J.K. Rowling accused of transphobia after mocking 'people who menstruate' headline
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling trended on Twitter Saturday after critics accused her of transphobia for mocking a headline about "people who menstruate."
Rowling, who has been accused of transphobia for years, posted an opinion article about creating equality for "people who menstruate" following the coronavirus pandemic from Devex, a website that describes itself as a media platform for the global development community.
"'People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?" Rowling tweeted.
'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 https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020
Twitter users quickly hit back at Rowling, noting that her tweet was not only exclusionary to transgender men and women but also to cisgender women who no longer menstruate. Though critics ranged in age, there were many who noted their disappointment in Rowling after years of admiring her and the tolerant message of "Harry Potter.
"I decided not to kill myself because I wanted to know how Harry's story ended," one user wrote. "For a long time, that was all that kept me alive. Until I met my husband who helped me learn to love myself and to want to live. You just insulted him to my face. I hate you."
Celebrities also took aim at Rowling for choosing to use her platform to resist the use of non-gendered language that exclude transgender, and also non-binary, individuals. "Same Love" singer Mary Lambert called Rowling's tweet "disgusting" and said that by pushing for such exclusionary language "you make their lives infinitely more difficult."
"You have power and influence. Why would you do this? What does it achieve?" Lambert tweeted. "Do you feel like more of a woman when you punch down? Are you threatened? Some trans men menstruate. Why does that affect you? Why do you want to police that?"
Kim Petras tweeted at Rowling, telling the author to "read the room" and post about Black Lives Matter instead.
"how is this the right time to go off on this?" Petras tweeted.
GLAAD, a non-profit dedicated to LGBTQ issues, denounced Rowling's tweets on their own Twitter account Saturday.
"JK Rowling continues to align herself with an ideology which willfully distorts facts about gender identity and people who are trans," the organization wrote. In 2020, there is no excuse for targeting trans people."
You have power and influence. Why would you do this? What does it achieve? Do you feel like more of a woman when you punch down? Are you threatened? Some trans men menstruate. Why does that affect you? Why do you want to police that? — Mary Lambert (@marylambertsing) June 6, 2020
maam ... read the room and post about BLM ! how is this the right time to go off on this ? — KIM PETRAS (@kimpetras) June 6, 2020
JK Rowling continues to align herself with an ideology which willfully distorts facts about gender identity and people who are trans. In 2020, there is no excuse for targeting trans people. — GLAAD (@glaad) June 7, 2020
I know you know this because you have been told over and over and over again, but transgender men can menstruate. Non-binary people menstruate. I, a 37-year old woman with a uterus, have not menstruated in a decade.
Women are not defined by their periods. — Aleen (@Aleen) June 6, 2020
Rowling responded to her critics in a subsequent Twitter thread, claiming that "erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives."
"I respect every trans person's right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them," Rowling replied. "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."
Transgender people regularly face job discrimination and healthcare discrimination. President Donald Trump's administration filed a brief last year with the Supreme Court arguing that transgender workers are not protected by federal civil rights law and can be fired because of their gender identity.
Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals are also murdered at such a global scale that Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1999 to honor their deaths.
Rowling has previously been accused of promoting transphobic ideas on social media and is sometimes referred to as a "TERF," or a trans-exclusionary radical feminist. In 2017, Rowling was called out for liking a tweet that linked to a transphobic Medium article. She was later accused of transphobia after liking a tweet that referred to trans women as "men in dresses," although her spokesperson claimed at the time that Rowling had swiped the "like" button by accident.
In December, Rowling tweeted her support of Maya Forstater, a British researcher who lost her job at a nonprofit think tank following a series of tweets that were criticized as transphobic. A judge ruled against a complaint filed by Forstater against her former employer, stating that Forstater's speech violated the "dignity" of transgender people and was not protected under U.K. law.
"Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who'll have you," Rowling tweeted with the #IStandWithMaya. "Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?"
Rowling has been praised in the past for her support of the LGBTQ community, notably in her revealing that one of the most central "Harry Potter" characters, headmaster Albus Dumbledore, was gay. But others have felt that Rowling's support has not gone far enough, noting that neither the film nor book franchises were open about the character's sexuality.
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Call yourself whatever you want to. Get rid of segregated bathrooms. And don't complain if someone leaves the seat up. Women don't lift it up for men...and at least the last guy (or gal, or Trans, or____?___) didn't pee on it!
Her latest: "Harry Potter and the Tempest in the Teapot"
Proof again that the most dangerous four letter word in the English language is "send".
And there it is. That should be good enough for anyone.
And yet, team PC will continue to spaz out about this. Proving once again, that hyena's will eat their own .....
Political Correctness, we survived the virus for PC to destroy society?
Not on my watch ....
the PC bs ended the day trump was elected but some have not yet gotten the memo.
What's scary to me is the response from her "peers".
Apparently since Rowlings has power and influence there is a script she is to be reading from. Again this is what scares me. There is some kind of hive mind amongst people who have reached a certain levels of elitism. Who is generating this script? What is the source and what do they have to gain from it? Who profits the most from social norms being destroyed for new age insanity that you have to lie in the face of nature to support?
because they are women pretending to be men..
author J.K. Rowling is not stupid enough to fall for that bs.
I never got into Harry Potter but the coolest thing I can say about the author is that we share the same birthday, Harry also.