'Harry Potter' Fans Slam J.K. Rowling After New Transphobic Tweet

By Michael Hein

J.K. Rowling made another transphobic tweet on Sunday, sending the whole social media platform into an uproar. The Harry Potter author posted an op-ed from The Sunday Times, where writer John Boothman criticized the Scottish government for a new policy that allows people to self-identify their gender upon arrest. Rowling added her own dramatic caption: "War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman."

Both Rowling's tweet and Boothman's article represented logical leaps without basis in fact that have been used to demonize trans people for years. Boothman complained that under the new policy, police will document arrested people by the gender they identify with, even if they haven't gone through the legal gender change process. He speculated that this could theoretically mean a person with a penis could sexually assault a person with a vagina and then "self-identify" as a woman upon their arrest in an attempt to go to a women's prison – a scenario that remains unprecedented and statistically unlikely. In general, this kind of fear-mongering is more often used to restrict transgender rights than to protect cisgender women.

Extensive reporting has been done to combat this predatory myth pushed by Rowling here and in other instances – including this 2016 report by Time. The bottom line is that granting transgender people rights and basic recognition such as access to the public restroom of their choice has never been accompanied by a commensurate rise in crime, whereas restricting their rights has been associated with crimes against transgender people – one of the most disproportionately harassed groups in the world.

Critics let Rowling know about all of this once again Sunday, although she has been informed hundreds of times by now. Many left sad comments saying that they love Rowling's work and once respected her, but now cannot support her in good conscience. Others laughed at the author for obsessing over an issue that is unlikely ever to affect her rather than just enjoying her massive wealth and success. Read on for some of the top comments sent Rowling's way this weekend.

Waste of Time

Critics question why Rowling is so fixated on this issue when it has so little bearing on her own life. They felt that if Rowling was really just concerned with the safety of cisgender women, there were better uses of her time and influence than posting inflammatory tweets, not to mention better uses of her immense wealth and resources.

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Survivors

Survivors of sexual assault felt that Rowling was missing a major point here by implying that only cisgender men carry out the crime. They felt like this kind of over-simplification did much more harm than good.

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Support

As usual, Rowling's tweet led to discussions of boycotting all Harry Potter media and products, since there is no way to patronize the franchise without further enriching Rowling. Former fans swapped recommendations for other young adult fantasy series to enjoy.

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Hypocrisy

Fans pointed out the hypocrisy of Rowling's rhetoric about sexual assault as she continues to support actor Johnny Depp and, apparently, his friend singer Marilyn Manson. Rowling acknowledged sexual assault allegations against Depp in a 2017 blog post, but wrote that "based on our understanding of the circumstances, the filmmakers and I are not only comfortable sticking with our original casting, but genuinely happy to have Johnny playing a major character in the movies." Fans noted the other high-profile cases on which she did not feel the need to give her opinion.

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Anne Rice

Since beloved author Anne Rice passed away this weekend, fans took this opportunity to compare Rowling's anti-trans rhetoric to Rice's vehement support for the trans community.

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Ghislaine Maxwell

Commenters felt that the timing on this tirade was strange considering that Ghislaine Maxwell is currently on trial for sexual assault, among other things. Again, many said that Rowling is implying that only cisgendered men commit sexual assault, which is a harmful form of invalidation.

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Supporters

Finally, many people thought that Rowling's defenders were a strong indication of which end of the political spectrum her views were taking her towards.

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