The Witch Trials of JK Rowling

I get you, and I'm rabidly on the side of free speech and the scentific method of putting ideas under intense scrutiny.

Still, one of the really blessed things about this podcast is how far out of their way the people involved are going to present a rounded picture of the arguements on all sides, while also stating clearly what JK Rowling's position is. It's a living breathing example of everything that's lacking in the general picture of public discourse on topics like gender, such as empathy, open mindedness and viewpoint diversity.

Agree with PPs just done episode 5 .. grateful this podcast exists and very grateful for J.K. taking a stand

Mentioned in The Guardian: www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/15/jk-rowling-views-transgender-issues-many-folks-deeply-unhappy

I did all 5 episodes in one day yesterday and I’m really glad the series exists in the world.

Well done to Bari Weiss, Megan Phelps Roper and others, and JK, of course. The long format and wider contextualisation is so important when trying to explain WHY this matters so much to the lives of women (even those women who happily offer our rights and language up on platter).

Contrapoints has made an absolute dick of Contrapointself by disavowing without listening, Contrapoints’ actual contributions come across as reasonable and thoughtful (although still not enough to make me budge on my positions, it’s nice to retest them against the positions held by a trans activist who isn’t demanding I die in a grease fire immediately).

The only bit that made me was Megan asking Contrapoints about Tumblr when anyone who has been around long enough to remember the pre Trump years online and the Contrapoints channel pre 2017 would likely surmise that Contrapoints would’ve grown up a 4Channer, not a Tumblrina.

Having listened to the five episodes out thus far I am very very thankful that she decided to speak out.

Even though I have gathered that the USA is full of magical thinking, and that no openly atheist would stand a chance at the presidency, episode 2 was particularly enlightening.
Also the bit about Tumblr vs 4chan was useful towards understanding the complete icefronts and weird accusations of «allying» with fascists and right wing when people work across political parties to achieve a goal.

It is shockingly infantilised. Grown adults with no ability to think a case through; just getting completely mired and stranded in «identity» and their feelings around it - talking about it like they are 10 years old still.
Not their own fault as such: when this kind of shut Minds is propagated from pastors and teachers alike.

I must add that I don’t think this is religious vs atheists either, but that the way a lot of churches operate in the US is built on magical thinking and thus it permeates US society to a very high degree. They do believe in the army of heaven and in the impending Battle with hell. They really do believe in Armageddon as a real fight between good and evil that is about to happen.
And this has clearly seeped in to all facets of life.

It is pretty horrifying to look at from the outside, though we have tendencies to the same in Europe too of course.

I'm finding it fascinating. I was very much not an early adopter of the Internet or social media (or indeed a Harry Potter fan), so the content in episode 3 about fandoms and tumblr was mainly new to me and helped me make sense of so many of the things that have happened since. Onto episode 4 now....

Finished off episode 5 in the car this morning. It's one of those rare podcasts that I'll listen to again I think.

It is an excellent series. I don't know enough about the various websites they talk about to know how accurate the whole narrative is, but it does give good context for what has happened. JKR is wonderfully calm and comes across incredibly well.

It also makes it clear that the panicked and angry respondees had not actually read JKR's essay. OR if they had, they were reading through the red mist of bigotry and intolerance, or their comprehension skills were very compromised, or non-existent.

Excellent episode this week. I thought the juxtapositioning of JKR reading from her essay with the verbal reactions was very well done, and highlighted exactly where the issue is.
You have a woman speaking politely about how she wants both women and trans women to be safe, followed by someone shrieking "What the fuck did I just read?" and furious male-voiced denunciations.
It makes it so incredibly clear that what she is being accused of bears no relation to reality.

It was a good one this week. Worth listening to all the other fantastic episodes for. 🥳

Was CP crying? I thought they had a cold!

That was a good listen. The previous episodes have largely been providing the context for this one, the one in which the big stuff that made the news happened. It provides an account from JKR about what led her to stand up and to make her first explicit gender critical tweet.

This is the the episode the critics were waiting for, JKR giving the condensed version of what happened. But had the series started here I think much would have been missing and in particular the useful context of why when JKR did decide to intervene it was into a atmosphere that was ready to explode.

What was especially satisfying to listen to is that in response to JKR setting out some reasonable fears, the incredibly misogynist and threatening tsunami of abuse made very clear that her fears were actually understated to a significant degree.

The ending is usually a bit of a teaser for next week, so I wonder if next week will be about people's hurt and reaction by the non-violent trans community and JKR's response to those arguments.

Then the seventh - a kind of rounding up of all the threads so far? A what-happens-next? A call to arms?

Just listened to new episode - and they are trying to balance things. Honestly some young women are their own worst enemies

Honestly a bit annoyed by them ending the episode with a crying trans person who is "fighting for basic access to participate in society". Even so, JK cannot come across as other than fair and compassionate.

No Sorry the 4th episode (last week’s episode) I think 🤔

Great, thanks @Signalbox

3rd episode. But it’s very brief. I’m assuming CP will appear again in later episodes.

I've been trying to find the episode where Contrapoints appears. I must keep zoning out at the crucial moment or something! Can anyone advise which episode it's in? Thanks!

New episode released today.

Today’s episode was good but I was also infuriated that neither Helen Lewis - or anyone - hammered home the point that most trans women keep their male anatomy. That is one of the most central points here when talking about women’s spaces. When people hear the word “transition” or GRC they think it means no penises. It very much does not mean that.

Also JK came across as an absolute hero today (when talking about how she felt compelled to speak up) and incredibly intelligent. I was always a huge fan of the books (hated the films, dreadful actors) and this has clarified why exactly they are so brilliant. She’s so clever and has such an intrinsic understanding of human nature.

Isn't it sad that journalism has become so biased and awful that we can't even assume any more that anything stated is true?

My apologies as well — I did t realise initially that you had posted it in good faith!

You're right @Sunnava, I should have found an article that was far less biased. That's a lesson for me: don't assume that a middle-of-the-road periodical like The Week will make an effort to show journalistic balance when the subject is contentious.