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]

Ahh @ripples101 you’ve made me quite teary. Thank you.

Totally agree ripples, very well put.

On Twitter earlier (I know, I know) I saw a TRA attempting to link the deaths of two black Transwomen in the US yesterday to JKR’s posts, as if to say that she was directly responsible for what had happened. This is the level of “debate” we are having to deal with.

Thank you @ripples101. It is about you too though. You have a right to be safe and protected as much as women do. It's not an either/or.
But thank you for acknowledging some of the crappy things we go through, that feels quite sweet after I've been feeling pretty rubbish today. I'm sorry for your bad experiences and happy for your good fortune. Thanks for sharing.

Ripples

I hope you stay around and keep talking. There are answers to this that meet everyone's needs instead of creating winners and losers.

Thank you Ripples for sharing your experience! You are so right, women and transwomen are both rightly fearful of male violence. This is exactly what JKR was saying, she feels a ‘kinship’ with transwomen and wants them to feel safe too. We just need to find a way of creating safe spaces that works for everyone. And for that to happen we need to be able to talk about it and raise concerns without being threatened.

Thanks @ripples101, my gut feeling for a long time has been than many trans people feel as you do - but their voices are being silenced, because they don't fit the wider agenda of whoever the fuck is really behind this madness.

Just looked back in to this thread and have been very heartened by Ripples post.....
Thank you for understanding that women do not hate transwomen, not at all, we are all (here anyway) supportive of everyone living their chosen life in peace and happiness.
But it is a fact that there are men in society who will abuse women any way they can, and posing as Trans is an easy way if it allows them into womens spaces.
This MUST not be allowed, men identifying as women in womens prisons have already raped several times..IT MUST not be allowed.
I am sure that many Transwomen will identify as Ripples does, with the very real fears of women regarding rape and male violence, and understand that it is not a form of racism towards them but towards the violent men in our world.
There MUST be a way for women and Transwomen to collaborate on acceptable solutions and to fight the appalling unaceptable abuse directed at JK Rowling and others.

I think JK Rowling would love to read your posts ripples101, if only I had enough technical savvy to copy the post to Twitter.

It's interesting, because Ripples's post is the mirror image, pretty much, of what JKR said in her own blog post - that she deeply sympathised with transwomen's need for spaces away from men, because they were frightened of, and had often been on the receiving end of, male violence as well. (Which, it would appear, none of her critics have actually bothered to read.)

Should anyone wish to get in touch with JK Rowling to offer support, her email (handled very sensibly by her admin team) is on her pages on Bloomsbury's website. (And they send lovely replies!) There's also a postal address if you want to send a card.

Another thanks Ripples101

My Mum wouldn't be allowed to pick my child up from nursery as the nursery don't know her. If she gathered other grandparents and campaigned against this fact because grandparents are generally lovely people who just want to pick up their grandchildren and the chance of that being hijacked by predators is small I think most people would see the flaw in their arguement. Yes most grandparents are loving and not a threat but that's not the point. Safeguarding is. Their feelings are not more important than children's safety.

That has got to be the best analogy to this I have ever seen. Makes so much sense. Could maybe help those who have a kneejerk reaction when 'male violence' or something is brought up..using this as a demonstration instead..

Thank you Ripples. I sincerely mean that. I am, as I'm sure many are, utterly knackered with it all. I've been fighting all week and it's exhausting. As with many others, I have suffered in the hands of men. Two of which served jail time due to the severity of the events. So, thank you, your empathetic and clear language is the balm I needed tonight.

Interestingly a lot of people on Twitter are arguing against JK without actually understanding what’s been said. So many tweets saying ‘nobody’s trying to say that biological sex isn’t real, everyone knows you can’t change your biological sex’ and then when they’re countered with screenshots of numerous people saying just that start into another point ‘she’s conflating sex and gender’ ‘no that’s the TRAs doing that, and you would at best be called a TERF and at worst lose your job for saying the above.’

‘All trans people have gender dysphoria that’s the point of being trans’

‘Well not according to the TRAs and they would also call you transphobic for saying that’

I’ve seen a couple of threads where the argument has started with ‘she’s a transphobe’ and finished with ‘oh right, well why’s everyone so angry with her then?’

It’s obvious a lot of people have just jumped on the hate bandwagon without any clue what issues are being discussed. Hopefully this will help to peak trans some people.

Ripples I hope you come back and join in the discussion, it’s really interesting to hear things from your point of view!

Ripples

Thank you for posting.

I have been concerned for a while that the more extreme TRA aren’t just making women’s lives more difficult but making the lives of many trans people more difficult. I want trans people to have rights and protections alongside my rights and protections not instead of them. The net effect of their actions is to pit two vulnerable groups against each other instead of addressing the real source of that vulnerability.

