I am often embarrassed. It is, more or less, an occupational hazard; the perpetual state of being for someone unfortunate enough to possess a scintilla of self-awareness and stupid enough to make a living on the Internet. Tant pis, woe is me, etc.
Rarely, however, do I feel more embarrassed than when I see the latest offering from J.K. Rowling, formerly beloved author, currently unhinged TERF.
If you weren't aware, over the last several years Rowling has decided that a reputation is a wonderful thing to tarnish, and what was once, perhaps, a lukewarm "I'm just asking questions!" from Rowling has turned into a consistent and increasingly rabid offensive against trans people, especially trans women.
wrote a great piece on it earlier this month. And last week, Glamour published one of those helpful timeline articles, showing how the author's transphobic views have developed since at least 2018, gradually becoming more entrenched in hate and bigotry.As a reminder, trans people face "significantly higher rates of suicide and suicide attempts compared to the rest of the population" (CNN), are more likely to suffer from sexual abuse and intimate partner violence than other members of the LGBTQ+ community (National Domestic Violence Hotline), and experience homelessness at a much higher prevalence than the general population (The Trevor Project).
The trans community does not need someone with a platform like Rowling's minimizing not only their struggle, but their very existence. And yet, whatever the opposite of an ally is — that is what the author has become.
Rowling does that thing that TERFs do, which is to undermine the struggle for trans women's rights in the face of the struggle for women's rights. As if the two were not inextricably intertwined — as if any definition of feminism that does not also include trans women could possibly be complete.
Boldly from her castle in Scotland, Rowling spews these views with decreasing subtlety and rising impunity. Stupidly, every tweet of hers shocks me anew. It is such a strange embrace of meanness.
More recently, she has begun to dabble in what we might call Holocaust revisionism by rejecting the well-established fact that the transgender community, including people, research, and literature, was one of the groups targeted by Nazis.
It becomes less surprising, perhaps, once you realize that once someone embraces hate against one marginalized group, there is little to hold them back from the brink.
That's not all, though. Not even a little bit (not even at all). Because, not satisfied with using her significant reach to broadcast her growing xenophobia, Rowling and her feckless legal team have taken advantage of the UK's frankly deranged libel and defamation laws to silence critics. Any critics.
Brown is a Jewish woman, threatened by and with the resources Rowling has been able to amass thanks in large part to decades of support from readers like you and me, who was forced to issue a public apology earlier this week for having previously tweeted something that is, by many accounts, true. To wield such power and influence and use it in service of censorship and cruelty — god, what a loathsome, humiliating way to exist.
I let go of Rowling's connection to Harry Potter a long time ago, once her thoughts on trans issues became evident. It wasn’t difficult, especially as the rights and lives of trans and non-binary folks continue to be endangered in our so-called progressive countries; sad, more like, to realize that someone responsible for such a significant chunk of joy from my childhood is, and has perhaps always been, a terrible person.
It's silly, I know. It's not like what the woman wrote was high literature. Sorcerer's Stone was, however, the book that cemented my love of reading as a child. I was seven, I think, when my mom read the first couple of chapters to me — La Piedra Filosofal, because we still lived in Uruguay at the time and I spoke no English. After that, it was off to the races. It was the first time I understood a person could become engrossed in a book’s imaginary universe.
When we moved to Italy a little over a year later, the first four in the series (the remaining three had yet to be published) were the only books I could bring with me. I read them over and over and over again, finding immense comfort in the familiarity.
Just before we left Italy, a classmate presented me with a parting gift: the Italian audiobook to the first book in the series. I treasured the eight CDs, held in little pockets inside a hard greenish case. For months after moving to Miami, I would pop each CD consecutively into my little discman, marveling at the audacity of the Italian translator who had decided to forgo the phonetic hurdle of the word "Dumbledore" and instead called him Albus Silente. (I can see you itching to give this last bit a confirmatory google — go for it, but I promise it's true.)
Midnight film premieres? I was there. Book releases? My neighborhood Borders never recovered from the teeming teenagers frothing for brand-new pages. I still remember finishing the last book and calling my friend Claudia, the one who introduced me to fanfiction, to complain at length about the epilogue (we repeated “all was well?!” back and forth to ourselves in mounting disbelief at what we’d just read).
I won't even get into fandom and fanfiction here, because that would take entirely too long, but suffice it to say that without it, I wouldn't have begun experimenting with writing, and my teenage ennui would've tipped to the sad end of lonely. (However: speaking of fanfiction,
and had a fun conversation about the iconic Manacled a few weeks ago — I can't remember if I've already mentioned it on the newsletter, but you can read it here.)All the personal lore to say: I get it.
It is bizarre that someone who with mere silence could have maintained her status as Beloved Children’s Book Author until the end of time would choose to throw it all away by doubling down on cruel, xenophobic views, views that have seen her unilaterally feuding with Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, among others who have disavowed her transphobia. It really makes no sense, but it is a waste of time to search her behavior for any hints of rationality. Obviously, logic was abandoned long ago.
Rowling has made her stance abundantly clear, and yes, it’s disappointing, but it is also more than that. For the rest of us, especially those of us who grew up as fans and essentially gave her this platform, it is an opportunity to educate ourselves if need be, to distance ourselves from the author, and to stand with the trans community by continuing to repudiate and call out Rowling as she carries on with her senseless, harmful tirades. No book or memory or fuzzy feeling is worth standing by such a small person.
Thank you for reading! As always, you can find me on twitter, instagram, and tiktok. This newsletter is my pride and joy, with issues on topics like the celebrity apology industrial complex, Barbie’s Oscar noms, debriefing the Bezos’ fake normalcy, the week when everyone was deranged, and Stanley cups and hyperconsumerism.
P.S. If you share the post or a snippet on social media (thank you!), please tag me (I love to see it!), and include a link if possible. x
The real nail in the coffin for me with JK Rowling was last year when her friend Posie Parker came to Melbourne where I live, had an anti trans rally that attracted neo nazis out in public who were on her side and then JK still stood by her on twitter and is still, seemingly, friends with her. I don't know about others but if one of my friends had neo nazis coming out to publicly agree with them they would no longer be a friend.
I found Matt Bernstein’s a bit fruity pod on this topic sooo brilliant and informative recently. As the parent of a NB kid, I try not to dig into her specific hate too much so that was an excellent summary of it. Also your 10 things ref, omg 😊