Joanne Rowling and other TERFs

[Jark]

Eddie Redmayne has spoken out too now.



“Respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative, and over the years I have been trying to constantly educate myself,” Redmayne said in a statement provided to Variety. “This is an ongoing process.”

“As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand,” he continued. “I disagree with Jo’s comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid. I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I do know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse. They simply want to live their lives peacefully, and it’s time to let them do so.”

 

[Phoenix]

I’m sure he’s hoping that would get him fired from that awful franchise.

 

[COB]

She's posted a long piece on her website. It's mostly more of the same shit (scary trans activists, TERF is a slur etc) and she talks about being a survivor of domestic abuse in the past which is why she's concerned about the risk of 'men' encroaching on women's spaces like shelters (yet again not accepting that trans women fucking AREN'T MEN).

 

[COB]

She also brings up the idea that changes to gender recognition laws will let men say they're a woman one day then a man again the next, which is such bullshit and she knows it! I'm actually quite shocked that she's used this 'clarification' to peddle the SAME OLD CRAP, probably to a bigger audience than it would've got before.

 

[Peekaboo]

So she's doubling down? I notice the tweet does not allow replies

What a reach to try and paint her concerns as men encroaching women's spaces... are we back at "Any man can say they are a woman and walk into a ladies toilet?" already?

 

[Jark]

oh my god

The writings of young trans men reveal a group of notably sensitive and clever people. The more of their accounts of gender dysphoria I’ve read, with their insightful descriptions of anxiety, dissociation, eating disorders, self-harm and self-hatred, the more I’ve wondered whether, if I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. I struggled with severe OCD as a teenager. If I’d found community and sympathy online that I couldn’t find in my immediate environment, I believe I could have been persuaded to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he’d have preferred.

yes, they're transitioning to be part of a community. because it's not like being trans is often synonymous with being ostracised by a huge number of communities...

 

[Peekaboo]

I'm reading the piece and I'm actually PERSONALLY AFFRONTED that she thinks she is supporting "gay people" with her fucking stance. Sorry Jo, you're not on my team on this one.

 

[COB]

Also she's concerned that too many people are transitioning these days.

 

[Jark]

I want to be very clear here: I know transition will be a solution for some gender dysphoric people, although I’m also aware through extensive research that studies have consistently shown that between 60-90% of gender dysphoric teens will grow out of their dysphoria.

ah yes, it was just a phase!

 

[COB]

Oh and she refers to herself as 'gender critical', so that's probably a sign there's no getting through to her now.

 

[Mats]

why would you gatekeep your experience with domestic abuse as the "right" experience with domestic abuse? anyone who suffers from domestic abuse should be able to go somewhere safe. I honestly can't fathom the perverted sense of hierarchy these TERFs are propagating

 

[Lucille]

Yeah she’s basically trans women should not get the support she had.

 

[Peekaboo]

Misguided as she still is, at least she's made an effort to explain herself better than in 180 characters, I'll give her that. Although the majority of that essay is more about selling her brand of feminism than acknowledging trans issues... her CONVENIENTLY CHERRY-PICKED selection of stats to construct her narrative is RATHER TRANSPARENT

 

[Peekaboo]

I've now read the whole thing and I cannot shake the feeling that she's constructing this narrative of "look at me with my decades-long concern about trans issues and my thorough research" (this coming from a person who called her Asian character CHO CHANG etc but LET'S NOT GO THERE) VS "a bunch of young, illiterate teenagers on tumblr who think it's fashionable to shout at older generations". WE CAN SEE THROUGH YOUR THINLY-VEILED PLOT JOANNE.

She may feel that way partly because of the abuse she's received on Twitter, fair enough, but it's not like she's been an INNOCENT BYSTANDER. She's piled on people, stoked the flames repeatedly and she's had countless times to apologise & explain her actions.

 

[COB]

EDIT: This account seems to have gone private, so the tweet won't show up now. It was a comparison of what Rowling said about Magdalen Berns in her article (that she had particular views on gender or whatever), and a screenshot of Berns comparing being trans to blackface and directly calling a trans person a "sick fucking freak".

 

[COB]

Also, this is lovely to see:

 

[jivafox]

 

[Kate]

FFS Alison

 

[Jark]

Don't worry about trans people's rights because... some men hate women? OK?

It feels like a lot of TERFs just fucking HATE men and cannot accept that a trans woman is a woman because she was born biologically male. They always say they have nothing against trans people, but this is a lie because they refuse to "allow" them womanhood. They see trans women as men attempting to take womanhood from them and not as women - they're obsessed with the idea that womanhood is solely about the female reproductive organ, and that if not born with it you aren't and can never be a woman. It's gross but it's also just weird, there's something so utterly black & white/lacking empathy about it that you'd have to call it a mental illness.

 

[Peekaboo]

I totally get the sentiment here and it's true that women get shouted down a hell of a lot more than men (and more viciously, know your place, etc), but it's also true that her statements and her doubling down is causing A LOT OF PAIN to people who are discriminated against REGARDLESS OF GENDER. I'm 100% for the sisterhood but her kind of feminism is not for me.

It's also quite telling that it's OLD(ER) PEOPLE who are broadly not understanding this - she keeps bringing up all these GAYS and LESBIANS from her generation to point out LOOK I'M NOT ANTI-LGBT but she's getting called out by all the YOUNG straight cis males and females including the ones that appeared in her films... She's coming across as those "concerned parents" from 20 years ago that would argue that it was wrong for gay couples to have children because all the SCIENTIFIC PROOF and just think about HOW BULLIED they'll be in school if they say they have two daddies etc. The world has passed these people by and they will pass JK too.

 

[Jark]

More weirdness...

 

[GNL]

Is Gaga's dead aunt a TERF?

