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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Telegraph article defends JKR

43 replies

BovaryX · 17/09/2020 07:28

There is an article in the Telegraph which describes the fanatical response to JKR's book and the cancel culture which enables it. A defence of artistic freedom when it is under sustained attack.

The death-wishers and cancellers can and should be ignored, but anyone interested in thinking and feeling has to show courage in the face of such narrow-minded literalism. Repressive regimes over the ages have tried to circumscribe what kind of art can be made, and in which style. The new moralism strives to similarly censor unpalatable ideas and images, on the basis that they might cause offence or harm: but life is not safe, and the imagination is filled with potentially upsetting ideas. To attack someone because they write about things you don’t like is childish: to demand an image of the world that conforms to how you would like it to be is positively demonic

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SunsetBeetch · 17/09/2020 17:46

@Kit19

Skimmed through it. The first half is him saying he was the first person to review it, that’s his job with digs at others fir not being as quick. Then he says he had no idea about the outrage becatse he went off social media. The second part I’ve attached - I think he’s being somewhat disingenuous saying it’s his job to highlight or consider subtexts & he had no idea saying it would cause such a storm

TLDR it’s not my fault

Oh fuck off mate. You said one of the book's central themes seemed to be "never trust a man in a dress."
SunsetBeetch · 17/09/2020 17:42

@Kit19

She who will not be cancelled sails serenely on

www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/17/jk-rowling-villain-womens-clothes-based-on-real-cases-robert-galbraith-troubled-blood

Already started the next book 😆

All this publicity and she hasn't even had to pay for it Grin
BovaryX · 17/09/2020 17:39

Kit

Thanks for posting those snippets. I haven't read his original review, but it is interesting he makes the point that the thing which has triggered the rage is the idea that JKR could include any minor fictional character with any tenuous connection to trans unless the character is presented in glowing terms.

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Kit19 · 17/09/2020 17:13

Skimmed through it. The first half is him saying he was the first person to review it, that’s his job with digs at others fir not being as quick. Then he says he had no idea about the outrage becatse he went off social media. The second part I’ve attached - I think he’s being somewhat disingenuous saying it’s his job to highlight or consider subtexts & he had no idea saying it would cause such a storm

TLDR it’s not my fault

Telegraph article defends JKR
Telegraph article defends JKR
BovaryX · 17/09/2020 17:02

The Telegraph's Jake Kerridge writes about the Tsunami following his review. I can't read article, but if anyone has access, be interesting to hear what he says!

www.telegraph.co.uk/books/news/dared-reveal-jk-rowling-plot-detail-broke-loose/

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Kit19 · 17/09/2020 15:14

She who will not be cancelled sails serenely on

www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/17/jk-rowling-villain-womens-clothes-based-on-real-cases-robert-galbraith-troubled-blood

Already started the next book 😆

Xanthangum · 17/09/2020 15:07

“For decades, Hollywood has taught audiences how to react to trans people, and sometimes they’re being taught that the way to react to us is fear. That we’re dangerous, that we’re psychopaths, that we’re serial killers, that we must be deviants or perverts. Why else would you wear a dress if you’re a man?”

Tootsie - to get employment
Mrs Doubtfire - to see your kids
Some Like It Hot - to escape a bunch of gangsters...

Etc etc.

MoltenLasagne · 17/09/2020 14:54

If any of the critics had bothered to read it, they might have understood it's not about them. It's about us. Women. Our lives. Our experiences.

Narcissists can't imagine a world where anything isn't about them.

Mumsnut · 17/09/2020 14:47

The article above gives the ‘offending ‘ paragraph in full, if anyone still wants to read or post it

BovaryX · 17/09/2020 14:41

This is quite funny about the Telegraph review..

www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/jk-rowling-new-book-troubled-blood-not-transphobic/

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Abitofalark · 17/09/2020 14:12

From the little I can see of the The Telegraph page, the review of the book is by Jake Kerridge. The opening snippet or heading mentions that it will make some readers fume. So they did.

BlackWaveComing · 17/09/2020 13:39

I'm half way through the book.

It's very clearly about the female experience of navigating the world, and the sheer barrage of sexism, misogyny and/or sex-based issues we face.

If any of the critics had bothered to read it, they might have understood it's not about them. It's about us. Women. Our lives. Our experiences.

I would bet my bottom dollar that research for this book informed JKR's statements in support of women over the last little while.

OldQueen1969 · 17/09/2020 13:17

I've just checked my FB feed - I have a business so can't fuck the whole thing off as I'm often tempted to do.

Two friends / customers - one non-binary or possibly transman and one transwoman have posted statuses denouncing JKR. One is "exhausted" by it all, the other keen to point out they are not an autogynophile.

