For instance, Rowling is friends with numerous anti-trans activists, including Helen Joyce, who’s made alarmingly transphobic statements calling for a “reduction” in the number of trans people. Since Rowling began airing her views, her community, especially online where many of these conversations are had, is now stacked with similarly minded people who share her transphobic beliefs. Conspicuously, many of her legal threats appear to be directed at individuals identifying as part of the LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, she increasingly threatens detractors with legal action, which contributes to critics of her behavior falling silent. These dog whistles only lead to more confusion, however, allowing people to point to the absence of immediately obvious bigotry to claim she’s being unfairly maligned. For those attuned to it, she doesn’t have to spell it out every single time it’s a huge part of her identity. By 2023, her transphobia has become so rampant and constant that it’s difficult to build a completely comprehensive timeline of it. Rowling has made her antagonistic position on trans issues clear through tweets, sound bites, actions, and even a 3,600-word blog post. She’s also peddled explicit fear of trans people, particularly trans women, insisting they’re an inherently dangerous threat to cisgender women.Īlthough some in the media distort the anger directed at Rowling from trans activists, trans people, and allies, the truth is those feelings - not just anger, but betrayal and grief - are justified. Some of this confusion around Rowling’s opinions can be cleared up with a definition of transphobia, which doesn’t - despite the “phobia” - solely mean fear of trans people, but, per Merriam-Webster, also an “irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against transgender people.” (In fact, Merriam-Webster’s own examples list cites multiple articles related to Rowling.) Rowling can say she likes everyone, but she has displayed that prejudice time and again. It’s a position you can see on social media, in the pages of the New York Times, and even on a new podcast with Rowling herself. Rowling’s supporters frequently claim the author has never actually said or done anything transphobic.

Hogwarts legacy best house reddit