226/

[xxxiii]  Domenic Cavendish, “Ralph Fiennes: ‘I can’t understand the vitriol directed at JK Rowling’” The Telegraph, March 17, 2021. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/ralph-fiennes-back-theatre-will-emotional/

[xxxiv]   Tat Bellamy Walker, “Anti-Trans Stickers Surface in Manhattan,” Gay City News, February 2, 2021, https://www.gaycitynews.com/anti-trans-stickers-surface-in-hamilton-heights/.