How is JK Rowling Transphobic? Trans Guy Responds

A look at the timeline of JK Rowling's transphobia and how it's escalated over the years

JK Rowling essay breakdown:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Avcp-e4bOs&t=0s

Contrapoints:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmT0i0xG6zg&t=0s

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Do you have snacks? Do you have
water, and are you sitting

comfortably? Because this will be
a long one.

Hey spuds, it's Jamie. Welcome
back to another video,

first time on my channel? I don't
know, but welcome either way.

And today we are breaking down
JK Rowling's transphobia.

We are looking back at a timeline
of the transphobia

shared by JK Rowling.

Are you ready?

We're doing a non-exhaustive, but
still pretty detailed look

back over the years of JK Rowling's
transphobia,

and how it turned from an
"accidental" like of a tweet

into full-blown transphobia and
denying that

trans women are women and
going even further

than that as well, all in the space
of around six years.

So why am I doing this video?
Partly because there are

still a lot of people who don't
believe that JK Rowling

is transphobic and still deny that
she has said anything anti-trans,

even now with everything that's
happened, and that is a problem.

So, as with other longer video
essays that I have done

in the past, I wanted to give you
the tools to,

one, decide for yourself, and two,
have evidence points

that you are able to express to
people who may not understand.

Some of the common messages I
get are asking,

"How do I help the people in my
social circle understand

that people like JK Rowling are
contributing towards transphobia

and that this rhetoric isn't a useful
or feminist stance,

but primarily a transphobic and
discriminatory stance?"

So hopefully this video can help
with that.

I think the trajectory and
development of Rowling's

transphobia is also something that
we've seen more generally

among anti-trans views and
people with anti-trans

views over recent years.

Rowling is a very prominent
example of this.

It's where people start off very
tentative, testing

the waters on their opinions,
keeping them mostly private,

or they're unsure of their opinions
themselves to begin with,

and then eventually over time this
spirals into outright transphobia

as their confidence in their views
grow and their echo

chambers strengthen.

Firstly, I want to point out that
transphobia and discrimination

towards trans people causes
genuine harm.

This is something we already
know,

and there's a lot of evidence to
back this up.

And there are multiple instances
of JK Rowling's transphobia

being linked to causing harm.

One is the International LGBT+
review, saying that

the UK faces serious damage from
JK Rowling

and other transphobic rhetoric.

Another is the Women's Media
Center, who have outright said that

Also mentioning the fact that a
Republican senator

shut down legislation that would
have protected the LGBT+

community in Oklahoma and cited
Rowling's essay

in defense of his position.

And these are just a couple of
examples.

And what this goes to show is that
people with huge platforms,

whether they have an intention to
cause harm or not

to a specific community,

the impact of their words can still
have a huge

and negative effect on large
groups of people.

This topic is also important to
explore because JK Rowling

has effectively become the postal
woman for

TERFs and transphobes in the UK.

So even if people are refusing to
believe that

she's transphobic herself, she's
being used by very transphobic people

as a source of confidence to share
their own hateful views.

Prominent TERFs show public and
active support and/or adoration

for JK Rowling. And at anti-trans
gatherings

you are highly likely to see some
form of

'I love JK Rowling' merch such as
t-shirts, banners and stickers.

What I really question is how a
cisgender woman

has become the listened-to voice
and the go-to voice

for quite a lot of people when it
comes to trans issues.

Even if you ignore that what she
relies upon to justify her position

are half-truths, dog whistles,
subpar "scientific" findings,

and her statements are often
shown to ignore

the actual truth of situations,
actual evidence, science, facts

and numerous real-life accounts
from the trans community.

A bigger issue than JK Rowling
herself is the fact that

some people in society view her
as an authority on a topic

that she isn't qualified to talk
about

in the way she talks about it.

How did a cisgender fantasy
children's book author

become a go-to source for TERF
groups and

other people on trans people?

And what we're seeing now is
other people,

also unqualified and with no lived
experience

of being trans themselves,

being given televised platforms to
"debate" trans rights

when it shouldn't even be a
debate in the first place.

JK Rowling's anti-trans
"arguments" all seem to

boil down to a belief that trans
women as a group of people

are dangerous and pose a risk to

cis women's safety in public
spaces.

Something that there is no
evidence for.

Other sources have said:

Trans women have been happily
using women's spaces for decades,

a very long time, and no one has
even noticed or cared

to the extent that they are
noticing or caring now,

because at the moment trans
people feel like

the popular group to pick on.

So with the intro out the way, let's
get into the actual timeline

and the details of JK Rowling's
transphobia over the years,

and it kicks off in 2017.

Going back to 2017, we have
Rowling "liking" a tweet

that linked back to a now deleted
article

that was being, let's just say, not
very nice about trans women.

