J K Rowling and her transphobia, why?

[edhopper]

She is a billionaire with millions of fans who wrote beloved books. She could take on so many causes that would do good and uplift many.
But she decides her cause celeb would be attacking trans women (she doesn't seem to have a problem with trans men).
Why? Why such spend so much effort on something that is none of her fucking business and has no impact on people (except the people she attacks).
She could do good works, or sit back and enjoy her success. Why this petty, hateful obsession?

BTW, This funny piece is what made me think of this.

https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/im-thrilled-to-announce-ive-been-cast-as-stickles-the-gender-policing-elf-in-hbo-maxs-new-harry-potter-series

[marble falls]

1. Fear of "the other". And it could be now she is rich, she can afford the luxury of letting her own demons out.

[David__77]

2. Anti-social tendencies. She is quite trollish.

The anti-social tendencies may not underlie her basic ideology, they do underlie her approach.

[EYESORE 9001]

8. Might explain a lot of her writing

Kid literally abandons family to join mystical cult.

[usedtobedemgurl]

16. Kid abandons abusive family.

Chooses kind folks over folks that hate him and treat him like dirt. He would have been broken to not make such a healthy choice.

[EYESORE 9001]

24. But the family is 'real' in the literary sense

The magical world could be seen as a fugue from reality, a coping mechanism.

[yardwork]

29. I don't see that in the books.

The magical world is presented as a parallel world and could be interpreted as a metaphor for marginalized people living courageous lives. Unfortunately, that message is undermined in the books themselves and certainly in the author's public words.

There's no suggestion that the children with magical powers are escaping into a fantasy world. They are described as having been born with magical powers or not - each belonging to one world or the other.

Right away one sees some problems with this "sorting" metaphor and the books run with that problematic message.

It's a near miss. She could have written books that celebrated the choices people make to live their real authentic lives. She could have celebrated trans people embracing their identities, gay people embracing authentic lives, people of all colors and backgrounds celebrating both differences and similarities. That would have been woke.

Instead she leaned into stereotypes, judgments, and an old-fashioned view of morality that relies, ultimately, on white Anglo male supremacy.

Too bad.

[Ilsa]

49. Have you read her murder mysteries with PI Cormoran Strike,

or have you seen the series on HBO? Pretty well-written characters, IMO.

[yardwork]

52. I have not read them.

[usedtobedemgurl]

38. Yeah. He should have been broken enough

To stay with his abusive relatives who locked him up and refused to treat him decently.

[EYESORE 9001]

40. That happens IRL every day

Escaping to an idyllic wonderland to practice magic? Not so often. I feel sorry for any children who experienced false hope from fantasy.

[MorbidButterflyTat]

43. Seriously?

It's fiction. Literally, imaginary.

[yardwork]

44. I'm genuinely shocked.

I have no words.

[Ilsa]

50. So kids shouldn't read fiction? Or read

magical stories about, for example, dragons or msybe talking animals? Or siblings escaping the blitzkrieg when they wander into a wardrobe and enter a different world?

A mature, strong female witch named Hermione saves the day as much as Harry, BTW.

[mcar]

20. You apparently never read the books

[EYESORE 9001]

26. Got me there

Barely seen bits of the movies. Well, maybe half of the first one. I know all I need to know about the franchise. I was around 40 when books and film came out, and my kids weren’t into it. I don’t take it as an insult. My reading time was too precious to spend reading (pre)adolescent fiction. Guilty as charged.

[mcar]

35. Maybe you shouldn't be making

Last edited Fri Aug 15, 2025, 01:41 PM - Edit history (1)

declarations about the books that aren’t true, then.

[EYESORE 9001]

36. 'Maybe you shouldn't'...

Sounds vaguely authoritarian to me
The Swiss?!?

[mcar]

37. Swiss was a weird autocorrect

Vaguely authoritarian? Wow!

I'm not out there making pronouncements about books I haven't read.

[EYESORE 9001]

69. This is not the hill on which anyone should want to die

Please don’t mention this book again to me until I’ve utterly devoured it before announcing an opinion about it. IOW, I’ll never read it. Sayonara

[viva la]

60. The books are actually very well plotted.

Excellent stories. Thematically coherent.
Why she decided to destroy her reputation and legacy with this mean crusade, I'll never understand. I used to use her books in my teaching, but no more.

I don't hate the art because of the artist (I still read Pound, and he was quite literally a fascist). But it's easier to ignore when they're dead.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

3. Because she's a petty, hateful bigot. It's not that deep.

[edhopper]

5. Yet her books were about the outcast

who was shunned by others.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. There was a LOT of bigotry in her books. Antisemitic tropes, racism, misogyny and ethnic bigotry.

