I’ve seen Sarah K live a few times and have thought she was a very good comedian.
I work in the Arts so have to be careful about my GC stance in my professional life. I go to Edinburgh every year and see over 100 comedy shows. Over the last two years – and especially last year – I’ve noticed a huge shift in comedians tackling the trans issue. Comedians whom I’ve previously really respected trotting out last lines about how there have been trans people around forever but middle-aged women have suddenly decided that their existence is unacceptable and decided to persecute them online. They claim these poor trans-people have done nothing and have been targeted out of the blue. No mention of GRC reforms, safeguarding, single-sex spaces etc. The audience, many of whom will not have been aware beforehand that there is a trans-debate, therefore leave the venue having been educated and shaking their heads about the sort of people who would seek to remove “rights” from transwomen.
Sarah K’s letter is particularly frustrating because I actually agree with every word she says, until the point where she says that due to gender-based marketing and societal expectations, “Luna” and his peers need to be allowed into the spaces which best fit them. Why not flip the argument and argue for the bandwith of the existing spaces to be expanded to become more inclusive? Why not get rid of “spaces” and boundaries altogether and just let kids be kids?
Sarah does make a good point about the HP books being a good mode for those who are different, those who don’t fit neatly into boxes, those who depend on their friends to support them… But this argument stands up on the other side too. Neither JKR nor any GC people of whom I’m aware, are saying that people are not allowed to be different. It’s exactly the opposite – we celebrate difference and want difference to be widely accepted; butch lesbians, boys wearing makeup, whatever. Surely it is the TRAs who are quashing difference by insisting on fitting these people/children into boxes?
As a former child who loved dinosaurs and cars and ponies but hated dolls, who sometimes pretended to be a boy, complete with a chosen boy’s name, who also loved dresses, hair and make-up but hated “pop” music and rom-coms and preferred heavy metal and action movies, who has grown into a 42-year old woman who still loves dinosaurs, heavy metal, technology, comic books, dresses, spa-days, make-up and cooking; I feel for “Luna” and resent the adults in his life who are so over-invested in trying to figure out “what” he is. He is a child and hopefully will grow into a well-rounded individual with a variety of likes and dislikes.
I'd like to be charitable and say that Sarah wrote this letter following JKR's initial tweets. She may have had pause for reflection following her later explanation. I'm also pleased that, as badly-thought out as the letter was, Sarah at least didn't resort to name-called and death threats. I mean, I'd like to be charitable, but she completely lost me at the "ask your husband" bit.