To think that JK Rowling is being very unfairly treated.

[Impatiens]

For some people the name JK Rowling seems to have become a byword for 'bigot' or 'transphobe' - you only have to mention her name on twitter to cause a storm of accusations and abuse about her and I think it's really unjust.

This week it was announced that a new Harry Potter TV series is in development. Cue howls of outrage from certain people, repeating the same insults and even accusing her of being a bad influence on children. I feel so bad for her. She's always been someone who seemed to want to do good with her wealth and whose books (whether you like them or not) sent a positive message about the need to fight against evil.

A very brief recap of things Rowling has said about the trans debate that have caused anger -

1. Human biological sex can't be changed (females can't become males/vice versa) and no one should lose their job for saying that.

1. The word 'Woman' is being erased, particularly from important health messages that only affect females, and replaced with dehumanising terms like 'menstruators', 'cervix-havers' etc

1. Children/young people who have Gender Dysphoria/Identify as Transgender, shouldn't be given medication as part of any treatment because they're too young to understand the potential side effects.

YABU = JK Rowling's comments were offensive and she deserves the abuse she gets
YANBU = JK Rowling's comments were respectful opinions and she's entitled to voice them without getting abuse.

midgedude Career of Evil

I feel so bad for her and am livid at the way the fandom is treating her. I unfortunately had to leave quite a few fan groups and unfollow a lot of harry potter content creators just because of the vile things that they said.

I am laughing at Joanne Rowling being called a twat and making comments to advertise her book.

Umm. Maybe read the history of her tweets. And maybe read the actual book and not the propaganda spread about it from people who are so heavily invested in trying to shut her up that they release misinformation and tell others so heavily invested to stay ‘safe’ and not read it either.

Or are you talking about the timing of her essay when she was trying to stop creepy activists posting harmful content and threatening to post dickpics (or was that diquepics) on the Ickabog conversations with readers. You know. Children. Obviously she was only trying to stop that to increase her book sales.

I am not sure she is the twat though.

I never said it was offensive. I said that she used this whole thing as a very clever advertising ploy. And it has worked. Clearly.

Thats what advertising is there for, to manipulate us into buying products.

Thats what happened, thousands of women who wouldn't usually have looked twice at this book made a point of buying it to 'support' JK.

As I said, clever advertising. Risky, but clever.

YANBU. I've been disgusted by the treatment JKR has received since this whole thing began. One of the things that bugs me the most is how in the mainstream media it's become the default position that JKR's opinions are 'problematic' or 'controversial' and worthy of vilification. Given that most people don't bother to read around an issue, a lot of them have now, erroneously, automatically assimilated this as fact. JKR has become synonymous with bigotry and hate speech, even if she has done nothing beyond standing up for women and voicing something that contravenes current received opinion. Where's the balance? It boils my blood.

I am as liberal as you can get - I naturally find my moral, political and spiritual stance to be very left-leaning and liberal. I have always sided with and fought for minorities and underdogs and those who are vulnerable to marginalisation etc. Yet on this issue it seems that, in a lot of people's eyes (I'm not talking about TRAs here, but just everyday people who haven't given this much considered research or thought), I would probably be put into the 'bigot' box if I were to talk about my feelings. The fact that JKR's (and mine, and so many other people's) position on this issue has somehow become aligned with non-liberality, right-wing causes and the DM-reading, 'political correctness gone mad' brigade is maddening. It's malicious and misogynistic and, frankly, disgusting.

So you are accusing her of releasing the book to some trans right activists so that they could complain so she could respond in order to boost sales ?

If anyone wants to see just how little we know about puberty blockers and how no one has any way of knowing which children might benefit from them (ignoring the consent issue, unknown risks, impact on development etc etc etc) look at the video in this thread which is a talk by a GIDS clinician in 2018. I transcribed some of his speech in the thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3950421-Talk-by-Dr-Aidan-Kelly-Tavistock

Then, if you can be bothered with a very very long read, look at the court judgement from the Bell case on why young children aren’t capable of consenting... (Case currently being appealed by the Tavi)

www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Bell-v-Tavistock-Judgment.pdf

Sorry, probably should have said “children” not “young children” as the court was looking at 10 as the lower age limit.

They hate her because she is intelligent, eloquent and irrefutable. Not to mention terrifically rich, and therefore beyond their ability to suppress.

She's fabulous and no one I know in real life disagrees with that.

So you are accusing her of releasing the book to some trans right activists so that they could complain so she could respond in order to boost sales

As a marketing strategy it’s certainly ... original

[quote ToadsThePeanutButterSnob]@SionnachRua why not? You're getting into things quite deeply with the OP.

