A response to JK Rowling

[Hjft]

J.K. Rowling, like so many others, has recently been accused of transphobia and targeted for expressing some of her opinions on sex and gender. This is a very nuanced issue which many people struggle with, including members of the trans community. Assuming bigotry and shutting down debate is not the way to address these issues. Instead we should engage in reasoned debate in order to better understand the subtitles and find a way to live together with mutual respect.

On 10 June 2020 JK Rowling wrote about her reasons for speaking out on sex and gender Issues ( www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/ ) . It is a welcome calm voice in what she calls a toxic environment and I commend her bravery for standing up to the bullies. The essay explains eloquently what she believes and why she holds the opinions she does. She opens up about some very personal issues, and I hope all her detractors will read it before shouting her down.

An essay, however well written, carries a bias, and a reasonable author will recognise that bias and be willing to consider that they could be wrong. And so should the reader of an essay. By writing this essay, JK Rowling has exposed some very valid points which the other side of the debate wish to brush aside. However, she has also indicated a bias which I hope to address.

She conflates sex and gender, and she conflates the law and medicine. Firstly she worries that trans activism is ‘pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender’. This legal definition is for the protection of the civil rights of trans people and has no bearing on biology. Trans people still receive healthcare appropriate to their individual biological truths. Every trans person is acutely aware of their biological sex because it is incongruous with their gender. Remember when Harry Potter uses Polyjuice potion to take on the form of Goyle in ‘Chamber of secrets”. He does not stop being Harry. Now imagine if Harry had got stuck, and had to live his life with everyone believing he was Goyle. It would be intolerable for him and would likely lead to mental illness or worse. This is what it’s like for trans people, and why the law is in place to protect their right to be their authentic selves. Being Harry is ‘not a costume’.

This conflation is further illustrated when she expresses alarm that ‘A man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law’. Again, this demonstrates a conflation of law and medicine. If a trans person can find relief from their gender dysphoria by permanently expressing themselves in an authentic manner then why should we expect them to accept medical intervention in order to get legal protection. Imagine you have a migraine. If sitting in a dark room with a glass of water provides you with sufficient relief, then you shouldn’t be expected to take strong pain killers or accept brain surgery. The ‘man’ she describes is not masquerading as a woman - she is living her authentic identity as a woman. The law protects her rights to do so. She is not a predator, and it should not be assumed that she is. Without these rights, her transgender status would be revealed every time she tries to hire a car, or open a bank account, and it is her safety that is in danger. A man masquerading as a woman is not able to legally get a Gender Recognition Certificate - because they are a man.

[redacted*] I hope JK Rowling’s essay will mark a turning point in the tone of these discussions, and people can start to properly address them.

• [edited by MNHQ to remove inflammatory content - we're allowing the challenges to this section of the OP to remain]

RazorEdge stop conflating sex with gender.

Are you going to redact and apologise for using people with DSD's in your argument despite them repeatedly asking not to be used in this way? That a pretty basic sign of respect and understanding which you are proclaiming should be universal so why don't you walk your own talk?

(DSDs mean sex don't real)
(What about the scary lesbians)
(Some racist bollocks about segregation being just like single sex toilets)

Just for anyone else filling in their cards.

Genuinely not getting what lesbians not assaulting women despite being same sex attracted has to do with anything? Unless it was a reply to me saying basically 'I wish' to a world where noone was sexually assaulted. In which case, still not really getting why the focus on lesbians.

Sexual assault I think is not necessarily down to sexual attraction anyway, its a power thing. Indeed I have been sexually assaulted by a gay bloke before, despite him not fancying women.

All I can say is, all you amazing women on this thread: You Are Amazing. I don't know how you do it. I am exhausted by the lack of logic, sense or anything graspable, really. And the energy is appalling. Been a day.

I'm off for wine.

@merrymouse

Let's focus on changing society's views, then everyone can be welcomed.

I need sex based rights because of my physical body. It isn't a question of being welcomed or not welcomed.

My physical body is woman.

Sick of men telling me that my sex is not relevant and other "how to woman" nonsense.

Forcing me to agree that penis is the physical body of woman is pointless. I won't. Get your foot off of my neck.

there's a huge spectrum of body types other than standard 'male' and 'female'

Are you saying we can do a DNA test to find out if a man is a transwoman? That should make things easier. I should point out that many transwomen have fathered children and transmen have been pregnant so I don't think their sex was in any doubt. Are they fakers?

it's this idea that seems to be pedalled that heterosexual men are just somehow wired to assault women, when it's taught to them societally

Ah right, makes slightly more sense I guess.

