Damn You, J.K. Rowling, You Transphobic Turd Lump
[image description: A white woman’s hand holding a time turner necklace, a replica of the prop designed for the Harry Potter movies.]
Imagine me exhaling a loud, disgruntled sigh. These are the ranty panties I wish I never had to put on, but here we are.
Harry Potter has been such a big part of my life. I had a pretty fucked up childhood and a number of the positive memories I have from my youth involve the Harry Potter books and movies in some way. The warmth of nostalgia around Harry Potter comforted me well into adulthood.
I will absolutely be roasting JK Rowling in this post. Though before I do, allow me a moment to reminisce.
I got the first book when I was 11, the same age as Harry in the first book.
I got in trouble for reading the Harry Potter books at my fundamentalist Baptist elementary school and it was one of the few times my mother took an interest in my education and called the principal to defend me.
The same was true for when my father, who was no role model himself, said the books were satanic and refused to take me to the launch party for the fifth book––my mother defended me similarly.
I bonded with my childhood best friend, who is still my best friend to this day, over the Harry Potter books.
When I was stuck at home with my helicopter mother who hardly let me leave the house unless it was to go to school or church, I spent hours taking Sorting Hat quizzes. (I’m a Slytherin.)
There were several times I seriously considered killing myself because my depression was that severe and my home situation was that bad growing up, but I talked myself into staying alive because I didn’t want to die not knowing how the series ended.
A high school boyfriend asked me out by giving me the 7th book.
I re-read the whole series one summer in college because I was so depressed and it was the only thing that made me feel better.
When I moved into my first apartment and got my first pet as an adult, I named her JK Meowling. The wand chooses the wizard, the cat chooses her human. That’s how it felt.
I’ve dressed as Hermione for Halloween at least a half dozen times.
My husband proposed to me by making the 6th Harry Potter book into a ring box. He cut a window out of the pages until he got to the chapter, The Unbreakable Vow. So when he handed me the book, I opened it and saw the ring rested on that chapter title. When I looked up, he was on one knee.
In 2018, the last time I got to see my best friend in person (and who knows how much longer it’ll be now with the coronavirus) was when I visited him in LA and we spent the October day at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Because it was late in the season and a weekday, there were no lines. We were there from open to close, riding each ride a dozen or so times.
I don’t say this to imply that my positive memories around Harry Potter excuse JK Rowling’s behavior––it doesn’t. I mention all this only because, when I say I’m done with Harry Potter because of how JK has behaved, I don’t take that lightly.
A lot has changed over the past 25 years. Things that are more common knowledge now slid under the radar when JK was writing the Harry Potter books. Things like, maybe you shouldn’t have a character named Cho Chang because that’s two last names and it shows a lack of research on and respect for the Asian culture you modeled her character on. And, wow, despite England being pretty diverse, the whole HP universe is glaringly white.
Does Harry Potter hold up to scrutiny 25 years after it was written? Not really. Then again, a lot of books don’t. The difference is that most books don’t have the kind of following and continued spotlight in popular culture in the way Harry Potter has. To whom much is given, much is expected. Thus, when Rowling revealed on Twitter (and a subsequent 3600-word essay) that she’s transphobic, people were angry and disappointed. Rightly so.
Are there transphobic authors of other books written in the 90s? I’d bet on it. But those other authors probably aren’t on Twitter spouting their uninformed opinions or trying to rewrite the history of their characters to make them seem more open-minded and accepting than they actually are. When fans asked if Dumbledore could be gay and Hermione could be Black and Rowling said yes, it made people believe she was more loving and liberal than she seems to be in reality. So of course the news that she’s transphobic spread like wildfire. She was probably the last person her fans imagined would be.
It was also shocking that not only is she a transphobe, she insists on being one. Even as fans, including her trans fans, and professional educators, like folks from the Human Rights Campaign, tried to enlighten her, she kept doubling down. You don’t get to claim blissful ignorance when you have tens of thousands of people trying to educate you on an experience you clearly don’t understand.
She could’ve easily taken the same energy she used to double down on her hatefulness and used it to meaningfully apologize, educate herself, and ask forgiveness from her fans. That’s what everyone wanted and no one was stopping her. The only reason she didn’t is that she didn’t want to. No one is asking her to be born knowing, only that she be willing to learn.
I know how much I’ve changed over the years. I was born into a white supremacist family in Alabama and was an actively racist asshole until about a decade ago. I’ll turn 30 this year, so I’ve been a racist asshole for twice as long as I’ve been doing anti-racist work. I’m not coming down on Rowling from a position of knowing it all or being on some kind of high horse. I know how much time and energy it takes to unlearn your problematic behaviors and thought patterns. I also know it’s possible to do it.
Instead of learning, however, she’s going on to whine about how she’s being “canceled” because fans are ditching her en masse. But actually, she’s just suffering the consequences of her actions. (Also, let’s be real, she’s already made her billions of us. Even if we vow not to support her further, she doesn’t need to make another dime.)
Rowling’s actions are all hers to own, however, there’s one mistake I think her fans, myself included, have made. I had cataloged a whole list of reasons in my head for why JK Rowling surely must be a loving, open-minded, accepting, liberal person: Because the Harry Potter books are all about good fighting evil. The books feature strong female characters. Rowling was open to the possibility of Dumbledore being gay and Hermione being Black. Rowling has given away so much of her money to charity. She hasn’t historically gone after fans for copyright infringement for selling their fan art. But Rowling being transphobic shows that just because you accept some marginalized groups doesn’t mean you accept them all. Just because you’ve done some good deeds, it doesn’t mean you’re a good person. You can be right about some things and so very deeply wrong about others.
I know everybody has their problematic favorites (hello, That ‘70s Show), so I’m not going to judge anyone for still being a Harry Potter fan. Especially since I assume that, like me, folks have a lot of positive memories attached to the books. Nonetheless, I think it’s important to know what you’re supporting and considering art––and its creator––with eyes wide open. Because when your eyes are wide open, you can better see who’s there with you and who’s been excluded. Then it’s up to you to decide if what you see is acceptable to you.