Someone posted a link to JK's essay earlier in the thread. All you have to do is find a couple of views expressed by her that you find transphobic. It's surely not that difficult.[/quote]
This is a real problem in these discussions. Name call and run. It is real cowardice, and I imagine this person a glass of wine in and enjoying dragrace is quite pleased with themselves. It take real guts and courage to examine and address the issues. J K Rowling has used her entire life in support of young people, for this entitled generation to throw mud at her. Name calling without evidence is bully tactics, nothing more, nothing less and not worth anyone's time.

@PuffItsGone

I feel reassured by the poll results!

Yes I thought that.

The tide on this is definitely turning as people realise that what is being asked of them is not 'I accept that some men will want to wear typically female clothing' but something actively damaging to women and children.

I have also reported @SionnachRua's post referencing Graham Linehan as slanderous. He is balanced in what he says. He is also pretty funny and has been hugely piled on for standing up for women, when all of his contemporaries have shown their cowardice by remaining silent. He has real guts!!

@DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult

I never said it was offensive. I said that she used this whole thing as a very clever advertising ploy. And it has worked. Clearly.

Thats what advertising is there for, to manipulate us into buying products.

Thats what happened, thousands of women who wouldn't usually have looked twice at this book made a point of buying it to 'support' JK.

As I said, clever advertising. Risky, but clever.

that's rubbish - the books are brilliant and have had a steady fan base since inception. I've read them all. There is no transphobia in Troubled Blood, just a cracking story line.

I am laughing at Joanne Rowling being called a twat and making comments to advertise her book.

I didn't like her long before any of this. I don't think she's a twat because of this, I think this was clever. I think the fact that she has people rushing out to buy her book to support her is absolute genius on her part. The fact everyone who did this is 100% defending her just adds to the truth that it was a genius move on her part, and she now has thousands upon thousands of of people, who ordinarily wouldn't buy some of the stuff she writes willing to buy everything she writes to support 'the cause' and feel like they are doing something to help.

So you are accusing her of releasing the book to some trans right activists so that they could complain so she could respond in order to boost sales

That isn't what I said at all, now is it. Let's face it, everyone knows what happens when anyone jumps in on any side of the trans debate. She now has a whole bunch of people buying her stuff when they wouldn't have originally. I've seen many people online saying they will buy her book just to support her. Well played JK.

She didn't speak out for women, she is a very clever business woman

So, her speaking out for women was her lying? And her tweet way back in November 2019 was a ‘long game’ advertising strategy for Troubled Blood.

And to inspire the abuse she got for even liking a tweet that was deemed a hateful act by people too heavily focused on her was an advertising ploy also for the same book.

I’d love to know what book she was advertising when she called out Devex for their headline then, because it also had nothing to do with transwomen.

twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1269382518362509313?s=21

if person going through male puberty lives their life as a woman, they will just look like a man in a dress

How does somebody "live as a woman"? What specific things would they do to be classed as living as a woman?

She did not jump on the trans debate but did respond when they jumped on her

Get your order right

YANBU

I have never felt like a woman. I don't know what 'woman' feels like. I have birthed, breastfed (2 children, one for over 4 years) done the shitwork, gone part time, been harassed and assaulted and been called 'lesbian' and 'dyke' for opening my mouth at school (I'm straight).

Can anybody tell me what it feels like to be a woman?

@unmarkedbythat

I can see why she's so well liked on here though. She takes the same approach to gender issues and has the same wide eyed faux confused "but I'm not being offensive how could anyone want to attack innocent little me?" reaction when people who disagree say so. It's a bit pathetic but nothing particularly unusual.

This is the second time I have read a criticism that cited "wide eyed confusion". Is there a script somewhere? It seems odd.

I don't even like her work (not knocking it - just not my thing) but it's ridiculous how she (and anyone else) is vilified for having a considered opinion on an important issue. We should be very careful how much we try to shut people up if they say things we don't agree with.

I guess that might be cited as an example of it - smart - sorry "wide eyed FAUX confusion"

Can anybody tell me what it feels like to be a woman?

Yes, I can.

It feels like being a human being.

Hath not a woman eyes? hath not a woman hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as any person is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?

@DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult and practically 90% of the harry potter fandom online has kicked her out. Even some of the actors have now spoken up against her. She made a brave choice to speak up in support of women because she knows she is in a position of privilege to have a large enough platform tp voice her opinion and concerns

@JoodyBlue

I guess that might be cited as an example of it - smart - sorry "wide eyed FAUX confusion"

It must be a term that has appeared recently on twitter or Reddit somewhere to describe women discussing our rights.

I am seeing it too Joody.