Can't believe I'm writing this, but disappointed in JK today

[RobynMiller]

I know she is just one person but her tweets today are really undermining the whole GC argument.

Link: https://x.com/jk_rowling/status/2046948644373274709

'Nothing's changed. I was being honest about how I feel about an individual trans woman I know, who was a gay man pre-transition, and who I met for the first time post-transition. Objectively speaking, she has physical characteristics that make it fairly obvious she wasn't born female, but she's a gentle, funny person I've never referred to as anything other than 'she' and 'her'. I find it perfectly easy to reconcile my fond feelings towards her, and my experience of her as someone with very female-coded energy, with a belief that she hasn't literally changed sex (and incidentally, she doesn't believe she's literally changed sex, either).'

Basically, someone asked her about the trans identified male she mentioned in her 2020 essay and this was her response.

Does she not realise there can be NO EXCEPTIONS? Give an inch they'll take a mile and all that. It doesn't matter that he is gentle and funny or that he has very female-coded energy whatever the hell that means.

This does make it seem like when she calls TIMs out she is now doing it maliciously as she is perfectly happy to play pretend if she likes them enough.

Just so frustrating as it basically says that 'we could all play along with TRAs just fine and are choosing not to because we're such meanies 😡'

It would be dishonest to accuse her of betrayal or a lapse in judgement. This is a (perhaps unnecessary) rhetorical flourish rather than a direct accusation of you.

• For it to be a betrayal she would have had have kept something hidden only to reveal it now - instead she's been remarkably consistent of the last 5+ years.
• For it to be a lapse in judge it would have to be something ill considered - instead it's something she's give a great deal of thought to and that can be justified in straightforward, logical way.

@MOTU authoritarianism is closely associated to right wing politics.

Have you met the Green Party?

Authoritarianism is not just the preserve of the far right, but also the far left.

When women's language is erased without our consent while we are still using it; that's not natural evolution.

so, nobody ever misgenders trans people? Tell that to Sophie Molly.

Modern inclusive language - love this, though.

What happens when we get to the pomo phase?

She has been in the past, but her latest statement is the Twitter equivalent of corporate bullshit! Wrapping things up in opaque language because it mustn't be admitted that anyone might have been wrong in the past.

Modern Inclusive Language took over from the age-nondescript-fashioned language of periods-of-uncertain-time between the differences-of-energy-between-Eastasia-and-those-coded-akin-to-ourselves-in-this-borderless-new-world. Thank deity-or-concept-or-denial of your choosing for that!

Personally I think there are two vulnerable groups with very different complex issues facing them and those issues unfortunately contradict.

Three groups at least, imho! Women (vulnerable to predatory men), trans identified people, and close relatives of trans identified people. The latter group includes, not exclusively, spouses, children and parents of people who adopt a trans identity. The upheaval in their lives is immense, and often extends further to other close relatives. This applies whether they go along with gender identity or not.

Modern inclusive language is just basic respect, and using it has - I'm so sorry to tell you - become completely normal.

Oh you so, so wish that was true. Desperate stuff.

Yes exactly. If your friend has a mental breakdown and starts saying they’re the second coming of Jesus, choosing not to have an argument with them every time you speak to them (while still having made it clear that you don’t believe their delusion), isn’t the same as asking the whole of society to worship your friend as the second coming. It’s a delicate matter and essentially, these people are mentally ill.

I grew up in a world with trans people (albeit fewer than there are today) and I never thought twice about them. It’s only in the last few years when laws started to change to erode women’s rights by upholding these delusions that it became a problem - which is a public and societal attitude, not a personal private relationship.

It has been closely associated with right wing politics, as you say. This is partly because far right politics (Mussolini, Franco, Hitler) have been authoritarian. But authoritarianism can also be closely associated with left wing politics; or do they cease to be left wing when they become authoritarian, because left wing is good so cannot be authoritarian?

"authoritarianism is closely associated to right wing politics."

And closely associated to left wing politics.

It is a lazy and inaccurately stereotyped accusation to make that questioning and disagreeing with a prominent person's views as being 'authoritarian'.

Basically you're disappointed that JKR can be friends with a MtF transsexual?

Peak gender critical - JK Rowling is a TRA.

"I wonder if you can imagine a world where everyone respects trans people's pronouns - and nothing bad happens."

You are describing an artificial bubble. A bubble where those children are being centred and the people in that bubble, including other children, are also expected to act as if they an individual's subjective reality is reflective of material reality when it is not. You can 'nothing bad happens'. The very fact that children have been taught to agree with someone's subjective reality when it is the opposite to material reality at all is concerning.

