Who did JK Rowling become?

[BraveBananaBadge]

A long read in New York magazine about what made JKR such a meanie. Surprisingly in-depth and not quite so much about the feelz, but you know a man would never, ever get this treatment.

I was pleasantly surprised by the comments section, especially for an American publication. Plenty of people seeing it for what it is and asking logical questions (read it last night, so hope they’re still there...)

www.thecut.com/article/who-did-j-k-rowling-become.html?fbclid=IwAR1PB4xuZKKgJHZA5jqQng-oaukuWPhLGcx5uindUO6aL4EiSI3fUc4iiCA

The difference reflects, perhaps, the relative insularity and homogeneity of British feminism. In America, challenges from feminists across marginalized groups have increasingly pressed those who would speak on behalf of “women” to reexamine whom they mean.

Whereas I think that in the US women’s access to birth control , health services and employment rights is tenuous to non-existent, but it’s easier for a privileged group of American feminists to exist in a state of denial. It’s easier to stick your fingers in your ears and pretend that American right wing evangelicals and British left wing feminists are making the same argument.

The ‘homogenous’ remark even manages to be disparaging to British lib fems who apparently don’t exist!

It’s very biased. As usual a criticism of the ideology is written up as “anti trans rights” or “saying mean things about trans people”.

This ideology will not tolerate dissent. Even religions don’t try to force non-believers to believe.

It’s very teenage “you disagree with me so you hate me”

The ‘homogenous’ remark even manages to be disparaging to British lib fems who apparently don’t exist!

I found that the funniest thing about the whole article. I'm sure all the celebrity pandering feminists like Jameela Jamil would be impressed by that. This woman is about as switched on as Naomi Wolf.

who did JKR become

Well regardless of if you even ever read her published books or not, this year to me she ‘became’ in my awareness of her: a bloody great humanitarian who supports child safeguarding and defends women’s rights in public.. aka a heroic public figure, thanks. The likes of whom we could do with many more. Love her and her bravery. ♥️ Thank you JKR.

They’ve done an interview with her in the Jan edition of a woman’s magazine, maybe Women’s Own? I wondered if this would be mentioned and to their credit it was, they just let her put her point across without any desperate attempt to distance themselves, which was nice to see.

OppsUpsSide Good Housekeeping I think.

There’s a bit in the comments where people discuss why being trans-gender is ok but trans-race is not.
One person says something like, “a trans woman is a woman’s brain in a man’s body. You therefore can’t have trans-race because it goes against all the work of the civil rights movement to say there is such thing as a “black” brain.”

I don’t disagree with the final point that there is no such thing as a black person brain/white person brain but am baffled why the commenter can’t apply that logic to gender. What exactly is a woman’s brain? Is it a brain that can multi task but is bad at parking? Fuck off.

“a trans woman is a woman’s brain in a man’s body."

It's just pure sexism and they aren't even conscious of it.

am baffled why the commenter can’t apply that logic to gender. What exactly is a woman’s brain? Is it a brain that can multi task but is bad at parking? Fuck off.

They're so conditioned to be sexist they don't even recognise it.

Sorry Eresh posted before I saw you'd written the same!

And to no-one's surprise, an American writer is have trouble recognising their own sense of imperial cultural superiority even when it's staring them right in the face

YY! It boggles me that Brits roll over so quickly in the face of American cultural imperialism. THIS is how we think about race, THIS is how we do feminism, THIS is how we conceive of liberalism, THIS is what we mean by right wing.

I’m going to give this article a British response that always cracks up my American colleagues “That’s very interesting, thanks”.

The ones who’ve worked with Brits long enough know that translates as “that’s a bonkers idea and we’re never, EVER, doing it”

Sorry Eresh posted before I saw you'd written the same!

Great minds, eh

Here's a little sunlight:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4114565-to-ask-about-jk-rowling-can-someone-tell-me-what-happened

It's good to see that people point to JKR's essay and most then tend to nod along and say, well that seems reasonable enough, and when the "transphobic!" slur inevitably comes up, people ask for proof and in response get, at best, a bundle of half-truths, and lies.

I quite like it when a thread escapes from FWR and goes into the wild like that I can imagine a fair few people reading it and going “Is that it? Is that all she said?”

I do think accusations of insularity are a bit rich coming from a citizen of a nation where 50% of people don't have a passport, almost no one apart from recent immigrants speaks a second language, and a sizeable proportion can't even find Germany on a map.

Was so pleased to see that AIBU thread.

@NotBadConsidering

The article oozes with envy and misogyny. Frequent references to her success, her looks, her expensive shoes, the fact that she was able to use her wealth to not do an interview with Oprah in a Holiday Inn conference room. It’s bitter and nasty and worst of all, derivative. There isn’t an original idea in the whole piece which, for a writer, is the most offensive bit of all.

I agree.

Sometimes, in my world of being a mum, a weekend job in a supermarket, and a husband who smiles (yes dear) when I get angry at all that's being taken from women - in plain sight - I feel that no-one understands why this means so much to me.

I am so thankful for JK Rowling for being so strong - and able to articulate what I want to say but don't really have the vocabulary. And thank you to all you wonderful women. I can read these threads and know that I'm not alone in my thinking.

It’s interesting that when evidence of JK Rowling’s transphobia is asked for none is provided beyond “she likes some tweets by (people I consider) transphobes!” And “she wrote about it but it’s in dog whistle codes!”

In fact as usual, transphobia seems to consist of saying “hang on, women need rights.” And this refusal to accept TWAW (which is not as widely held a belief as Twitter would like to think) is enough because believing (or saying you believe) is all that matters.

When Michael Richards was accused of racism it was easy to find. He spoke in a club, was filmed and witnessed by many. He used racist slurs. If i say I believe him to be racist I can link to evidence that backs up my allegation.

If Twitter people are going to AIBU after seeing screenshots it’s very helpful that the actual article is being posted, eventually some will have to read it and see for themselves.

I can read these threads and know that I'm not alone in my thinking.

Same here, I feel that way too.

The majority of comments under the authors tweet of the piece (mollyhfischer) are supportive.

@ApplejackCriesOnTheInside

Insular is American feminists who have achieved precisely nothing since Roe Vs Wade (and are in danger of losing that) thinking they're some sort of gold standard to aspire to.

American feminists are in real danger of losing RvW because of the conservative court and losing Title IX and sex-based protections because of the left-wing ACLU. Legally resulting in a dystopia for women. There's no plan for what they're going to do or how to counteract this. Just head-in-sand denial. IMO it's a class problem.

notassigned I accidentally logged in to Twitter with the wrong account and saw an overwhelming majority of comments supporting the article and dissing JKR.

When I realised my mistake and logged in with my Anonymous account the pattern was reversed, which makes me think that that account is blocked from seeing a lot of the anti-JKR comments.

Could that be the reason you are seeing so many pro-JKR comments too?