J.K. Rowling has been one of the biggest influences on children in the 21st Century. After penning the best-selling book series in history, Rowling has gone on to become a multi-millionaire, sometimes billionaire, and has over 14.3 million Twitter followers.
It is through her tweets that Rowling has drawn much criticism in the past year, with many labelling her a TERF - or a trans-exclusionary radical feminist. TERF’s have a strict view on gender; you are either a man or a woman. For them, trans women or not “real women“ and trans men are not “real men” On top of that, they disregard entirely non-binary people believing gender must exist. While TERFs are a small minority in the feminism movement, they are radical and often draw a lot of attention on social media.
JK Rowling's "Facts":
Claiming in her tweets and further expanding on her thoughts in an essay she titled: TERF Wars, Rowling aligns herself with TERFs by stating that trans activism affects the experience of cis women. While her essay might be titled with a clever pun, the piece itself is misinformed.
Comparing trans activism to Donald Trump’s allegations of sexual assault and the rise of incel culture, Rowling continually attempts to victimise cis women:
“men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble”.
Ideally, women’s lives would have improved by now, Rowling believed back in the 1980s. She hoped that her future daughters’ reality would be better than hers; she concludes that it is much worse. She does not expressly explain how. So, are we to assume she speaks of the claims perpetuated by TERFs in past decades?
That trans people and trans women are a
danger to the experience of cis women?
While Rowling is best known for her fantastical, magical writings, the reality of trans people’s lives is not fictional. By ignoring the effect her views and fellow “Gender Critical” activist’s positions have on trans people, you ignore the real result - which leaves trans people isolated and targets of discrimination. While many TERFs prefer the term “Gender Critical”, they are in fact acting as gatekeepers to the female identity.
The Reality of Her "Feminism":
Fighting back against statements that her comments have harmed trans people, a news website for children in Britain The Day paid Rowling an undisclosed amount for asserting so. However, have her comments harmed trans people?
Back in June, a Republican senator, James Lankford objected to the passing of the Equality Act by quoting Rowling’s tweets. This Act would have amended the Civil Rights Act to extend protections for LGBTQ+ people from discrimination based on their gender identity and sexual orientation in relation to employment, housing, public accommodations and education, credit, federal funding and the U.S. jury system. Lankford used Rowling’s plea for empathy for TERFs to ensure religious objections are catered for in the Equality Act.
TERFs have had a significant impact on the lives of trans people across the world and for those to not recognise this is disingenuous.
They have fostered a narrative that trans people are dangerous and are a sexual threat to women and young girls to ensure they are banned from public bathrooms and dressing rooms. They fight legislations that would legally enable trans people to change their gender and pursue scare tactics to prevent making this process easier. They exclude trans women from conversations about women’s issues. They seek to limit or remove gender-affirming care and affect health care coverage for trans people.
There are numerous examples of the effect of TERFs on trans people, but Rowling regularly reiterates the restrictions trans people place on cis women without citing them.
JK Rowling's Essay:
In her essay, Rowling states she would have considered transitioning when she was younger if it would have been a realistic possibility. She compares her severe OCD as a teenager and the feeling of not aligning with the stereotypical vision of a girl to being transgender.
The “allure of escaping womanhood” is a reason Rowling would have transitioned, but this position essentially proves the argument of those that criticise her. Rowling did not transition; her statement comes from the point that it would be easier to be a man, but rather than transitioning, she continued on her life as a woman.
For trans people it would be easier from a societal perspective to remain as the gender they were assigned, but that is not how they identify and is therefore not a choice of which is easier but rather which is their lived reality.
It is genuinely confusing that a woman whose premier work revolves around a boy fighting a villain that targets groups of people based on the nature of their birth and their identity, while she is targeting trans activists who are fighting for people to have the right to live their true identity.
I am not equating Rowling to Voldemort, but rather, I find it amusing that while Rowling has stated that she sees herself in Harry Potter, right now she is taking on the role of the villain.
TERFs may not be noseless psychopaths with giant pet snakes, but they condemn people that do not have a choice in their gender identity, and who are regularly attacked for that.
By Shauna Bannon Ward
Image courtesy of Mercedes Mehling via Unsplash