J.K. Rowling quote tweeted an article with the title: “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate”,taking issue with this and replying  “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” 

This tweet caused outrage on Twitter, and for good reason. She is taking offense that the article goes out of its way to include those who menstruate considering women are not, and have not, always been the only people to menstruate. She completely ignores the fact that transgender men, nonbinary and genderfluid people, and others on the gender spectrum can also menstruate. She also ignores the fact that not all women menstruate. The ignorance in this tweet is bliss, and she doesn’t even begin to acknowledge that what she said is hurtful to the transgender community and those who look up to her and her novels. 

I do not agree with how she blatantly chooses to ignore these facts to make herself look better in this situation. Instead of educating herself, she just brings up the importance of not erasing the concept of sex as she replies “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.” While she is not completely wrong in this statement, she also fails to see why so many people were hurt by the tweet. Sex and gender are two separate concepts. Sex refers to the biological aspects of a person, while gender refers to the socially constructed and psychological aspects. For example, a transgender woman may be assigned male at birth and have XY chromosomes, but her gender identity is female and therefore she should be treated as a woman. Rowling completely negates the difference between the two and refuses to accept that the comment she made was transphobic. 

J.K. Rowling posted a tweet captioned “TERF wars” with a link to her website with a lengthy blog post titled “J.K. Rowling writes about her reasons for speaking out on sex and gender issues”.

In the 3,600 word essay, Rowling expresses her struggles with abuse, gender dysphoria, sexism, and misogyny, as well as her response to those calling her out for being a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF). It is a term frequently used for transphobic people who claim to be feminists and was heavily aimed towards Rowling after her tweet on June 6. I could go on and on about the misconceptions of transgender people, and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, she makes in her blog post; however, I believe that could be an article in and of itself. I highly recommend anyone interested in this topic to read the entire post and come up with an opinion of their own. In my opinion, there are many aspects of this ridiculously long essay that I just do not agree with- notably, her comments on allowing transgender women and men to use the bathrooms that their gender coincides with. 

She makes it very clear that she believes transgender people need protection by adding that “like women, they’re most likely to be killed by sexual partners.” However, she then goes on to state that “when you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman, then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside.” This statement is transphobic. There is nothing about this statement that screams “I want to protect and care for transgender people”. It perpetuates the notion that transgender women can be a danger to society solely because they are assigned male at birth. This statement invites the idea that transgender women should not be allowed to use a restroom made for women blatantly because they are harmful to cisgender women. Any man could go into a woman’s restroom and attack a woman, to begin with. The doors to women’s restrooms are never locked; there is no barrier that keeps men out. If a man was really going to go attack women in bathrooms, he wouldn’t do it ‘in disguise as a woman’, he would just march on in. It is a disgusting comment that is so obviously rooted in transphobic beliefs, and it only makes Rowling sound like a hypocrite. She wants to protect cisgender women only, and her 3,600-word essay in which she is supposed to be defending herself only paints her out as a woman who could care less about the transgender community. 

Multiple Harry Potter actors and actresses made comments regarding the essay and their stance on her opinion. These include Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Bonnie Wright, and Evanna Lynch. They all shared their disagreement with her statements and their support for the trans community. 

J.K. Rowling posts a Twitter thread in response to a tweet by user @TrinerScot that reads: “Who had money on JK Rowling pivoting to supporting those who call people who take mental health medication ‘lazy’?”: “I take daily medication to function, this sentiment is beyond offensive, it is actively harmful to millions.” The thread is 11 tweets long, and she explains her mental health problems and how she took antidepressants when she was younger. While I do not want to discredit her and her mental health issues, she compares taking antidepressants with using hormones to transition as a transgender person. I do not think the comparison between the two is fair, as it implies that hormones are used to treat a mental illness and are harmful to transgender people when it is the opposite more often than not. She continues the thread to explain why she does not agree with hormones and medication. She wrote, “Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalization that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function.”

I think her original stance in comparing antidepressants to hormones was not as much of a reach, but comparing transitioning to conversion therapy is something that I could never agree with. She says this to spread awareness to the trans community so that they think about making a huge decision such as transitioning. However, she portrays detransitioning as something that happens often. In actuality, that is far from the case. According to a 2015 survey of about 28,000 people conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality, only eight percent of the respondents reported detransitioning, and 62 percent of those people said they detransitioned only for a short time due to pressure from family members and friends. I am not disregarding the fact that there are people who have regretted their decision to transition, but it is such a small percentage of people in comparison to the number of trans people whose lives are actively improved by transitioning that it is unfair to drill this idea into the heads of younger questioning people who are more vulnerable to believing anything they read on the internet. 

J.K. Rowling should not have a say in the lives of transgender people at all. As a cisgender, heterosexual, privileged white woman, she will not have to experience even an ounce of the discrimination that a transgender person will have to in their lifetime. She speaks from a place of a woman who feels threatened by transgender people, and it is obvious in the tone and wording she uses throughout these tweets. 

“Harry Potter” is one of my favorite series of all time. I love the world and characters and story building, but my love for the franchise should not excuse the fact that the creator is a transphobic “feminist” who would rather speak on the lives of others than focus on educating herself on a community she refuses to listen to. She continues to make hurtful comments towards the transgender community even though she consistently says that she supports them and the LGBTQ+ community alike. She made Dumbeldore gay as a way to gain the support and trust of these communities but failed to see that her words contradicted this.