Please tell me about JK Rowling

[Feathered]

There's a lot of very pro JK Rowling sentiment here.
My children - especially my son - is very anti . . . and says what she has done is horrendous.
Please can someone help and explain the reason for her being so defended on here?
Thanks!

How about you start by telling us your son’s reasoning.

And what do you think?

You need to ask your son to explain exactly why he is saying that.

Why don't you tell us what you think she's done.

What, exactly, do they think she has done that is so horrendous?

Have you read JKR’s statement?

Perhaps you could ask your son to highlight the particular sentences that make JKR so deserving of the venom, rape threats and “cancellation” that is whipping around online?

Your son clearly understands very well if he’s anti, he’s read the arguments and formed a view. Listen to what he says then use your critical thinking skills to appraise what he says. It’s very simple!

Many, many newspaper reports have said that JK has made “transphobic” comments, patently without having troubled themselves to read precisely what she has said.

Go to jkrowling.com, on the “answers” tab you will find her statement. Have a read of it (it’s 3500 or so words, so it shouldn’t prove too taxing), then have your son read it, and then come back and tell us what either of you think is so “transphobic” about it. We can have a chat about it then

What do you think about what she has written? Read it here www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/

Yes - much of the media discuss JK’s ‘controversial’ comments.

They are anything but controversial.

Why would you come on here first to ask, rather than asking your son to explain, reading what JKR actually said, thinking about it, then after all that maybe reading some of the existing threads discussing it in detail?

my son . . . says what she has done is horrendous.

Has he told you what she's done?

Here's a link to a lengthy essay that she wrote explaining her own thoughts on the situation. It's worth reading just so you know exactly what she said rather than any second-hand interpretation of what some people THINK she said:

www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/

She wrote this after receiving flack from some (not all) members of the Transgender community after posting some Tweets that didn't concur with certain tenets of their belief such as:

"if sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.
J.K. "

and

"The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women - ie, to male violence - ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences - is a nonsense."

All the tweets that have been deemed 'offensive' by some people are all there to read - for you and your son to draw your own conclusions.

HTH

Yes...what exactly does your son say she has done?

Please do tell us.

Tumbleweed.

Yep, read what JKR has ACTUALLY said.

If you can't cope with that I'll give you the short version: it was all respectful and kind. NOTHING she has said is phobic in any way (in contrast to those abusing her).

In many of the statements she has issued she doesn't even mention transpeople e.g. the one where she's not that happy about the descriptor 'menstruators' instead of women. I don't like being called a menstruator. What's that even got to do with trans ideology? Unless it's only transideology keen to force women to accept that dehumanising label (against their will and their identification).

I'll accept 'menstruator' as a substitute word for women the day that men accept 'ejaculator' - and when it is equally applied in all public written materials.

As per other posters, I would encourage your son to read JK Rowling's essay.

Perhaps ask him too, if he thinks it's OK that women who don't believe in gender ideology are threatened with rape and violence?

She's so admired on here because what she's said is reasonable, measured, not transphobic, and very supportive of women and women's single sex spaces.

Some people think that just daring to talk about women as adult human females deserving of their rights and spaces away from males is transphobic. These people shout 'transwomen are women' at her, and at anyone who dares to question this highly questionable statement. These people have been sending her death and rape threats, trying their very best to get her cancelled, and posting disgusting porn and abuse on her twitter threads about children's drawings.

So I know whose side I'm on, and it's not on the side of the ones who send the rape/ death threats.

There’s something about the way that this is phrased - ”Please can someone help and explain the reason for her being so defended on here?” that makes me come over all Mrs Merton talking to Debbie McGee.

What is it that makes you stand up for the author of the most popular series of books ever written, who charitably donated her way out of being a billionaire, who has set up and/or funded several excellent charities, whose nuanced views on the importance of women’s rights you admire, and who has received a dogs abuse including rape and death threats for daring to voice her opinion”

Dunno, can’t think really...

She’s fab. That’s why I stand up for her. I also happen to agree with her.

• “Tell me Debbie, what was it that first attracted you to millionaire Paul Daniels?”.

Tell me Joanne. What was it that made you write something so reasonable on the internet?

Has your son actually read JK's essay? My 13yo DD told me she thought JK was being mean purely because Jammidodger on Youtube had said so. So I told her to read the essay, 'cunt' insults as well and then we had a chat about how people on social media tend to have an agenda and it's important to find out the actual facts before forming an opinion on anything. She's decided that maybe Jammidodger stuff isn't really for her (and I've learnt I need to monitor her Youtube use more).

And OMG is that Youtuber boring, I wandered off after watching a couple of minutes of mindless burbling)

If the replies are a bit unhelpful, OP, it’s because it’s difficult to “defend” something to someone who doesn’t outline what they’re finding so objectionable.

Is it her tweets? Her essay? A particular phrase?

There are a number of JK threads on here and all detail very well why so many support her.

I would be concerned that my son felt that biological facts and a woman supporting women and girls is something horrendous.
Does he have a negative view of women and girls i general?

She is defended becuase she didn't say anything hateful. Her main crime as far as I can tell is suggesting that trans women may have a different lived experience to women (also trans men and men but that gets a lot less focus) with different challenges and discrimination, so calling them all women is not a good solution for women or trans women. She is in favour of women who may not wish to change their clothes in the same room as people with penises having the right to a single sexed space over trans women who may still have a penis being allowed in that space. Some of those who do not wish to undress near a stranger with a penis may have been victims of domestic or sexual assault, or perhaps have religious reasons to avoid this situation. These women may stop using these spaces if self ID becomes law. As trans men are biologically men this feels mysoginostic to prioritise their rights over vulnerable women's rights, but the activists would say this attitude is transphobic becuase trans women are women even if they have a penis. There are some transsexuals who support her on Twitter too, they accept they are trans which isn't quite the same as being a woman (or a man).

Because she has the courage to stand her ground despite horrific abuse being thrown at her and does so with dignity and class. Because she's an amazing woman. Love love love JKR