Thank you ripple. It is very easy to lose perspective. All this nastiness being done in the name of transpeople is mostly coming from men and their handmaidens.

@ripples101 - OMG, I have actual tears running down my face from reading your posts. THANK YOU so much for saying that, for understanding. I've just posted on a different thread about a situation that occurred in the last 2 days on FB - I'm going to repost it here - because that is exactly the problem and you have realised it, where many many TRAs and their allies do not.

This is what I posted:
"This TRA rhetoric and trans ideology is so fucking destructive.

^A FB group I am in, that was for people who liked a particular fantasy author, went apocalyptic in the last 2 days. Someone posted about JKR, calling her a terf, and it caused arguments. It was reported.
Admins posted to ask people not to use terf because it's used as a slur.^
That thread went up like a fucking rocket. The abusive language was spectacular - but it was all trans and trans-supporters doing the abuse. They then had the gall to say that they "no longer felt safe" - but they didn't give a flying fuck about the WOMEN in the group, many of whom are abuse survivors because a huge percentage of women are anyway, but also many turn to fantasy as an escape from their real life.
So it's apparently ok for women to lose their "safe space" and be shouted at, called terf scum, transphobic, and in need of "education" - but woe betide anyone mentioning that JKR's words weren't actually transphobic - they need to get out or risk being punched/slapped/abused because TRANS matters.

We, as women, are just not fucking shouting loudly enough. The TRAs are shouting, screaming, abusing, threatening (verbally and physically) and they are being heard far more than women who are not doing the same thing."

And please note that, as many others, I have no issue with non-abusive trans people. I want them to be safe too. Just not at the expense of vulnerable women. And I can't be accepting of the words of any trans person who abuses women for wanting to be safe.
and please stay around - your support means so much.

Oops - italic fail in the middle there.

ripples101 your words also represent the two trans friends I have in my life. Thank you.

Op you said I just want to feel safe I am sorry you don’t feel safe, perhaps you could expand on that for us. Who is making you feel threatened and where?
I am sure everyone of us here can sympathise with that.

I recently had to go for an emergency cystoscopy appointment to check for possible bladder cancer. The person doing the procedure was a man. He was the loveliest, sweetest, reassuring individual dressed in the HCP clothes with are synonymous with care. Yet as soon as I had to open my legs for him to gain access I freaked. I had a massive panic attack. I can’t begin to explain the fear and trauma. At the time I honestly would have accepted cancer over that small procedure and I don’t say that lightly.
My reaction stems from being raped in my teens.
The best the hospital could do was give me a female shaparone and quite frankly she and he were amazing, but still it wasn’t enough. I am one of a great many survivors of abuse.
Being confronted by a penis owner in somewhere like a toilet of changing room, somewhere women are more vulnerable will cause that intense fear and trauma, no matter how much we try to persuade ourselves the owners of the penis are lovely people. How is that ok?

Ripples, your post seems like it could be written in its entirety by my cousin who is transsexual. She hates all this, and reckons activists are making life MUCH harder for people like her and also very much disagrees with puberty blockers, despite her saying life would have been easier (passing wise, if nothing else) if she had been able to take them. Basically she says one kid in 20, it might be the answer for, but is it worth the risk to the other 19, and pretty much just for aesthetics reasons. She finds it vile that activists deny detransitioners exist, and says the fact that they attack transsexual people as 'truscum' is proof enough on its own that they do not actually care about transpeople and their agenda is obviously something different.

I have to agree.

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1270787941275762689.html
For those seeking an informed and alternative challenge to Rowling's claims.

@Chocolate50

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1270787941275762689.html For those seeking an informed and alternative challenge to Rowling's claims.

And yet much of this so called justification is using sources that are justify their own views. Not sure if one of the sources I saw listed was unbiased or a peer reviewed study.

So where are you going with this?

@Winesalot what? I'm simply posting an interesting viewpoint that includes a compelling argument. Because I think it's important that alternative views are represented and maintain a voice. This is not about starting a spat it's simply suggesting that there is an alternative view.

I love that they use a Marine Biologist as their scientific “proof” “friendly neighbourhood biologist” explains human biology in an interesting thread.

They’re a fucking jellyfish expert.

Also loving the description of cis- “ Cis is just an adjective that means "not trans"”.

Yep, trans front and centre, anyone else is “not trans”. That’s sounds very much like a racist dividing the world into “white” and “not white”.

& also... Yes the sources do support the claims. That's exactly what it should do. That's what Rowling's arguments & evidence does as well. Although this link does pick her evidence apart somewhat.