DrZoidberg
Contributor
J.K. Rowling has of late been accused of transphobia becasue of some tweets she has made.
This is the most "transphobic" one.
"‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate"
The LGBTQ (etc) world went nuts and she was a target and accused of transphobia.
She then published a crime novel where the psycho killer is a transvestite.
At this point I thought J.K. Rowling was still the hero of the story. This whole movement of demanding "inclusive gender neutral language" is idiotic. Language isn't prescribed. It's an evolving creature of its own. People use the language they do because it's serves the communicators purpose. By inserting extraneous nonsense we confuse and make the language unclear. Something an author understands better than most people.
But here is were it gets interesting.
Here's the text that J.K. Rowling posts in her defence:
https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/...ns-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/
There's a couple of things here that make me react.
1. She draws a straight line between gender reassignment and biological men gaining access to female only spaces. As if transexuals raping straight women public restrooms is a big problem in the world. It isn't BTW. Yes, transexual women commit sex crimes at a rate comparable to any man. And since men perpetrate sex crimes about 100 times more than women they stick out in the statistic compared to women. But they're still rare. Roving gangs of transexuals in ladies lavatories isn't something any woman will ever have to worry about.
2. Why is she bringing up her own history of domestic abuse and being a rape survivor? How is this relevant in the discussion? It makes me think of gay rights opponents bringing up pedophilia and sex with animals as if that's the same thing as gay rights.
3. She makes herself out to be a spokesperson for this issue. She says she has been contacted by transexuals. So what? She's not an expert. Why does she have an opinion on this? She can just pass the ball over to an actual expert and then sit the fuck down. I understand that celebrities often do this. But it's never an excuse and not a behaviour anybody should condone. Being a celebrity doesn't make somebody a universal expert on every subject. I hate this. At no point in her letter does she explain why she's opening her mouth on a subject she's a complete outsider of.
4. I completely agree on her argument about their being biological differences between men and women. But how she ties that in with the rest? How is it relevant? It's like she's defending the right of girls to be girls and boys to be boys. Last time I checked that wasn't threatened by anyone. Trans rights is about giving opportunities to those boys and girls who don't want to be what they were born as, and nothing else.
5. Her argument about that it's whole groups of friend groups who have come out as transexual. So the fuck what? The teenage years are about experimenting with identity. Transexuality is the new thing. And a sure fire way for teens to annoy their parents. So obviously we'll get a huge overrepresentation in the stats. But we all know what this is about. Most of these kids will grow out of it. The ones who weren't genuine transexuals. That's no argument against transexuals peeing in ladies lavatories.
6. Also, this whole thing about transexual women wanting to be women. If you read what they're saying themselves, they're not. The trans community have since the trans rights movement was born, claimed that transexuals wanted to be acknowledged as a third gender. Neither men nor women. This is a straw man.
At this point I do think J.K. Rowling is transphobic. A phobia is an irrational fear of something and her fears do not seem rational at all.
Here's a summary of transexual women and crime.
https://medium.com/@evastanford/transwomen-sexual-offenders-a-closer-look-6c507d9e2414
Thoughts? Am I completely nuts here?
This is the most "transphobic" one.
"‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate"
The LGBTQ (etc) world went nuts and she was a target and accused of transphobia.
She then published a crime novel where the psycho killer is a transvestite.
At this point I thought J.K. Rowling was still the hero of the story. This whole movement of demanding "inclusive gender neutral language" is idiotic. Language isn't prescribed. It's an evolving creature of its own. People use the language they do because it's serves the communicators purpose. By inserting extraneous nonsense we confuse and make the language unclear. Something an author understands better than most people.
But here is were it gets interesting.
Here's the text that J.K. Rowling posts in her defence:
https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/...ns-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/
There's a couple of things here that make me react.
1. She draws a straight line between gender reassignment and biological men gaining access to female only spaces. As if transexuals raping straight women public restrooms is a big problem in the world. It isn't BTW. Yes, transexual women commit sex crimes at a rate comparable to any man. And since men perpetrate sex crimes about 100 times more than women they stick out in the statistic compared to women. But they're still rare. Roving gangs of transexuals in ladies lavatories isn't something any woman will ever have to worry about.
2. Why is she bringing up her own history of domestic abuse and being a rape survivor? How is this relevant in the discussion? It makes me think of gay rights opponents bringing up pedophilia and sex with animals as if that's the same thing as gay rights.
3. She makes herself out to be a spokesperson for this issue. She says she has been contacted by transexuals. So what? She's not an expert. Why does she have an opinion on this? She can just pass the ball over to an actual expert and then sit the fuck down. I understand that celebrities often do this. But it's never an excuse and not a behaviour anybody should condone. Being a celebrity doesn't make somebody a universal expert on every subject. I hate this. At no point in her letter does she explain why she's opening her mouth on a subject she's a complete outsider of.
4. I completely agree on her argument about their being biological differences between men and women. But how she ties that in with the rest? How is it relevant? It's like she's defending the right of girls to be girls and boys to be boys. Last time I checked that wasn't threatened by anyone. Trans rights is about giving opportunities to those boys and girls who don't want to be what they were born as, and nothing else.
5. Her argument about that it's whole groups of friend groups who have come out as transexual. So the fuck what? The teenage years are about experimenting with identity. Transexuality is the new thing. And a sure fire way for teens to annoy their parents. So obviously we'll get a huge overrepresentation in the stats. But we all know what this is about. Most of these kids will grow out of it. The ones who weren't genuine transexuals. That's no argument against transexuals peeing in ladies lavatories.
6. Also, this whole thing about transexual women wanting to be women. If you read what they're saying themselves, they're not. The trans community have since the trans rights movement was born, claimed that transexuals wanted to be acknowledged as a third gender. Neither men nor women. This is a straw man.
At this point I do think J.K. Rowling is transphobic. A phobia is an irrational fear of something and her fears do not seem rational at all.
Here's a summary of transexual women and crime.
https://medium.com/@evastanford/transwomen-sexual-offenders-a-closer-look-6c507d9e2414
Thoughts? Am I completely nuts here?