It was just recently that us Potterheads woke up to J.K Rowling‘s disappointing tweets about transgender people. A few days ago, the author had taken to Twitter to post a series of tweets that received severe backlash from everyone including her fans. In her tweets, she expressed views that mixed up the idea of sex and gender by sharing what seemed to be an article that talked about making the post COVID world a safer place for people who menstruate. She joked saying oh what do we call, people who menstruate again? By giving various suggestions hinting that it was obvious that they should’ve just said, women.
Check out her tweet:
‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020
As you can imagine, she received huge backlash for her comments many calling her insensitive to the trans community. What’s worse? She refused to budge from her point by stating that she loved trans people.
Take a look:
If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020
The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women – ie, to male violence – ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences – is a nonsense.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020
While many celebrities spoke up against her, most recently the actor who bought Harry Potter to life on screen, Daniel Radcliffe wrote a blog reacting to Jo’s tweets. The actor mentioned that Rowling was unquestionably responsible for the course his life had taken, but he felt obliged to speak up as a person who has worked with transgender people through the NGO The Trevor Project.
He expressed his disagreement with Jo’s views in a blog post on The Trevor Project website.
He wrote:
Transgender women are women, Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Rowling or I.
To all the people who now feel that their experience of the Harry Potter books has been tarnished or diminished, I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you,” Radcliffe said later. “I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you. […] If you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion, nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.
He also said that many in the media might portray this as a fight between him and Jo.