Dear J.K Rowling

Ramblings 9 Minutes
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I’m a fan of Harry Potter. I’ve read the books, watched the movies, been to the theme park, and seen the movie sets. I’m not the most hardcore fan out there, but the series was and is important to me.

I’m also transgender.

And that puts me in a difficult position given the comments author J.K. Rowling has made regarding transgender people. Now, what are these comments and why are they a problem? Let’s go one step at a time to see why her comments don’t sit well with me (and many other transgender people).

Here are the tweets from June 6th that have been causing the recent commotion.

Tweet #1:

In the tweet, Rowling provides a comment on a May 28th opinion piece posted on Devex (a website that seems to provide news and resources on global development). The article more or less highlights the difficulties in providing menstruation resources in a world experiencing a pandemic and why it’s important to invest in menstrual health and hygiene.

Rather than focus on the point of the article, Rowling gets hung up on the language used in the title, which mentions “people who menstruate.” She apparently seems dumbfounded at the wording, thinking that the word “women” would have sufficed.

Are you wondering “why can’t they just say women?” It’s because people who menstruate includes girls, women, some transgender men, and some gender non-binary people. To just say “women” would be flat out wrong. It would be a refusal to admit that people who don’t identify as “women” can also menstruate (and that there are cisgender women who don’t menstruate).

You can’t be an ally to transgender people and also say that transgender men and non-binary people who menstruate are all women. Those people would disagree with that assertion, as well as the majority of the psychological and medical communities.

Tweet #2:

Unfortunately, the person she was responding to deleted their tweet, so I don’t have the full context here. From what I can tell, Rowling responded to a tweet that said she doesn’t know what she’s talking about and that there’s a distinction between “people who menstruate” and “women.”

Assuming that was the original post, her tweet is a bit baffling. She claims to know the distinction between “people who menstruate” and “women” and yet her first tweet seems to contradict that. Is she seriously claiming “women = people who menstruate” with 100% overlap? There’s no such thing as girls who menstruate or trans men who menstruate or women who don’t menstruate??

Tweet #3:

Rowling is told to talk to some queer people. She responds by saying her lesbian friend agrees with her.

What do I even say about this?

This is like those people who claim they can say something racist because they have a black friend who says it’s OK. Like … no. That’s not how that works. You aren’t allowed to put down an entire people because one person you know thinks it’s OK. They’re just as misled as you are.

Tweet #4:

A Twitter user calls Rowling a TERF and she responds by saying that the term is yet another way women are being unfairly hated on.

For those not in the know, TERF means trans-exclusionary radical feminist. It’s a term used to describe so-called feminists who are transphobic. TERFs tend to say that trans women aren’t women and they should not be included in women’s spaces.

Apparently Rowling takes offense to being called a TERF. This is despite her making statements that align closely with the definition of being a TERF.

Rowling obviously has a very specific view of what it means to be a woman, so wouldn’t the term be accurate? To turn this term into an attack on women is laughable. How is calling Rowling a TERF a form of hating women? Isn’t she the one who seems to hate certain types of women?

Tweet #5:

Rowling suddenly seems to think this debate is about whether sex is real or not. Apparently, without the existence of sex, there’s no way for gay people to exist and women’s experiences are erased.

Um. Wow.

Let’s take this one step at a time. First, why are we suddenly debating whether or not sex is real?

Second, since this seems to be the debate now, here are definitions 1a and 1b from Merriam-Webster’s page on sex (I’ve added bold for emphasis):

a. “either of the two major forms of individuals that occur in many species and that are distinguished respectively as female or male especially on the basis of their reproductive organs and structures”

b. “the sum of the structural, functional, and sometimes behavioral characteristics of organisms that distinguish males and females”

And here’s the definition of transgender:

“of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth”

Taken all together, what do we have here? Well, it looks like sex is a fundamental element of being transgender according to Merriam-Webster. You’re transgender when your gender identity is different from the sex you were identified as having at birth. So I think I can safely say most transgender people acknowledge gender and sex are two different things that both exist.

But while we’re on the topic, it should also be noted that sex is generally determined by looking at a person’s parts and organs. So in theory, while gender is determined by someone’s mental identity, sex is generally determined by someone’s physical traits. So if a transgender woman gets genital confirmation surgery (formerly called “sex change surgery”), wouldn’t their sex then be considered female by the definitions above? If XX and XY chromosomes are on anybody’s mind during this debate, you should definitely consider what I’ve just laid out here.

