I Wish J.K. Rowling Didn’t Have Twitter

The title of this piece sums up exactly how I feel every time I log onto Twitter and see the creator of Harry Potter and her tone-deaf tweets; J.K. Rowling has repeatedly spread the idea that transgender people believe “sex is not real” on her Twitter account, and I have a very strong statement against her stances and contribution to spreading harm.

While the LGBT community, and more specifically the transgender community, is not a monolith made of people who have the same opinions, I find it deeply confusing as to why Rowling believes that supporting transgender people means you don’t think sex exists. Obviously, there are likely some within the community that think this, and while they are entitled to their opinion, biologically speaking Rowling is right: sex is real, our chromosomes are naturally apart of us. But, many trans people also agree with this, because acknowledging sex and supporting trans people has never been mutually exclusive.

What Rowling seems to not understand is that people generally identify by their gender, not sex, as those are two separate concepts. Sex is a biological trait: it’s determined by the chromosomes you receive from your parents, usually XX or XY, although intersex individuals are people who receive chromosome combinations outside of these two options, like XXX or XYY. Titled the “sex chromosomes,” they determine certain bodily characteristics you will develop in the womb, like genitalia. However, gender is more of a social or psychological trait, and is sometimes more complicated to figure out because it is not inherited. Gender is a social construct; it a set of expectations for how someone should look or behave within a society. Within that is a concept called gender identity, which is an individual’s personal understanding of what their gender is. Many people who are assigned their gender based on sex at birth feel comfortable in their label, while others find that they are not, and realize they are transgender.

For some reason, well known transphobes like Rowling have a hyper fixation on people’s genitalia, consistently implying that transgender people are not “true” men or women because their sex and in turn their private parts do not “match” their gender. But, I don’t understand why we should label people based on some trait they have no control over, rather than something someone has decided represents them more accurately. In fact, transgender people often realize they are trans because they begin experiencing gender dysphoria, which is an intense feeling of distress due to one’s assigned gender at birth and a strong desire to “be rid of one’s sex characteristics.” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In other words, people don’t just randomly decide they want to relabel their gender; it comes from a desire to feel more comfortable in one’s skin, as the alleviation of gender dysphoria is exactly what prompts many transgender people to physically transition. By refusing to acknowledge trans people’s gender identity and misgendering them, you directly contribute to the gender dysphoria people feel and invalidate all of the time, energy, emotions, money, and personal struggle that goes into transitioning. And for what?

All the harmful messages that are being propagated by this woman’s twitter, specifically the insistence that sex is a more crucial identifier for the individual than gender, are conveniently cloaked in the “protection” of another group: women. Rowling insists that “sex matters” when talking about trans issues, because “the lived reality of women globally is erased [if sex is not real]. 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 the truth.” (Rowling, 2020). In her tweets, she aims to compose neat little pseudo-feminist messages to make it seem like she is just sticking up for the experience of women, but I fail to see how transgender people have worked to erase the realities of women. If anything, it’s harmful to the discussion surrounding the realities of women to set these arbitrary distinctions on who is “enough of a woman,” because you’re limiting the perspective that can be given. There is already no one way to experience life as a woman, so why should we disregard the experiences and identity of trans women? This gatekeeping has a connotation that trans women are not women, and is transphobic by nature. Or, as NPR writer Mallory Yu put it, “examining the ways her ‘life has been shaped by being female’ isn’t hateful on its own. What is hateful and unwelcome, however, is her assertion that “sex is real” and that someone’s gender identity can — and should — be boiled down to their sexual organs.” (Yu, 2020).

Although Rowling will try to say otherwise, feminism is meant to protect all women, not just the ones that check off enough boxes. Regardless of the feelings of someone who so desperately tries to seem like logic is on their side, it’s important to acknowledge that trans women are women.

Sources

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.).

@jk_rowling (J.K. Rowling). Twitter, 6 June 2020, 3:02 p.m., https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1269389298664701952

Yu, Mallory. “Opinion: Harry Potter’s Magic Fades When His Creator Tweets.” NPR. 10 June, 2020, https://www.npr.org/2020/06/10/873472683/harry-potters-magic-fades-when-his-creator-tweets