I often see online, and unfortunately, in everyday life people who are transphobic. I also witness folks who would not consider themselves transphobic but express concerns about gender in sports and such (I have stated I don't mind Trans athletes at all, but have seen others approach the argument at least in good faith). That said, even people who sometimes ponder trans issues or might even be transphobic don't only focus on that. I've seen big ol' transphobes have at least a handful of other hobbies and not have their entire personality be obsessing over transgender concerns. I mean, even transgender individuals worry about other things than being trans, believe it or not! They're just like cisgender folks in that they sometimes consider what they need at the grocery store, or if they remembered to turn the living room light off before they left the house to run errands (I'm being a little sarcastic here, but you see my point). All of this said, why does J.K. Rowling seem to talk about nothing lately besides her transphobia?
In a time that seems long ago, J.K. Rowling was actually best known for writing some decently entertaining books about a boy wizard named Harry Potter. The, "Harry Potter," books were not the best literature around, but they were fine and I enjoyed the first four before seeing how massive the fifth book was as a high schooler and deciding, "Nah, I don't like these books that much to read all that." Those books were then made into movies that I would argue are better than they should be thanks to an insanely talented cast. At some point, however, weird little things happened hinting at Rowling possibly not being a fan of transgender people. Random tweets getting liked by her before being unliked and attributed to accidentally clicking them. Around 2020--amid the pandemic when there was nothing better for a lot of us to do than be online--Rowling made it apparent she was quite opposed to transgender folks with a variety of internet comments that only kept snowballing into an avalanche of TERF behavior.
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| When you're so transphobic it is a bit much for the other transphobes. |
So, Rowling said some shitty things about trans people on occasion and as I wrote about this back in 2020, it becomes a question of separating the author from their art. The problem, however, seems to be that Rowling would rather everyone know her feelings on transgender people constantly, to the point she is more known now as a person who says hateful things online and occasionally writes a book than she is as an author who sometimes says sketchy things--the, "Author," aspect of Rowling has turned into more of an afterthought with her focus seeming to almost entirely be on ranting and raving about trans people to the point even Elon Musk (himself no ally to LGBTQ people) pretty much asked her to tone it down a notch.
The confusing thing here is that Rowling is the creator is one of the most popular brands around and the mind behind the World of, "Harry Potter," so why not just make some more books with zero trans characters if you really are that upset by trans people? You are the sole authority on the Wizarding World you created and could write more books set in that World--and people would buy them whether they like your opinions on trans folks or not because you've got a lot of diehard fans despite everything!
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| What Rowling used to be known best for. |
Seriously, write some more books about your magical World that lack any notable people of color or any gender diversity if that is what you want to do--you own the rights and can have it reflect your views for better or worse, J.K. Rowling, why are you wasting time tweeting hateful thoughts on trans folk? Just make your happy little wizard world a safe space for yourself and let those who want to dip their toes into it do so and others avoid it due to not liking your views. That way we don't have to see your nonsense on Twitter and you can make your perfect little world of cisgender and mostly white wizards! You've got a whole magical Universe you can expand upon, so why not do that? Are you just out of ideas to the point all you can find the energy to do is say hateful things on Twitter and redo the Harry Potter franchise as a television series as opposed to movies that were made so recently that the whole thing seems like an empty cash-grab?
I have a wide array of friends. Some are cisgender, some are trans, and some are nonbinary/genderqueer. Some of my cisgender friends have opinions on transgender issues I disagree with and we talk about it sometimes--but here's the thing--that isn't the only thing we talk about! There are things we agree on as well as stuff we don't agree on and we cover a lot of subjects as most human beings do in conversations. My trans friends and I talk about things other than how they are trans as well because they are multifaceted people who are trans, yes, but also have other things they consider in everyday life. J.K. Rowling seems to only want to talk about trans people and seems to have such a poor understanding of trans folk that she believes they spend 100% of their time focused on how they are trans. No, Joanne, the only person who has made trans issues their entire personality is yourself. You need a new subject to harp on because at this point your metaphorical fingers must be bleeding from plucking that metaphorical instrument non-stop these last four or so years. Play a new song, Rowling, this one got old quite a while ago.
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