This is when some people began
to initially question

JK Rowling's stance on trans
people.

Fast-forwarding to the following
year, we have another

"like" incident on Twitter, but then
this was unliked soon after.

This tweet referred to men in
dresses

it's believed in reference to trans
women.

This time, a spokesperson for
Rowling said that this was

an accidental like caused by a
"middle-aged moment".

This was the first time I personally
started noticing things bubbling

around Rowling's potential
opinions about

the trans community, and it raised
a lot of questions at this point.

And I'm not sure how many people
bought into

the "middle-aged moment" thing.

But I think we can safely say that

at this point any anti-trans beliefs
and opinions that JK Rowling held

was something that she was not
really public or open about.

Personally, Harry Potter was
something I enjoyed in childhood.

It's also something that a lot of the
LGBT+ community enjoyed

and related to in many ways.

Rowling is seen as such an
influential figure

because of the success of Harry
Potter.

So the concept of someone
whose work was viewed

as an escape and a source of
comfort for many people,

including LGBT+ people, is now
being so anti-inclusive

when it comes to the trans
community

doesn't feel great to say the least

and I think has left quite a few
people feeling baffled.

2019 saw the initial shift of JK
Rowling

voicing her anti-trans
opinions/support of

anti-trans views more openly.

She vocally supported someone
who was called out

for sharing anti-trans views.

This person was suing the
company that chose

not to renew their contract, and
there were hashtags

and support going around on
Twitter

at the time that JK Rowling took
part in.

It was a turning point because
there was no excuse

of "accidentally" liking something

or having a "middle-aged
moment".

This was obvious support of
someone who tweeted things like:

At this point there were a lot of
questions

over Rowling's personal beliefs

and why she was supporting
someone

with such openly transphobic
ones.

Rowling herself at this point then
tweeted things like this:

It's pretty difficult to keep on
denying that JK Rowling

didn't have any anti-trans beliefs
at this point,

but this definitely still could have
been put down

to a one-off incident, a
misunderstanding of a situation,

or support for an individual in that
particular scenario.

But then we move to 2020.

2020 saw a big escalation in both
her frequency of sharing

and her obviousness of her views
on people who are transgender.

It all seemed to kick off in June
2020, when she tweeted out

a response to the use of the
phrase "people who menstruate".

This tweet was rightfully called out
because there's no need to mock

or feel threatened by the use of
gender-neutral language.

By its very nature, inclusive
language does not exclude anyone

and is used only on a top level
when necessary.

Women who menstruate will still
be referred to

as women on an individual level,

but neutral language like this in
things like articles

and healthcare leaflets helps
reduce dysphoria

and make sure that trans men and
AFAB non-binary people

are aware that they are involved in
those conversations,

and also that women who don't
menstruate don't feel forgotten about.

Because women's rights have
been fought for years

to ensure that women are seen as
equals, as people,

not just a means of reproduction,
and not just boil down to

their parts and reproductive
organs.

So why wouldn't people want to
make sure that the language

we're using doesn't demean
women or exclude others,

including many women who for
reasons such as medical issues or,

most commonly, age also don't
menstruate?

When called out, Rowling
somewhat

doubled down on her stance,

but sugar-coated it by including
something about loving

and respecting trans people.

An important thing to point out
here as well is that nobody's

denied that sex is real.

There were a lot of mixed
messages in there,

and she also claimed that she
respects trans people's

rights to live authentically
and would march with us

if we were discriminated against.

Looking back at this now and
seeing

how vocal she's since been and
where her views have escalated to,

this feels very surreal to read.

Neither statement has transpired
to be true

based on how her views and her
sharing of her views

has evolved over the past few years.

Also, even in 2020, that "if trans
people were discriminated against

and march with them" was not an
"if",

it's constantly happening. It's a
when next,

it's happening right now.

And supporting transphobes and
mocking the use of

gender-neutral language and
using straw-man

arguments such as 'I just think sex
is real'

is not the way to go about
marching with trans people

who are being discriminated
against

or showing that you love and
respect them.

Very shortly after these tweets
happened,

Rowling shared an essay she wrote
about it.

Sharing the article in a tweet that
said "TERF wars".

This essay was filled with
half-truths, dog whistles,

outright misinformation and just
lacking justification

or evidence for the claims that
she was making.

Plenty of people have broken this
essay down,

myself and my partner included,

I will leave a link to the video down
in the description box.

We've heard it was important to
address this essay

and its Insidious transphobia, as
many people were not aware

of the inaccuracies and
took it at face value.

This is where a lot of the
comments about

"oh, she's not really transphobic"
come from.

And honestly, for people who
didn't really understand

trans issues, and if they weren't
close to a trans person

who they could talk to, I could see
how they might come away

from reading JK Rowling's essay
feeling confused and conflicted.

