This is the latest news in the pissing match between trans people and anti-trans activists happening every second of every single day online. We are proud to report that JK Rowling will be arrested, perhaps this afternoon even.
I have written about Rowling before and almost every time after the first couple I have opened with “I can’t believe I have to write about this bigot loser once again”. This sentiment is ever present in all of my writing about her gullible whining about how she’s once again fallen for obvious propaganda that, under any real analysis, doesn’t hold up. This time however I can’t wholly blame the bigot for the necessity of this piece.
That’s because whereas JK Rowling is most definitely a bigot loser who has repeatedly allowed herself to fall for anti-trans disinformation like some kind of bigoted version of that one Sideshow Bob sketch with the rakes. She isn’t really the impetus for any of the events I’m about to discuss. We’ve reached this point of “JK Rowling will be arrested” because she was sent a picture of a trans woman who she then promptly misgendered.
Because of course that’s what she did; she is a transphobe. Their core belief is that trans people don’t really exist and we’re all just fetishists playing pretend. Her first transphobic slip on social media was exactly the same thing; liking a tweet referring to trans women as “men in dresses”. It should not come as a shock that several years and thousands of words later; she is still a horrible nasty bigot.
Suddenly mainstream media decided to give a shit about trans people being misgendered and numerous pieces were written about it. I was even approached to write one! Peculiar that they didn’t seem to give anywhere near as many shits when JK Rowling donated £70,000 to an anti-trans cause fighting to enforce a definition of woman that misgenders all trans women by default. I expect that this trans woman in particular being a TV presenter / Big Brother contestant swayed their opinion of her humanity. Though I’ve struggled to discern in which direction as of yet.
Next up word of the misgendering makes its way to the woman who was in the photo. She says she’s reported it to the police which Byline TV report via Twitter as “JK Rowling could be arrested”. Damnit, no! JK Rowling WILL be arrested – I’m already on my way with the cuffs. (Don’t worry, I will not read any Harry Potter fan fiction on the train up north!)
Tweets and community notes on the tweets associated with this are all in a flurry from all sides. Some misapply the law, some misunderstand the law, some cite anti-trans networks dedicated to doing both. I’ve even seen a petition shared by allies suggesting misgendering should be a hate crime. It’s an absolute mess and we are not one step closer to understanding exactly why JK Rowling will be arrested within the hour.
Much like the title of this article; its all one big joke. It’s utterly ridiculous and I am ashamed to see so many in my community going as feral as the anti-trans types do at every opportunity. I’m ashamed to see allies in media fawning over a pretty god damn problematic trans woman just because an obvious bigot was obviously bigoted about her in particular – when they refuse to do the same for the rest of my trans siblings. And I’m ashamed of myself for not speaking up about this sooner with the hopes of nipping some of this madness in the bud early.
So lets do it right here real quick – I have an appointment to keep; JK Rowling will be arrested shortly.
No, JK Rowling will not be arrested for misgendering this specific trans woman or any individual trans woman. There is nothing that compels anyone to call anyone anything in the UK. We could all start calling JK Rowling a man and it would be just as legal – we just don’t because we aren’t assholes. It has nothing to do with “protected beliefs” which don’t super apply outside of a workplace tribunal or other court room. They certainly don’t apply with regards to public opinion on social media – people are allowed to not like you.
A hate crime isn’t some distinct category of crime – “hate” is more like a modifier that gets applied to things that are already a crime if they were motivated by hate of a protected characteristic. JK Rowling hasn’t engaged in any crime outside of the Fantastic Beasts series and the way she writes working class people’s accents in her Strike Novels. Her response to a tweet someone else sent her would not constitute harassment.
And perhaps most importantly; if you’re sending her pictures of trans people to ask if she would be bigoted against them y/n? then you are being as big an asshole as she is obviously going to be. What is wrong with you?
Lets say things were different though, lets say that actually JK Rowling will be arrested for misgendering this trans woman. It did in fact count as harassment and she will be given a hate crime charge for it. What exactly would this do to help us? I’m not seeing the material gain for our community from locking up or fining a bigot for being a bigot on the internet.
I know you are upset and angry and that a lot of this feels personal because many of us grew up on Harry Potter and engaging in Harry Potter fandoms. But I promise you that the energy you put into raging against this bigot loser in particular would be better spent on uplifting our community instead.
Forget her, let her memory rot. Go find some cool trans people and talk about them – and for fuck sake Byline pay some trans people to work for you.