The poor white male was the outcast.

[yardwork]

10. I've always wondered if she recognized it.

[edhopper]

11. Thanks

I was unaware, only know it from the movies.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. Well...a lot of that garbage made it into the movies as well.

[edhopper]

15. Probably

but I wasn't looking for it. Will look online for more on this.

[yardwork]

25. Look up the name of the Black student.

There's also a lot of fat shaming in the books.

Honestly, it's a mix. The books contain positive messages about kindness, courage and perseverance. But the mocking names the author gives many characters, her relentless picking on overweight characters, and several other problematic issues undermine her positive messages. They reinforce the bullying she claims to hate.

My biggest problem with the books, though, is that they're not at all original. Whole scenes and characters are pulled from 150 years of British fantasy fiction. It's one thing to pay homage, but what she did is more akin to using AI to write a fantasy series. And the later books are much too long and boring. Yes, I read them all.

[Conjuay]

30. Once you've reached billionaire status

Your excrement is no longer odorous.

[Bettie]

4. I don't get it

but, I wonder if becoming wealthy makes people think they have "earned" the right to dictate to others how they live.

Wealth seems to create monsters.

[CincyDem]

9. Money makes good people better and bad people worse.

[Wounded Bear]

18. Wealth and power tend to expose one's inner self...nt

[EYESORE 9001]

6. What is she on about now?

Hadn’t given her and her transphobia much thought lately. Did she say something recently?

[edhopper]

12. No

just a thought I had this morning. From a joke I saw online about Harry Potter and transphobia.

[EYESORE 9001]

21. OK

I would like to start punishing these billionaires who have plans for everyone. Ms. Rowling bites the hand that feeds her with those rants. The franchise she created isn’t consumed by as vast an audience as it once did. If her hateful rhetoric ever finds its way into her work, I hope it ends her popularity and income streams.

[edhopper]

22. according to some

there is hidden bigotry throughout Harry Potter.

[sakabatou]

64. Some have seen it when it applied to the goblins of that universe

How they were in charge of the banks, how they made deals, etc.

What I think is kind of funny, that many have thought that Rowling saw herself as Hermione, but turned into Umbridge instead.

[unblock]

13. Robert Galbraith might have some thoughts on the matter

She's explained why she used a pseudonym, but she obviously could have used a woman's name. To my knowledge she has not addressed why she chose to present herself as a man.

Her stated goal was to let her works succeed or fail on their own merits, but then a woman's name would seem more logical. If she just wanted to appropriate some male privilege (perhaps male authors are taken more seriously?) that would seem to undermine the mission to let her works succeed or fail on their own merit.

Generally speaking, bigotry is far more popular than the inner torment theory would suggest, but asking the world to see her as a man was an interesting choice for her. So maybe it applies in this case,

[Doodley]

27. My thoughts exactly. The biggest bullies are hiding their own insecurities.

[sakabatou]

65. I've seen people use pseudonyms before, such as K.A. Applegate

She wrote Animorphs, but I haven't heard about her at all since the series finished.

[unblock]

68. That just her initials, which jk Rowling already did.

And I have no problem with authors using pseudonyms, only noting that an anti-trans crusader using that to create a differently gendered persona for herself is peculiar.

[sakabatou]

71. Her other pen name? I've only heard of it

[LetMyPeopleVote]

17. My family loved the Harry Potter books but we will not long watch or read any of her work

[Oneironaut]

19. JKR has basically been sucked into the TERF / Right Wing Grifter Twitter vortex.

She had Trans Exclusive views before that were problematic. Now, she has been unfortunately sucked into the Twitter TERF / right wing grifter vortex. She is now encouraging people to harass, video record, and publicly harass trans people. Her posts have gotten increasingly more angry and dehumanizing of trans people.

Twitter encourages radicalization by providing positive feedback for increasingly black and white thinking. JKR’s anti-trans posts were and are encouraged by more engagement, likes, retweets, etc.

[yardwork]

31. I don't think one gets sucked into a hateful cult by accident.

People choose to watch Fox News and get sucked deeper, but there's that crucial first five minutes. Do you like it or not? Five minutes of Fox News leaves me literally feeling ill. Others want more.

I doubt Rowling was just minding her own business living a happily inclusive and affirming life and accidentally fell into TERFdom. It's not like falling down a manhole. One has to walk in. That's a choice.

I agree that once one is in it just gets worse and worse as one's worst inclinations are reinforced. Ugh. It's vile to think of.

I'm so sorry there are people like this spewing hatred and poison. I don't know what's wrong with them. There's nothing wrong with you!

[Skittles]

55. THANK YOU

I still remember the first time I watched a Fox News segment, when it first aired - I remember thinking that's a lie, that's out of context, that's misleading. that's bullshit - five fucking minutes was ALL it took to figure out it was pure fucking crap.