 

[Tetris-Rock]

This isn't a surprise to me at all - I had an exchange with her on Twitter a couple of years ago when TERFs hijacked the front of the parade at London Pride and she was supporting the interlopers. Between Alison and Boy George, I can't help but wonder what has happened to all these gen x-ers who used to be at the cutting edge.

EDIT: This account seems to have gone private, so the tweet won't show up now. It was a comparison of what Rowling said about Magdalen Berns in her article (that she had particular views on gender or whatever), and a screenshot of Berns comparing being trans to blackface and directly calling a trans person a "sick fucking freak".

Magdalen Berns was an utterly BIZARRE human being. She was at Edinburgh Uni while my ex-girlfriend was the president of the LGBT Society and was known as the BIG TERF ON CAMPUS to the committee who expended hours of time dealing with her exploits, with largely consisted of persistent harassment of trans people on the associated Facebook group. The CULT OF PERSONALITY that developed around her years later when she became ill was just utterly baffling as someone who was aware of her in this capacity. Dying with wonky old GLINNER at her bedside? Literally WHAT ON EARTH?

Back to JOANNE, her comments here show that she has absolutely NO FUCKING IDEA what she is talking about.

 

[cwej]

I've read the whole blog and engaged in some facebook debating on this. The scary thing about trans rights is that even when you're talking to the most woke people, it seems they will defend black people, gay people, women, Islam, Christianity, etc etc etc - but there seems to be just one group they continue to reserve severe judgement over and that is trans people - one of the smallest of all those groups and one of the most ostracised.

How they cannot see the hypocrisy is beyond me.

 

[Phoenix]

I do love this statement from Warner which can be summed up as “words”

 

[SDF]

Lol at that Warner Bros statement.

Anyway 2020, THANK YOU for showing everyone what an utter cunt JK Rowling is.

And to anyone who defends her because she is a woman, oh do fuck off. Just because she is a woman does not give her the right to be discriminatory against others. Like come on. I’m a gay man, so do I get a free pass at some other minority group as well? It doesn’t work like that.

 

[Pingu]

I’m so upset at all of this, because as much as I don’t care for cancel culture and I try and separate this from her work, it HAS tarnished Harry Potter a bit for me.

I was in the middle of revisiting the books in lockdown and I’ve had to put them aside for the moment so I’m not sure whether this is just a temporary aversion but it’s still rubbish.

Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson etc speaking out is a lovely thing to see, but the films are shite anyway so that’s not helping much...

 

[Pingu]

Also actually pissing myself at that Warner Bros statement. Is it a PARODY of how to say absolutely nothing? Was there demand for them to put something out on this in the first place? If you have nothing to say then why waste time and resources saying it?

 

[Jark]

Also actually pissing myself at that Warner Bros statement. Is it a PARODY of how to say absolutely nothing? Was there demand for them to put something out on this in the first place? If you have nothing to say then why waste time and resources saying it?

Well she's the screenwriter on their series of five movies, of which the third is about to go into production, so there certainly is an expectation that they address this somehow given that they're clearly choosing to continue employing her.

They could have said they'll donate 10m to a trans charity which would've been easy for them to do, and then quietly hired someone else to write the next film. Money speaks though innit.

 

[Pingu]

Well she's the screenwriter on their series of five movies, of which the third is about to go into production, so there certainly is an expectation that they address this somehow given that they're clearly choosing to continue employing her.

They could have said they'll donate 10m to a trans charity which would've been easy for them to do, and then quietly hired someone else to write the next film. Money speaks though innit.

Fair enough. And on the plus side they’ve banked the statement now so they can use the exact same one word for word about Black Lives Matter too.

 

[VoR]

Also actually pissing myself at that Warner Bros statement. Is it a PARODY of how to say absolutely nothing? Was there demand for them to put something out on this in the first place? If you have nothing to say then why waste time and resources saying it?

I think it's some of Karen Collins' finest work, personally.

 

[cwej]

Lol at that Warner Bros statement.

Anyway 2020, THANK YOU for showing everyone what an utter cunt JK Rowling is.

And to anyone who defends her because she is a woman, oh do fuck off. Just because she is a woman does not give her the right to be discriminatory against others. Like come on. I’m a gay man, so do I get a free pass at some other minority group as well? It doesn’t work like that.

Sorry... you're gay?

 

[cwej]

Well she's the screenwriter on their series of five movies, of which the third is about to go into production, so there certainly is an expectation that they address this somehow given that they're clearly choosing to continue employing her.

They could have said they'll donate 10m to a trans charity which would've been easy for them to do, and then quietly hired someone else to write the next film. Money speaks though innit.

Could they have hired someone else to write the next film though? I imagine Rowling has ownership and rights to a lot of the characters and has the money to have demanded a pretty good contract in the first place to ensure no-one else could write them. That's my guess anyway.

 

[Phoenix]

I believe they had already gotten someone else to help writing them cause the first 2 were a disaster. But she’s still their cash cow, they have a theme park and toys to sell.

 

[SDF]

I hope the movement burns down Harry Potter World next

 

[SDF]

Sorry... you're gay?

just at weekends, when the wife is away

 

[Loufoque]

I didn't know she was still relevant and active TBH. What is this film series she is working on? I should really Google it; it's taken less time than writing this post.

 

[Kate]

I assume it's the Fantastic Beasts stuff.

 

[GNL]

Fantastic Breasts and Where to Find Them, in which Eddie Redmayne pretends to be trans to access women's only spaces. Or was that The Danish Girl?

 

[VoR]

The first Fantastic Beasts movie was kinda fun for what it was, despite my general antipathy for Eddie Redmayne.

The second was a bewildering, terribly written mess. I remember commenting at the time that just because JK can write children's books she sure as hell can't write screenplays.