JK Rowling defends stance against trans rights but critics overtake #IStandWithJKR after it trends
J. K. Rowling stands by her earlier tweets about gender identity. She believes that trans people shouldn't be allowed to legally change their sex to reflect the choice of gender that they identify by because she believes that this would allow individuals to exploit the law and manipulate it. The author of the famous 'Harry Potter' series wrote a personal blog to explain how and why she came to a conclusion regarding her stance on "an issue surrounded by toxicity". Her stance, however, brought upon more backlash and #IStandWithJKR which started off as a show of support for the author was taken over by critics of Rowling's argument.
Many celebrities including Emma Watson who played the role of Hermione Granger in the film adaptation of the author's celebrated work showed support for trans people after Rowling's tweets came under fire. Rowling wrote, "My interest in trans issues pre-dated Maya’s [Forstater] case by almost two years, during which I followed the debate around the concept of gender identity closely. I’ve met trans people, and read sundry books, blogs, and articles by trans people, gender specialists, intersex people, psychologists, safeguarding experts, social workers, and doctors, and followed the discourse online and in traditional media."
The detailed piece also lists five reasons "for being worried about the new trans activism, and deciding I need to speak up." This included her charitable trust that focuses on alleviating social deprivation in Scotland, with a particular emphasis on women and children. Rowling wrote about the second reason and said, "I’m an ex-teacher and the founder of a children’s charity, which gives me an interest in both education and safeguarding."
She added, "The third is that, as a much-banned author, I’m interested in freedom of speech and have publicly defended it, even unto Donald Trump." The author's fourth reason claims homophobia as one of the main reasons that individuals who were gay or lesbian chose to transition as a cause to worry and wrote, "The fourth is where things start to get truly personal. I’m concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility. Some say they decided to transition after realizing they were same-sex attracted, and that transitioning was partly driven by homophobia, either in society or in their families."
As her final reason, she wrote, "I’ve been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor." She explained, "I’m mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces."
Her piece also cites various studies, research papers, and instances of crime against trans people to support her argument. While this did garner enough support to start the trend of #IStandWithJKR, critics soon took the hashtag over by criticizing the author for peddling more homophobia with her piece. From sarcastic posts with tweets that say "#IStandWithJKR lol no I don't and if you do please leave me the f**k alone," or "#IStandWithJKR because I’m an idiot" to GIFs of the middle finger, the trend was taken over by detractors to show support to trans people.
One critic wrote, "If you unironically use #IstandwithJKR you’re the scum of the earth #jkrowling." Another added, "J. K. Rowling be like: 'today I wanna invalidate the experiences of trans women because I feel brave' #istandwithjkr."
Another detractor wrote, "#IStandWithJKR in the same way she stands with trans people. Which is to say, not at all." Another critic of Rowling's argument wrote, "If you #IStandWithJKR then you don't care about women. Period. Feminism and gender equality must be intersectional and all-inclusive, otherwise, it isn't feminism at all; it's bigotry by another name."
GLAAD reacted to J. K. Rowling's essay and said in a statement, “It seems J. K. is good at only one thing, writing fantasy, her misinformed and dangerous missive about transgender people flies in the face of medical and psychological experts and devalues trans people accounts of their own lives. She is sowing divisiveness in a time when real leaders are driving toward unity. And to all the trans and cisgender youth raised on her books who are now loudly speaking up in support of the trans people you know and love, you are the future and we can’t wait to read and watch the beautiful art you will create.”