Language does not evolve for a society where terms are being rendered meaningless because the term now means the opposite to the established meaning as well as the established meaning. You may choose to think this is progress but making communication meaningless is not progressive. It is also not respectful to do this.

However, if someone declares that act of making language meaningless is respectful, normal, and that a bubble is the 'world', then I guess anyone can attribute the very opposite meanings of what that person says and find accuracy.

Wot?

I don't think she has said anything wrong to be fair.
I have a trans colleague who I have known many years, pre and post-transition. Despite being GC, I've never had a problem using her new name or referring to her as she. I don't believe humans can change sex. Maybe I would feel differently of this person were one of the vile TRAs hurling abuse at women and invading their spaces, but my colleague isn't one of those types.

@TransParentlyAnnoyed What you are talking about is compelled speech plus lying to children and separating them from reality. That isn't respectful. You are harming your child by pretending that she is male. Of course you dont want to recognise that you are encouraging her along a path that leads to infertility, probably impaired sexual function, early menopause and all that goes with it. The harms are increasingly well known, the medical profession has rowed back after realising this is a medical scandal but you are carrying on - why? Why are you desperate to harm your daughter?

Using someone's chosen pronoun for them when you are not compelled to do so is not a sign of respect. It's saying that their mental health is so fragile that they need it.

Being free to say something does not mean you are right to say it or should not be criticised for doing so.

Of course JKR has the right to call her male friends ‘she’ and I have the right to criticise her for saying so. Trying to shut down criticism and debate is policing speech and denial of free speech.

You see no issue in destroying the meaning of female language - language that defines us as a distinct category and enables us to describe and fight against our oppression, because he is your friend? That makes it ok?

This has really got on since I left last night. Some seem to be misinterpreting or attempting to tone police me so let me be clear.

The fundamental principle of being GC is that sex is reality and nohting anyone does can change that.

In English, pronouns refer to a person's sex, not their own perception of gender norms and how they fit into them.

Cross sex pronoun use is not something that 'good trans people' can earn because it is not something that is earned at all, it is a set reality.

To make exceptions is to undermine the fundamental principal of sex realism. To use cross sex pronouns for trans people because you like them or because you see it as respectful automatically classes anyone who doesn't conform as disliking and disrespecting said trans person.

Yes it may harm your personal relationships but many have lost a lot more for this fight and you undermine their work and sacrifice.

It is blatant hypocrisy and harms the credibility of everything we believe in. You can't say you stand with science and truth in this matter and then continue to perpetuate gender woo lies when you think no one is watching.

I know JKR won't read this, I didn't write it intending for her to read it. I wrote it for the collective here because this is a canary coal mine that if we concede now we will only slide back into gender ideology having lost everything and gained nothing.

I agree.

Even JKR is not perfect. Anyone who's read any of her books should not be surprised by this. She charts human nature and its idosyncrasies extremely well in her writing. I really enjoy Harry's journey in how he feels about Dumbledore for example as he's moving from childhood (absolute adulation, thinks Dumbledore is entirely right and perfect always) to adulthood (realises Dumbledore had an entire life outside of his interactions with Harry, that he existed when Harry was not there, and Harry doesn't know everything about him or his inner life, and ultimately that it was unreasonable for Harry to expect Dumbledore to tell him everything and that he was not perfect but overall mostly did his best). What's interesting is how Harry is angry at Dumbledore at first, for being human, when he starts to mature and appreciate Dumbledore as an actual human being.

Usually by the time we're adults we understand that even people we think are amazing and totally admire won't be in complete lockstep with all our opinions and behaviour. That everyone can have a bad day. That sometimes when people do things we don't agree with IT'S NOT ABOUT US! There are some hilarious threads on here sometimes about JKR doing shitty things when some emotionally stunted grown-up toddler is having a trantrum about her doing X, Y and Z.

E.g. JKR has apparently secretly come into my house and used my last teabag. I will blame her for that rather than myself for forgetting to get more teabags earlier.

I am sure there is a story about why she's suddenly posted this - none of us will ever know what that is.

I think it's a shame what is a private accommodation between friends has come into the public sphere in this way, not least because it'll attract unpleasant people to say nasty things. But also because, at a societal level, wrong-sex pronouns are a safeguarding failure and, yes, rohypnol and they have and will destroy child safety and women's rights. But she calls plenty of men who say they're women 'he/him' - pretty sure that's her majority position - so I'm not going to get overly stressed about calling one man, who stays out of female spaces, whatever she wants.

I got blocked on X by another GC figure for criticising them doing similar - calling men ‘she’. I am pleased to see they have since come round - although I am still blocked!