Yeah its mostly taught I reckon. Still unfortunately doesnt mean its possible to click ones fingers and have a world where sexual assaults don't happen. If only.

I have not yet rtwt, but am flabbergasted by this: “ In normal life, whether someone is biologically male or female is irrelevant for most interactions, but is of major significance to a transperson.“

Say what? So when as a young woman working in a shop and random men ordered me to smile, you think that happened to my male coworkers? You think when the tradesman working next door last week decided I needed him to wave me out into traffic and I said “no thanks, it’s fine” (because it was not bloody difficult) & he ignored me, and embarrassed me, that he’d do that to a man? You think when I went for a walk last evening around 8:00 and a man flitted his eyes over me and I had to do a risk assessment, something all women do constantly, you think that interaction was not relevant to our biology?

Give your head a wobble, mate. Woman is not a costume.

We know that single-race spaces are wrong, but what makes them any better or worse than single gender spaces?

Single race spaces were created to divide people based on their race in situations where it is perceived one of those races is lesser than the other, thus further impressing the race perceived as lesser than.

Single SEX (not gender) spaces exist to reduce the statistical risk of sexual assault and preserve the modesty and security of women who are already more vulnerable than men, and in bathrooms are more vulnerable due to less people being present and them dressing / undressing / using sanpro.

You are either will fully ignorant or wildly uninformed to dare use racial segregation as whataboutery to attempt a 'gotcha' moment.

HTH.

The idea of a gendered toilet is hilarious though. Like, do they have someone standing at the door checking to make sure you've done your hair right that day? If you didn't bother do they make you piddle on the floor outside?

(I know I said I was leaving but DH is faffing about on his phone and not ready to go yet.)

It gets better Ritascornershop Read on and weep for our daughters.

I said that equality is important, and pushing perfectly valid others down because we should have equality and they shouldn't isn't nice

Apart from you and the OP no-one here is pushing people down, and saying we should have equality and others don't.

@RazorEdge
I think it just reinforces that your genetics/biology/sex chromosomes matter and affects you.
For example people with Klinefelter's (XXY) are infertile, Turner's Syndrome (X0) often have heart defects and fertility issues, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia also puts people at risk of salt wasting crises.
These people all deserve to have their specific biology recognised and treated accordingly. It would be folly to simply go on how they presented and ignore their unique needs.
I do think there is a debate to be had regarding surgery in young intersex children but even amongst these children, surgery occurs in a minority.
People are individual and they aren't just their sex/biology, but it is important and worthy of recognition.
Equal treatment does not always equal identical treatment.
I also think these people can speak for themselves.

@TheProdigalKittensReturn

The idea of a gendered toilet is hilarious though. Like, do they have someone standing at the door checking to make sure you've done your hair right that day? If you didn't bother do they make you piddle on the floor outside?

(I know I said I was leaving but DH is faffing about on his phone and not ready to go yet.)

Gendered toilets. The blue ones go "awright mate" as you pee, whilst the pink porcelain ones simper coquettishly.

[quote RazorEdge]@t1lly but what makes that racist, but makes single sex spaces okay, that's what I'm asking. I'm not asserting facts, I'm asking about the rationale of certain 'facts'[/quote]
Because it is a fact that one sex (men) men are overwhelmingly the perpetrators of violence to another sex (women). It is not a fact, and is hugely racist, to assume that someone is more likely to commit violence because of their race. I mean, if you can't see that I don't know how to help you.

"Some women are curvy and some women are skinny, therefore some men are women. Behold, my reality crushing logic!"

Typo:

Single race spaces were created to divide people based on their race in situations where it is perceived one of those races is lesser than the other, thus further oppressing the race perceived as lesser than.

[quote RazorEdge]@t1lly but what makes that racist, but makes single sex spaces okay, that's what I'm asking. I'm not asserting facts, I'm asking about the rationale of certain 'facts'[/quote]
You don't know why men should not be incarcerated in women's prisons?

You don't know why boarding school dormitories separate boys and girls?

You don't know why my gym changing room is female only?

Really? Really?

I've never mastered simpering coquettishly. I must be a man.

So you it's wrong for, for example, black women to have a space that is just theirs? An organisation or group that is a space for them to share their experiences? Or for Jewish women to have the same? Is a local Polish Mum's group wrong for existing?

There is nothing authentic about a women with a penis

The fact that people are still trying the "single sex toilets are just like segregation" angle now, in the middle of massive BLM protests, is a trip. Like, seriously, you thought that would play well at this particular moment in time?

BRB, must scold my toilet for being insufficiently gendered. I knew I shouldn't have let the cat knock the cute little basket that used to sit on the top off.