Another thing I should point out is that while male and female are the two major types of sex, there are also intersex individuals who don’t have a strictly male or female appearing sex. So please don’t think that male and female are the only sexes out there.

Anyway, to get back to the tweet at hand … it’s hard to really know what to say. Rowling is basically making up an argument nobody is trying to have. Saying “people who menstruate” isn’t a way of erasing sex or the experiences of women. If anything, we’re highlighting the reality of the varied life experiences of the world’s many identities. Rowling seems to be the one erasing experiences with these tweets. She fails to show love toward transgender people with these comments.

Tweet #6:

Rowling says she’s been empathetic to trans people for decades and feels kinship in our shared vulnerability. She states she doesn’t hate trans people just because she thinks sex is real.

OK then. I really am not seeing much empathizing going on here when you try to erase the experiences of non-women who menstruate. And I’m not even diving into Rowling’s past history of transphobic comments. So yeah, thanks for the sentiment, but I’m not seeing your empathy here.

Also, can we take a moment to evaluate how Rowling feels kinship toward trans people? Because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women? And her go-to example is the experience of male violence? That’s the first thing her mind goes to?

Tweet #7:

Rowling says she respects how trans people live and would march with us if we were being discriminated against for being trans. But also her life has been shaped by being a woman and it’s not hateful to say that.

Um…yeah? You’re right. It’s not hateful to say that your life has been shaped by being female. I’m really not sure what the point of this tweet is in the grand scheme of this rant. Rowling’s life is allowed to be shaped by her life experiences as a woman. No kidding. Is there an argument against that somewhere?

Tweet #8:

This retweet says that gay people and trans people used to be comrades-in-arms until some trans people insisted that biological sex was an illusion. LGBT protections and identities are based on sex.

…I’m pretty sure I’m still right in thinking most transgender people see biological sex as a real thing. And yes, many legal protections for LGBT+ people has been based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

I’m not sure how many other people agree with me, but honestly, I don’t think we should be hinging all our protections on a certain interpretation of the word “sex.” I think LGBT+ people should be fighting to include “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” in a new civil rights act for America. Because it’s far too easy for judges to interpret “sex” however they please, and so LGBT+ rights are in constant flux based on who is judging a case. We’re having the wrong argument here. We shouldn’t be arguing about the meaning of sex, but on passing legislation that protects everyone with no ambiguity. …but I digress.

Tweet #9:

Rowling shares an article from The Velvet Chronicle, which claims to be a lesbian-run space for discourse. The article pushes a viewpoint that the LGBTQ movement has been putting down lesbians. Lesbians allegedly are afraid to be found out as lesbians at Pride-supportive organizations and hate the use of pronoun sharing. Apparently lesbians are being erased from LGBTQ events and are being shouted down and ignored.

Looking into this a bit, it looks like The Velvet Chronicle is run by TERF lesbians. They don’t always outright say it, but the writers and readers of The Velvet Chronicle seem to feel including transgender women in their spaces is harmful to them. They say that sharing pronouns somehow reinforces ideas of right and wrong ways to be female.

Like. What???? How? You can be butch, you can be feminine, you can be whatever and still be a woman going by she/her pronouns. Or if you prefer, you can go by they/them pronouns or no pronouns. That’s up to you. That’s the point of sharing pronouns. It’s part of the dismantling of gender norms, not the reinforcing of it. Like, what on earth are you even talking about? You just sound transphobic as heck with these statements.

I can assure you that the vast majority of the LGBT+ community is not trying to hide any part of its umbrella. The only people being shouted down or ignored are those who put down others in the community. The biggest example being TERFs. Now, gee, I wonder why Rowling shared an article from a seemingly TERF-run website? Hmm…

The only thing I have left to say at this point is…why? Why does Rowling insist on repeatedly putting down transgender people? She has so much influence and she uses it to crusade against people like me? During Pride month of all times? And when the world is in the middle of an important discussion about black deaths and police brutality?

I’m disappointed in you, J.K. Rowling.

Sincerely, a transgender woman.

 

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  1. Pingback: Dear J.K. Rowling (Part Two) | suspiciouslygeneric

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