I can't say a goddam thing, obviously. I agree that their lived experiences are not mine, and vice versa.

The one irony that did spring to mind is that JKR, a self made woman in the traditional sense is being denounced by other self made women......

My head hurts.

ItsAllGoingToBeFine · 17/09/2020 12:53

^In the clip from the documentary, Nick Adams of GLAAD notes of the trope: “For decades, Hollywood has taught audiences how to react to trans people, and sometimes they’re being taught that the way to react to us is fear.
“That we’re dangerous, that we’re psychopaths, that we’re serial killers, that we must be deviants or perverts. Why else would you wear a dress if you’re a man?”^

Surely Prick News is being hugely transphobic. So there is a serial killer who has masturbated into stolen women's underwear, and occasionally disguises themselves as a woman to lure victims.

Nowhere in the book is this individual described as trans / transgender / transvestite or even as a habitual cross dresser.

Yet Pink News assumes from those limited events in the book that this individual must be transgender Hmm

Collidascope · 17/09/2020 12:44

[quote SunsetBeetch]Here's an archive of the Penis News article. Is the "wears women's underwear while masturbating" bit true?????

archive.vn/A7Hl4[/quote]
Yes, I've read that bit. (I don't think it's giving away any spoilers to say that.)

yourhairiswinterfire · 17/09/2020 12:33

@SunsetBeetch

Sorry that's a newer Penis News article, not the original.

And I'm delighted about the book sales Grin

Me too. JKR has far more support than these hideous death wishers realise.

There's a Harry Potter Legacy game coming out on the PS5, they revealed it yesterday. Should have seen the amount of people having a tantrum because they want the game so bad, but don't want to line the pockets of a 'terf'. Inquiring if JK will get any money, if she had anything to do with the game. (Umm, it's based on her world, you muppets, Harry Potter and it's world is JKR Grin ) They were tying themselves in knots trying to 'justify' getting the game.

It was delicious to watch. I'm hoping the game will sell well too. Really hurts them that they can't cancel this one.

Changemyname901 · 17/09/2020 12:30

The book is number 1 on Amazon with great reviews. Also, the Daily Mail have published a support article for JK today: www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8741351/GILLIAN-PHILIP-Death-threats-abuse-woke-Twitter-mob-killed-basic-human-decency.html

UtopiaPlanitia · 17/09/2020 12:22

Articles from The Telegraph can often be found on www.archive.is

Here's the link to Nina Power's Telegraph article:
archive.is/pmofN

SunsetBeetch · 17/09/2020 12:16

Sorry that's a newer Penis News article, not the original.

And I'm delighted about the book sales Grin

SunsetBeetch · 17/09/2020 12:15

[quote SunsetBeetch]Here's an archive of the Penis News article. Is the "wears women's underwear while masturbating" bit true?????

archive.vn/A7Hl4[/quote]
It makes fuck all difference anyway. Because the character is not trans, and cross dressing is a common paraphilia for serial killers.

TheySeeHerRowling · 17/09/2020 12:15

This headline and first line in the Bookseller is giving me great pleasure this morning (rest of the article is subscription only but you get the main thrust Grin)

www.thebookseller.com/news/rowlings-troubled-blood-sells-more-day-lethal-white-week-1219476?utm_source=Adestra&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=Morning%20Briefing%20-%20170920

SunsetBeetch · 17/09/2020 12:11

Here's an archive of the Penis News article. Is the "wears women's underwear while masturbating" bit true?????

archive.vn/A7Hl4

Ereshkigalangcleg · 17/09/2020 11:26

It was mainly because Pink News picked it up.

BovaryX · 17/09/2020 11:16

Here's some more:

The attacks on Rowling are alarming. Nothing she has said publicly or written in fiction has demonised trans people, yet she is repeatedly accused of having done so by people keen to make a witch out of this successful, self-made woman. More generally, the discussion around sex has been mind-bending in its wilful cruelty towards those women, in particular, who have suggested that there might be something to discuss in the moves to change the legal and metaphysical implications of words such as “woman”. Rowling is repeatedly accused of holding “hateful” views, although nothing she has said shows this, while the same people who accuse her feel free to wish her dead. We are not in the realms of literary criticism here: this is full-on scapegoating. The right of Rowling and others to imagine other worlds must be defended against calls to kill novelists and other artists. Nobody, you would hope, seriously wants the state to legislate on what can and can’t be thought and depicted, yet every day the ability to understand the world imaginatively becomes apparently weaker

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BovaryX · 17/09/2020 11:11

not because of what you've said and done, but because of what someone else says you've said

Yes. I can't read the original because I let my subscription lapse, but it seems like a line about what the critics of her 'trans stance' will think was the catalyst. How frickin absurd.

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