I’m old enough to remember when the Harry Potter books first started coming out, and all the adults said things like, “Well, those books are silly, but at least kids are reading something.” Then Rowling became richer than the queen of England, and all those kids who read her books grew up to get media jobs where they compared every single current event to something from one of her books. “Read another book!” became a rallying cry among the elderly. But those kids haven’t read another book, and they won’t read another book. They revere Rowling like a saint.
Having a core audience of millennials has its drawbacks. They don’t react too well when you start talking about facts and biology and other tools of the cisnormative patriarchy.
Sophie Gallagher, The Independent:
JK Rowling has defended a woman who lost her employment tribunal after her opinions on sex were ruled “absolutist”.
The Harry Potter author tweeted in support of Maya Forstater, 45, who was fired from her job at poverty think-tank, Centre for Global Development, over a series of tweets questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender.
Dress however you please.
Call yourself whatever you like.
Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.
Live your best life in peace and security.
But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 19, 2019
How about that. The lady who became a billionaire by writing about magic is now coming out in favor of science.
And there was much lamenting and rending of garments:
As a teenager from an abusive home living in poverty and facing bullyinh, reading Harry Potter supported me and knowing what JK Rowling survived made her an inspiration to me
As a trans adult still living in poverty, I can’t help but be disgusted by all JK Rowling now stands for https://t.co/DprQrm7cvc
— (@4kshatra) December 19, 2019
JK Rowling really is a bigot and I hope it’s safe now to say so openly since she just went ahead and said it with her full face now?
— Angry Gay Yeehaw (@RealDorianDawes) December 19, 2019
Welp. Now we don’t have to feel bad about the fake spoilers we stick in all our JK Rowling books. pic.twitter.com/hyvRck0mx4
— Capitol Hill Books (@chbooksdc) December 19, 2019
Trans women are women.
Trans men are men.
Non-binary people are non-binary.CC: JK Rowling.
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) December 19, 2019
“Scholars doubt that this person ‘JK Rowling’ even existed. Some theorize that the books were actually written by Sir Francis Bacon. Others believe they were authored by Christopher Marlowe. However, most scholars agree that the books simply appeared one day as if by… magic?”
— Travis McElroy, The Internet’s Best Friend (@travismcelroy) December 19, 2019
JK Rowling is a TERF but also she’s a billionaire and I’m just saying the solution to one problem solves the other.
— Emily G (@EmilyGorcenski) December 19, 2019
Rowling taught an entire generation to believe in magic. Now she has betrayed them by pointing out that in the real world, you can’t just wave a magic wand and turn yourself into a member of the opposite sex.
(By the way, “TERF” stands for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.” It refers to someone who believes in both feminism and science. That’s a big no-no!)
I don’t have a unicorn in this fight. I’m just enjoying the spectacle as these loons devour each other. This too is probably reminiscent of something that happened in one of Rowling’s books, which I will never read.
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