Resorting JK Rowling

Alas, poor Rowling, I knew ye well

I don’t have anything but kind words for JK. She’s got the same first initials as the man who tackles a character so hard to play that he’s the only one they brought back for multiple iterations.

I just wish JK Rowling would acknowledge the people she’s hurting.

See also: Does JK Rowling Pass the Voldemort Test?

I’m not talking about the people she’s talking about — I mean if there’s even one predator who would do what she has described, we need a reckoning that keeps us safe from them or anyone else like them.

And if she were clear that she was ONLY talking about a kind of predator that none of us needs to have ever personally been touched by to stand against with her, the impact of her positions would be different.

But here we are, and here’s what I have to say.

I don’t hate anyone

When I think about who a person is — including myself — I think about that person that existed before we were born. The one unaffected by life. They’re just a soul with the precious possibility of existence ahead of it. I try to remember that when I feel shame toward myself.

I make mistakes. But no mistake makes me a mistake.

So I love JK. I love the part of her that has nothing to do with anything she has experienced. I love the part of her that has nothing to do with any of the views that have manifested from those experiences and her reflection.

But those views? Holy shit man. They are hateful, bigoted, transphobic positions.

See also: Can The Most Common Test For Narcissism Help Us Fight Bigotry?

The people you’re in this against? I don’t want to talk to you about them. I want to talk to you about the people who are as worthy as you of existing as a woman. I want to talk to you about the women who don’t deserve your bigotry simply because they’ve had what might be labeled as transgender experiences.

Because here’s the thing. Even if you’re cisgender? You probably transitioned too. At some point, you had to decide what makes you count as a woman. What kind of woman you want to be. What kind of woman you are. What kind of woman you know yourself to be — even when some moron keeps telling you that x/y/z means you don’t count as one.

So in the absence of an expression of compassion and empathy from JK Rowling toward the women with transgender experiences who are harmed by her position…

Let the resorting memes begin!

Emma Watson

Daniel Radcliffe

Rupert Gritt

JK Rowling

Additional reading

“Who did JK Rowling become?” (The Cut) by Molly Fisher “Add the Sorting Hat to the list of things J.K. Rowling is wrong about” (AVClub) by Allison Shoemaker “So JK Rowling is apparently transphobic?” (YouTube) by Jessie Gender

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