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.

@Ereshkigalangcleg

So you are accusing her of releasing the book to some trans right activists so that they could complain

So that they could post obscene pictures of their bits under children's drawings on Twitter, more accurately.

No no. Getting those dicquepics in front of the kids contributing to the illustration of the Ickabog was a genius marketing ploy apparently.

All about increasing sales isn’t it. Amazing that activists even played along so well. How the heck did they pick up the vibes she was sending out that those kids needed just that to get them to buy the book.

YANBU ....however, I think it was ill advised of her to take such a vocal and polarising view in this debate, which seems to me like it was mostly a non-issue, which a few people from the trans community rightly believed in as they need the support. People can be horrible to the trans community. Now it seems to have blown up into a sense that this is all an almighty afront to women. I honestly think that there are much worse problems out there than how women are treated in the context of trans rights, and that focus should be on those and not on this topic..

Missdotty out of interest, what rights do you consider transpeople not to have under UK law?

Of all the people I have heard call her a transphobe in real life, not one of them has read her article on the subject. It is a model of kind, fair, rational, considered thought. Funnily enough whenever I suggest they read what she actually wrote not what they have decided she wrote, they show no interest.

missdotty

The conflicts between women and children’s rights? Those are non-issues?

Have you actually followed the events
leading to the essay? Joanne Rowling is supporting women and children. She is not anti-trans.

Do you think that no one should be questioning the changes being pushed for? Or just people who you think should have an opinion?

She is not anti-trans. to add to that, many transpeople agree with her.

@Missdotty I might have agreed with you a year or so ago - it seemed a lesser issue to me than, say, Brexit, and I didn't really 'get' what the fuss was about.

Once I looked again and looked properly I realised it was probably the most significant issue I would face in my lifetime. It's an issue of women's rights and equality, free speech, truth over lies, cancel culture, Police conduct, the influence of pharmaceutical companies - and probably more that i've forgotten! It's huge.

YANBU - she's been absolutely hounded and it's totally out of order...

I've just realised that what I like most about the Strike novels is actually the weather.

The weather is absolutely intrinsic to the books, yet not forced to the forfront.

I've realised because I just tried to start In the Woods by Tana French, as someone said its a bit like the Strike novels, and I couldn't get passed the first two pages because the in-your-face weather description is so very, very irritating! I think its partly because two paragraphs in a row begin with the instruction "picture" xyz. I hate being directly addressed in the imperative when reading for pleasure...

Impatiens you could also have mentioned safeguarding of women from male violence and prevention of unproven medical experimentation on children.

And now, any time her name is mentioned, even if it's nothing to do with the trans debate, it's used by trans activists as an excuse to stir up more irrational anger. It's a witch hunt and I mean that in the original sense.

Absolutely right @334bu. We had a discussion about the medicalisation of so-called 'trans kids' last night but it really needs highlighting as much as possible, as does safeguarding women, including those who are trying to escape DV.

YANBU
I don’t think she was ill advised in speaking up. I do think she was brave though. It’s sad that it has got to this point.
I have noticed people in the public eye being asked about the issue and them giving non committal answers. I don’t blame them at all in the current climate but their unease is noticeable. Also, I would not want to name them and attract attention to them as we have seen the abuse JK has been subjected to.

As Winsalot said.

Missdotty Which views expressed by JKR do you think were ‘polarising’?

Which of the issues mentioned by JKR or on this thread do you consider ‘non-issues’?

What do you mean by ‘support’ for people who are trans that some women are not in favour of?

@UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme

In Career of Evil - the scene in the Satchi gallery Café is the one with Tempest and her hanger-on (I can't remember his name), where they ask whether he got his leg amputated because he wanted to be an amputee rather than because he was blown up by an IED/ land mine.

Thanks for this @UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme. I will revisit it.

I'm glad at least one celebrity isn't going along with this bullshit for fear of being called transphobic.

YANBU. She makes plain, balanced sense.

@DifficultPifcultLemonDifficult

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.

I'm pissing myself at these thousands of people who wouldn't ordinarily have bought her books supporting her. Brilliant. Because she was such a little known figure before all this!

Genius move yes.
I’m sure she was having trouble shifting her books.
Have you seen her worldwide sales figures?

I suppose maybe people who liked the Harry Potter books might not have been so enthusiastic about the Galbraith ones and not gone out of their way to buy them, then decided that they would support her during the witch-hunt by buying those too?

I doubt very much indeed that she expected that to be the outcome of her being the victim of obscene threats and all the rest of it, though.

She’s fantastic. I’m so glad we have her.

YANBU. JK Rowling is being treated horrendously. If she were a man, she would never face the vitriol she has faced.

I think you will find the majority of the country supports here and not the very vocal minority on Twitter

It’s ridiculous. I had to try and explain to my elderly relative the other day that we’re supposed to pretend that basic biology in the form of XX and XY no longer exists and that if I question this I could lose my job