That's why we made a video to
break it down further

and show how these half-truths
were packaged

and the information was packaged
in a way

that was harmful to the trans
community.

This essay really marked a turning
point,

and alongside the tweet shared
earlier,

they sparked the beginning of JK
Rowling being seen

by trans people and trans allies as
anti-trans,

but it's also the time that she
started getting very passionate

support from TERFs and other transphobes.

Some of the allies who spoke out
against her views

included some very prominent
stars from the Harry Potter series,

with Daniel Radcliffe saying:

Emma Watson has also
commented on the situation

and voiced her trans support.

Rupert Grint has also spoken out,

stating he stands firmly with the
trans community.

Eddie Redmayne said:

And Bonnie Wright said:

All of them spoke out shortly after
the essay

was posted by JK Rowling.

They have received backlash for
their pro-trans stance,

even being accused of betraying
JK Rowling,

but it was so important for them
to speak up,

and I'm personally grateful for it,
as are many other trans people.

Rowling has managed to garner
such passionate support

and, albeit much smaller than the
support

that the trans community has.

Her words still carry such weight
and power,

and transphobes are so loud, it's
sometimes difficult to remember

that they are not the majority
viewpoint.

But just because they're not a
majority view

doesn't mean that they're not
causing harm,

and it doesn't mean that they're
not being used

as pawns in wider media and
political campaigns.

But still, to see the main cast
speak out like that

so quickly after Rowling's essay
was uplifting as a trans person

at a time that felt very unnerving
to be trans.

We're still not done for 2020,
though -

this all happened in June, and
Rowling

was not done with Pride Month
just yet.

JK Rowling tweeted a thank you to
fellow author

Stephen King after he retweeted
one of her tweets.

Someone then asked Stephen King
what his retweet

of Rowling's tweet meant for his
opinions on the trans community,

to which Stephen King replied:

Rowling then deleted her thank
you tweet to King.

Jumping ahead slightly to
conclude this element,

almost a year after this happened,
King spoke about the incident.

Apparently, Rowling, also blocked
him after his trans supportive

tweet, and he further stated that
he felt that

her belief about trans women was
wrong.

Alongside the pro-trans stances,
this time showed

an interesting shift and evidence
for the increases

in Rowling's transphobia over the
years

and, more importantly, an
unwillingness to see or hear

views that were different from her
own,

in that she seemed to block
and/or ignore

anyone who was calling her out or
saying

that she was causing harm.

What this achieves is an echo
chamber where people believe

that their opinion are more
supported than they actually are,

and thus this will strengthen one's
resolve

to stick with their opinions and
even increase

their beliefs and willingness to
share those opinions.

2020 is still not done. As the very
next month in July,

she posted a very long Twitter
thread after being called out

for liking a tweet that compared

hormone therapy to
antidepressants.

Just adding to that as well, the
assumption that

healthcare providers are always
really happy and provide

hormone replacement therapy
really easily to

trans people, when that's not the case.

Her thread made medical claims
about hormones

and liken the access to medical
transition

as a kind of conversion therapy for
young gay people.

The point about conversion
therapy, in particular

in reference to young gay people,
is a very dangerous

and horrible viewpoint to share.

It is based on several assumptions
that are wrong.

These are that, one, a majority of
trans people identify as straight.

Post-transition, they do not.

Two, that being gay is more
difficult or more

discriminated against than being
trans, so people, therefore,

transition to escape homophobia.

Both transphobia and
homophobia exist, are prevalent,

and no one would choose to face
either.

And three, the people going to
healthcare professionals

for support with their gender
identity are then being forced,

persuaded, manipulated or
pushed in some way

to transition when it's not the right
thing for them to do.

This is not happening and the low
regret rates evidence this.

To liken trans healthcare in any
way to conversion therapy

is abhorent and shows a complete
lack of awareness

to the weight those words can
carry and the harm they can do,

as well as a lack of understanding
about the trans community

and trans healthcare as a whole.

If transphobia was a rabbit hole, at
this point

JK Rowling was head first in the
hole up to her ankles,

and was deliberately or
accidentally building a very loyal

fan base who believed and trusted
her every word.

It's completely irresponsible in my
opinion to tweet so confidently

and so frequently and with such
authority

about a marginalised community
that you are, A) not a part of,

and B) you are lying about and
spreading misinformation about,

and also going directly against
what the community

is telling you is the truth.

And even more problematic is that

people are trusting what she's
saying

because she's rich, white, cis and
has a following,

which makes what she says all the
more harmful.

Why are we not listening to the
scientific and

medical professionals who know
the evidence and the facts

about the trans community?

So many trans people have called
and totally

debunked Rowling's viewpoints

and the evidence that she tries to
use to back up her views

and still she carries on and still
other people carry on

listening to and trusting her voice
above the trans communitiy's.