“If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak truth.”
“The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women - i.e., to male violence - ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequence - is a nonsense.”
“I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it is hateful to say so.”
These were the tweets of Harry Potter author JK Rowling last weekend, resulting in a backlash where many labelled her comments as transphobic and bigoted. This is not the first time she has been caught amidst controversy on this issue. Last December, Rowling tweeted support for a woman who was fired for stating her belief that sex is real. Last June, she was criticised for reaching out to a young feminist, and lesbian, who was dying of an aggressive brain tumour. The woman in question was a great believer in biological sex, and had argued against the trend of lesbian women being called bigots for refusing to date pre-op trans women. As a result, Rowling was classed as a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist).
In response to the backlash Rowling received after the latest comments on trans issues, she on Wednesday released a near 4000 word essay explaining her tweets in greater detail, and the reasoning behind her views. This has been branded by some as a ‘transphobic manifesto’, ‘steeped in fear and hate’. The reality is this is just the latest example in the continuing trend of removing nuance from complex conversations surrounding sex, gender and identity.
Among a certain subset of trans rights activists, their central assertion is that biological sex is a social construct, like gender. It follows that anyone who ‘believes’ in biological sex is denying the existence of trans and gender non-binary people. As such, it doesn’t matter how supportive JK Rowling says she is of the rights of the trans community, nor how much she claims to know and love them, because her fundamental claim that biological sex exists is evidence enough that she must hate trans people.
“It isn’t enough for women to be trans allies. Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves”
But Rowling is very clear in her support for trans people, both in her tweets, and in her long essay from Wednesday - just not in the way trans activists would like. Consequentially, she is brandished a bigot by many trans activists, acting as self-appointed representatives of all trans men and trans women. Which they are not.
It isn’t only trans activists that have criticised her - the Hollywood bandwagon have joined the club. Specifically the Harry Potter Hollywood bandwagon. Daniel Radcliffe criticised Rowling claiming that any statement contrary to saying that trans women are women ‘erases the identity and dignity of transgender people’. Eddie Redmayne expressed similar disappointment at the Harry Potter creator’s comments, saying that his trans friends and colleagues are ‘tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse’. I guess we shouldn’t be all too surprised at their comments given both spend their lives on screen and stage being told what to say in order to please an audience. Old habits die hard.
But Rowling’s views put their finger on a very important issue regarding trans rights and women's rights. Mainly, that if we deconstruct biological sex completely to the point of saying it doesn't exist, what happens to conversations over women’s rights. This is a problem which has plagued feminist and postmodern theory for decades. What is and isn’t included in the category of ‘woman’ ? If there are defined limits of who can be included in the category of 'woman', it will be exclusionary to some. Therefore the definition of woman is anybody who says they are a woman - in other words, there are no limits on what defines a woman. How do you tackle issues faced by women if there is are no limits on what a woman is ?
This is an issue that has real world consequences. Whether it be trans women competing in sport having benefitted from their development as a male body, or trans women winning 'woman of the year' awards. These are examples of women being excluded by trans women. It is a very complicated issue though. Where is the place for trans men and women by keeping the binary classifications of sex ? The danger is there isn't one. But it can't be resolved by denying the existence of biological sex and labelling anyone who refuses to do so as a bigot.
The point in any conversation about sex, gender and identity is that they are complex. Especially in the case of trans issues, these are delicate subjects that have real world consequences, and they need to be treated carefully. But when conversations over justice are portrayed as black and white issues, with little to no nuance, it can harm the very people activists are seeking to protect.
Nuance is the enemy of ideological thought - as Rowling has experienced several times in the last 12 months. I’l leave you with a particular potent excerpt from her essay on Wednesday :
I spoke up about the importance of sex and have been paying the price ever since. I was transphobic, I was a cunt, a bitch, a TERF, I deserved cancelling, punching and death. You are Voldemort said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language I’d understand.
It would be so much easier to tweet the approved hashtags - because of course trans rights are human rights and of course trans lives matter - scoop up the woke cookies and bask in a virtue-signalling afterglow. There’s joy, relief and safety in conformity. As Simone de Beauvoir also wrote, “… without a doubt it is more comfortable to endure blind bondage than to work for one’s liberation; the dead, too, are better suited to the earth than the living.”
Link to JK Rowling's full essay from Wednesday: https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/
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