I am Facebook friends with a couple of true believers on the whole trans issue, and one of them just shared this post. Frankly, life feels too short to break it down, knowing that it will make no impact on their thinking, but this is exactly the sort of thing the 'progressive left' is touting, which is why I have a problem with them:
Daniel Lismore
My response to JK Rowlings dishonest essay - J.K. Rowling Is Wrong. And Here’s the Truth.
By someone who’s read the science, lived in this world and seen through the tricks.
J.K. Rowling wants you to believe she’s being silenced. That she’s the brave voice of reason. That by standing up for “biological sex,” she’s defending women. But I’ve read her essay. I’ve studied her claims. I’ve looked at the science and the impact. Here’s the truth:
Her arguments are dishonest. Her concerns are inflated. Her legacy is not empowerment. It’s erasure.
Let’s break it down.
Rowling says sex is real. Nobody is denying that. Biology is real. But so is the complexity of it. Sex isn’t the neat binary she imagines. Intersex people exist. Chromosomes vary. Hormones, secondary characteristics, and anatomy don’t always align. She paints the world in two colours because she’s scared of the truth. Biology is messy. Gender is more than parts.
She says trans people using the toilet is a threat. But the data says no. When Massachusetts allowed trans inclusive public accommodation, nothing changed. No increase in crime. No spike in assaults. The only thing that rose was safety for trans people who could finally pee without fear. You know who gets assaulted in bathrooms? Trans people. Especially when they’re forced into the wrong ones. Rowling doesn’t care about that. She only sees fear. Not facts.
She mocks phrases like “people who menstruate” as if public health should cater to her comfort instead of saving lives. That language exists so trans men and non-binary people don’t get shut out of menstrual care. It doesn’t erase women. It widens the door. She wants the world to be smaller so she can feel big.
She drags out “rapid onset gender dysphoria” as if it’s a diagnosis. It’s not. The one study that coined the term was debunked and discredited. It was based on angry parents on Reddit, not on clinical interviews with the actual young people it judged. Every major medical body from the Endocrine Society to WPATH rejects it. But Rowling keeps repeating it because it sounds scary. Because if you say “social contagion” enough, people stop asking what the evidence says.
She says youth care is dangerous. In reality, puberty blockers are reversible and well-studied. The best data shows they improve mental health in trans adolescents. Delay is the danger. Denial is the harm. Suicide rates are higher in kids who get refused care. If Rowling cared about protecting young people, she’d read the literature. She hasn’t. Or worse, she has, and she’s ignoring it.
She says people regret transition. But most don’t. Regret rates after gender-affirming surgery are tiny around one percent. And most people who detransition do so because of outside pressure, family rejection, or losing their job or housing. Not because they were “never trans.” She knows that. But it doesn’t serve her story.
She says trans women in prison endanger others. But trans women placed in men’s prisons are far more likely to be raped or assaulted. The U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that decades ago. She says she’s protecting women. But she ignores the ones in danger when her logic is followed.
She says trans women in sport are unfair. But the science isn’t on her side. Hormone therapy reduces muscle mass and strength. The effects vary by sport. That’s why most sports bodies are tailoring rules because the truth isn’t black and white. She doesn’t want nuance. She wants fear.
She says she’s fighting for women’s rights. But most women’s rights organisations the ones who actually work with victims, survivors, mothers, daughters support trans people. Because inclusion doesn’t cause harm. Exclusion does.
She says she’s just asking questions. But every question comes with a body count. Every “concern” she raises shows up in a bill, or a bathroom ban, or a protest sign at a hate rally. Her words aren’t neutral. They travel. They fuel violence. They validate bigots. She says she’s protecting freedom. But she’s building cages.
Let’s not be polite about this. The woman who once gave the world a story about love defeating hate is now building her legacy on fear. She has aligned herself with grifters, hate groups, and right-wing opportunists who don’t care about women, don’t care about children, and don’t care about anyone but themselves.
Let’s be very clear:
She has become a hero to the exact kind of men who used to burn our books and beat us in the street.
She’s joined the ranks of Milo Yiannopoulos, Caitlyn Jenner, Andrew Tate, Katie Hopkins, and everyone else who cashed in by throwing their own community under a bus.
She’s not standing up for women. She’s standing on trans people to lift herself up.
To the LGB people backing her, shame on you. Every one of our queer heroes from the past would be ashamed of you. Every one of today’s queer heroes you secretly obsess over and jerk off to would spit in your face. You didn’t learn pride. You learned proximity to power.
You call yourselves brave. You’re not brave. You’re comfortable. You’re safe enough now that you think you get to decide who deserves rights. You don’t.
You say trans people are the problem. But all the science, all the data, all the lived experience says otherwise. The only consistent danger is the one created by exclusion, stigma, and hate. The only cultural threat is the one posed by people who think acceptance should have a gate and a bouncer.
You’re not protecting women. You’re hurting people. You’re not speaking for the silenced. You are the loudest voice in the room, punching down.
If you cared about women, you’d fight domestic violence. You’d fund shelters. You’d dismantle the systems that hurt all women, cis and trans every single day. Instead you chose to go after one of the most marginalised groups on the planet. You chose cruelty. You chose the Daily Mail over decency.
You chose to be remembered like this.
And we will remember.
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Key Sources:
Bathroom safety: Hasenbush et al., Williams Institute
Youth care and mental health: Turban 2020, Tordoff 2022, WPATH SOC8, Endocrine Society 2024
Regret and detransition: Bustos 2021 meta-analysis
Prison data: Farmer v. Brennan, US Bureau of Justice Statistics
Menstruation and inclusive language: UN and APA guidance
Sport and fairness: British Journal of Sports Medicine