J.K. Rowling: Liberals Greatest Failure to Listen, and Teach

It is by no means unknown to the masses Rowling’s descent from the high brand of fame she once enjoyed. Her decline began with a tweet dating back to June 2020, as Covid-19 began its disruptive ascent in public health. The controversial tweet concerned her issue with a menstruation article’s wording for its title. The article was entitled “people who menstruate”, failing to substitute Rowling’s preferred term “women” for “people”. Her tweet inspired a swift and decisive backlash from swarths of people online. Unknown to perhaps both sides at that time, but the debate would trigger a chain of events that would seal Rowling’s downfall. This is when I would like to begin our analysis.

Incidentally, the tweet coincided with a time when trans-rights conversations began to gain traction in public conversation. Alongside the latter was the trend of deconstructing the inherent binary perception of gender. Rowling’s alleged correction to the article title ran amok with the increasingly adopted view that her statement excluded trans-men. Though the identifier of “women” contradicts how trans-men understand and identify themselves, their biology still experience menstrual cycles. This is where I will take the bold stance that the backlash Rowling received was disproportionate to her statement. I often lament that many of us Liberals are quick to ostracize anyone who displays an innocent misunderstanding of, what any honest Liberal must admit, rapidly evolving understandings on sex, gender, and personal identity. For someone of Rowling’s generation, evolving social understandings do not come as easily nor seamlessly than our own. So, the greatest opportunity we missed was one to listen to her, gain an understanding of her perspective, and ultimately engage in a meaningful teaching opportunity. However, before any of this discussion could emerge, Rowling herself was branded with the hot iron of Liberal righteousness. Her understanding was branded hateful, her views archaic, with no desire to parse what may have been an honest misperception from callous hatred.

To take perhaps an even bolder stance on Rowling’s initial controversial tweet; I’m not sure what she alleged was all too inaccurate. Now, I am not one to deny that trans-men experience menstruation, but factually speaking, what Rowling tweeted wasn’t inaccurate. It was misleading at best. The statement itself failed to include trans-men, that much is true. However, the mere fact she left a very small proportion of those who experience menstruation isn’t enough to make her a TERF…at least at that point of time. I sometimes suspect many of those who rode the backlash wave simply wanted to use her tweet as a way to showcase their suspiciously newfound progressive belief. One that her tweet did not endorse. Rowling herself at this point had been advocating for feminist ideals as long as most of those who contributed to the backlash have been alive. Unfortunately, the Twitter mob decided her decades of Liberal advocacy didn’t quite have enough currency to buy her even a shred of a benefit of the doubt.

Following the backlash, Rowling tweeted the subsequent statement: “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’s hateful to say so.” Is this statement really a confirmation of the Twitter mob’s determination that she was indeed a TERF? No, it was not. It was essentially her last chance in a poorly-worded attempt to gain a greater understanding. A heightened understanding that we could have provided. But, we swatted her call for help without a moment’s hesitation. As a result, she felt shunned from the very community that celebrated the diversity in identity she spent decades advocating on behalf of. So hurtful was our rejection that she made the only decision she felt was right; she dug her heels in. I in no way am saying she was justified in doing this. I like so many of our community dreamt of her coming back from this backlash with an honest and eager plea to be educated on this evolving subject. That she would take the ignorance ingrained in her statements and transform it into an opportunity to learn from the very humans harmed by her tweets. They are our friends, family members, colleagues, and loved ones after all.

However, the ones in our lives hurt by her tweets give rise to what I see as a troubling trend among us advocates. That trend manifests in those who have trans people in their lives utilizing trans identities and struggles as a tool to showcase their advocacy in a superficial, opportunistic manner. The trans brothers and sisters in our lives should be the ones leading the charge, not be lightening rods for us to egotistically demonstrate our “progressive” beliefs. We must be in listen mode to best support those hurt by Rowling’s tweets. Instead, I often observe advocates wielding their existence to further their individual attacks. Many of these advocates justify this in the name of their beloved trans brothers and sisters, but I’m not convinced. I stand behind the trans people I’ve had the privilege to meet, and the broader community at large. And that to me is where advocates must stand, behind them. It is their voices that must form the front lines, not behind us as we patronizingly assume what their response should be. And it’s this faulty approach to advocacy that was formative in Rowling’s heel digging in a perspective that we advocates could have reversed. Instead, we’ve taken a set of beliefs that Rowling has embodied in her works for decades, and construed it into something she no longer recognizes.

None of this is to say that Rowling is blameless in her downward spiral. Her many subsequent tweets that grew ever more offensive and inconsiderate of trans lives are unforgivable. Her often childish philosophical standoffs further show she’s unwilling to learn about what advocates have to say, and more important, trans people themselves. However, to scoff at the suggestion that her descent was completely of her own volition is disingenuous. The momentum of her fall from grace was undoubtedly a result of her own choices, but our lightening-quick “cancelling” aided in its acceleration. Her story represents the saddest story of both side’s failure to listen, and our side to teach. The harm she has inflicted on our trans loved ones was one of the greatest lessons of unlearning that never occurred. For the sake of a future that promises greater understanding, we mustn’t fail again..