J.K. Rowling on sex and trans issues

[Del06]

https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j...gender-issues/

I'm really not sure what to think about this. On the one hand, it seems absurd that a man can just go sign a paper, with no hormones or surgery, and say that from then on he's a woman. On the other hand, I think Ms. Rowling minimizes the bathroom issues for trans folks. On the third hand, I strongly disagree with canceling Rowling.

[mildcigar_2001]

Some of the trans community attempting to cancel J.K. Rowling is the canary in the coal mine.

Rowling is a bleeding heart liberal, and the radical trans community is trying to cancel her.

The far left is going to end up "red pilling" most normal people, and there will be a backlash.

I'm generally for non-discrimination against trans folks, but when you start denying simple biology and common sense that will eventually lead to trouble.

For example, the parents of genetic college woman swimmers who dared to complain about the university sponsoring a trans athlete (that beating the girls by greater than 30 seconds in some races) are being told to seek psychological counseling for themselves.

This sort of thing is going to blow up in the trans community's collective faces big time.

[corbindallas]

given how political she is, I rly don't mind if she gets bad press for it. It is kind of entertaining to see ppl from one side of the aisle get eaten alive by their own. I'd feel about that but given the climate and how Twitter is just a giant landmine bc of ppl like her I can just sit back indifferent to the outcome but at least be fascinated by how it plays out.

So those of us who stay out of it can at least have our popcorn ready as usual.

[Del06]

Funny, I thought Stavros would have something to say about this.

[thombergeron]

1. Gender-affirming medical and psychiatric care for gender non-conforming people saves lives. This is obvious when you think about it, and we now have solid scientific evidence proving it.

2. JK Rowling is a bigot and a shallow thinker. She is famous for writing popular children's books. Beyond the topic of children's literature, she has nothing relevant nor interesting to say about anything.

3. "Common sense" is not a real thing. It's a rhetorical device for dumb people who can't justify their position.

4. If you seek out sexual gratification from a group of people that you consider unworthy of dignity and respect, then you're fucking scum.

5. Treating people the way they want to be treated doesn't hurt you at all unless you're an asshole.

[Stavros]

Funny, I thought Stavros would have something to say about this.

I am still in Deutschland, but will reply in due course. Probably next week.

[Luke Warm]

Rowling is a bleeding heart liberal, and the radical trans community is trying to cancel her.

People can have "liberal" opinions on some topics, and "conservative" opinions on other topics. It's not good to reduce everyone into simple categories, because most people are more complicated than that. For example, there are liberals who really like their guns. And conservatives who really like smoking weed.

I also don't know how JK Rowling is being "canceled" when she remains one of the all-time most popular authors in the world. The word "cancel" seems kind of meaningless to me, especially considering how alarming the phrase is supposed to sound.

Can a world-famous author be mistaken about a topic, or have an opinion that is wrong? Sure, why not?

[filghy2]

I also don't know how JK Rowling is being "canceled" when she remains one of the all-time most popular authors in the world. The word "cancel" seems kind of meaningless to me, especially considering how alarming the phrase is supposed to sound.

It's amazing how many people appear prominently in the media complaining that their views are being suppressed. I'm sure JK Rowling has received more media attention precisely because she is (allegedly) being cancelled. What the net effect on her sales is I don't know.

I also don't know what the term means, or what it means to be against it. If famous people choose to express views publicly on an issue then other people have a right to agree or disagree. People also have a right to choose whether they read someone's books or not for whatever reason.

[Stavros]

A close friend of mine had SRS a few years ago. She would never claim to be a biological woman, and has said that those people like her who make the transition should be realistic, and reasonable in what they want and expect from society. Most of all right now, she wants the word Female on her passport.
She believes she has the right to be recognized in her 'new' Gender, which to her is a correction of a mistake, but does not think this gives her the right to, for example, take part in Beauty Competitions as a Woman. In this sense, it is a personal definition of Rights, rather than a legal one. But for some of the more 'Political' agitators in the Trans Community -if indeed there is one- Rights to have meaning must be enforced in law. It is hard to argue with that, yet it is not merely a matter of law that a Woman use Women's Lavatories. In this instance, the focus is on Men who are in the process of Transitioning, or who claim a Female Identity merely because they can.

Thus, the rift is between Gender as Biology, and Gender as Social Role -and the deliberate use of language to breach that divide by claiming it doesn't exist. Post-Modernism and Deconstruction may argue that all definitions are socially constructed and only have contextual meaning, but not everyone agrees. It might be true in some cases, such as 'Mother' and 'Father', or 'Marriage'.

It is somewhat odd that the 'Left' be blamed for much of this, as I can't imagine why a Marxist would ever argue in favour of fluid meanings when it is anchored in definitions that cannot change as long as Class Conflict is the motor of history. But then 'the Left' has become a fluid group of disunited and often contradictory groups.

I don't think JK Rowling is hostile to trans people, but only to those who make intolerant demands of others who just don't agree with their definitions. It is absurd for some trans people to claim absolute equality with women when their own position denies there is an absolute meaning to any category we use, other than life and death (and this is an assumption). The aggressive posturing does them no favours, even as it is odd that Rowling and others like her cannot acknowledge that Biology is not always exact, and specifically so in the case of babies born with no precise male or female genitalia. I thnk there is no argument about that, but about the self-identity process, which raises more questions than it answers.

Hence those men who claim to be women just because they can, some of whom hang around Women's Lavatories for sexual reasons, we are told- I cannot stop them, but they damage the cause of those who are transitioning out of something more profound than choice, who often face prejudice and violence from their own families and local community, who struggle with education and thus employment, have fallen victim to drug and alcohol abuse.

There are too many trans people in need of our support for me to be bothered by a fringe of politically motivated fanatics who are damaging the cause. I wish they would go away, but they are here to stay, and will provoke useless debate for some time to come.

[thombergeron]

It is absurd for some trans people to claim absolute equality with women when their own position denies there is an absolute meaning to any category we use, other than life and death (and this is an assumption).

Frankly, this is incoherent. Trans people want absolute equality with other people, regardless of gender identity.

Gender is not a biological phenomenon. It's a cultural one. We have organized our society around a binary concept of gender, so there are currently no spaces for trans people to occupy apart from "man" or "woman." So if you're, say, a trans athlete, you're not allowed to participate at all. J.K. Rowling is hostile to accommodations in language (they/them) and accommodations in participation (such as trans women in women's beauty contests). She supports, pretty strongly, the status quo as it relates to gender in our society, and we know, from evidence, that the western binary concept of gender is unhealthy for gender non-conforming people.

Hence those men who claim to be women just because they can, some of whom hang around Women's Lavatories for sexual reasons, we are told

This is a myth. Please refrain from spreading misinformation.