[unblock]

73. I think the term "terf" is misapplied here. She's all "te" not much "rf" at all.

I read the Harry Potter series before I knew about her hateful views. Now that I know, I don't read anything from her (or him as Robert Galbraith).
So maybe there's something that qualifies as radical feminism in there, but all I ever hear about is trans exclusion.

[Iggo]

23. She hates trans people.

That’s why.

[Skittles]

56. the question is WHY does she hate trans folk

what's her fucking problem?

[Iggo]

63. Born that way, I guess.

I’m only half kidding.

The fact is, I don’t care anymore why people are hateful pieces of shit. They just are. (As comedian Bret Butler once said, “I hate bigots so much that I am one.”)

[Skittles]

67. but she is someone who could use her influence in an admirable way

the fact that she doesn't speaks volumes

[Iggo]

72. She could have been...if she wasn't a hateful piece of shit.

[somethingshiny]

28. My dirty little secret -

I really enjoy her CB Strike series, written under the Robert Galbraith pseudonym.
But totally agree that her social views are appalling.

[tinrobot]

32. Money doesn't buy tolerance

In fact, it probably amplifies someone's intolerance

[maxsolomon]

33. I don't really know what her transphobic views are. I haven't read them.

I know she's called a TERF, which seems like a distinct type of transphobia.

[muriel_volestrangler]

47. She consistently misgenders women, both transgender women and women who just look too male

for Rowling's liking - eg the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif (who has always been a woman). She bankrolls the organizations saying assigned sex at birth should be the only basis for calling anyone a woman or female (although that would mean Khelif is a woman to her).

She's certainly trans-exclusionary (she doesn't want any protections for women to be applicable to transgender women); I'm not sure if her feminist views can be called "radical".

[maxsolomon]

48. Yeah, never got the R part of TERF.

I don't know that I care to delve into the topic much.

[JT45242]

34. Wife and I had long discussion on this because it does seem weird

I enjoyed the books. The parts about SPEW (house elf enslavement) and racial prejudices (pure bloods vs all others) seem to show a progressive stance. She went out of her way to make the smartest and most capable young character a woman. Yes, Harry is the hero but Hermione is "the most clever witch of her age"

But my wife said this -- That Rowling is so concerned that no one infringe on advancement for women that she considers trans women to be a threat to women. Her vitriol is almost exclusively pointed at people who were born male and then transition to female. She views them as attacking the advances that women have made over the last few decades.

I remember one of my best friends in college saying that in the LGBU at college, that those three groups really did not understand trans people in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They weren't hostile, they just did not understand. Eventually, it went from confusion to acceptance to support.

But JK who was pro LGB rights seems decades behind her other views on the transgender issue.

My wife thinks that it comes from some trauma from a man -- ex-husband, molester or rapist earlier, or whatever -- that she cannot see past her own trauma to accept transfolks.

It makes sense that this is almost a PTSD lash out but I doubt it was a trans individual who hurt her. Since it would be about the only incidence of it ever. But, I could believe she was raped by a cis-gender male in a bathroom and that is why it is such a hot button object for her.

I wish she would get some therapy and stop saying hateful things.

[leftstreet]

39. I think your wife has a point

(and I speak as someone who hasn't followed a lot of this)

I remember when she first made feminist statements about protecting women's advancement, spaces, etc.

She didn't seem to understand the backlash she got from that, and I wonder if she turned to and embraced the support of a screaming "culture" that was very, very transphobic. And that possibly led to her saying even dumber, more offensive things.

I don't know

[maxsolomon]

46. You're describing TERFs

Trans-exclusive Radical Feminists.

[Hekate]

62. Thank you for sharing your & your wife's perspective. It is compassionate & shows insight.

[Oeditpus Rex]

41. Why are *any* of them that way?

The causes of bigotry are many and elusive.

I don't see what wealth or celebrity have to do with it, either. Indeed, either could easily exacerbate it, as they could make a bigot feel their voice is more powerful. Right-wingers always say outspoken liberal celebrities should stay in their lane (wherever that is), so it stands to reason...

The difference being, of course, they're wrong. Always.

[Johonny]

42. Its a weird form of hyper feminism

Note, she appears to either not know trans men exist or doesn't care because it doesn't register with her deep seeded need to defend womanhood from things not actually threatening womanhood.

[Efilroft Sul]

45. She's a Slytherin.

[sakabatou]

66. That being said, Slytherin does NOT mean you're going to be exclusionary

IIRC, Slughorn, a Slytherin, was no bigot.

[Skittles]

51. very happy I never contributed to her wealth

she's truly vile

[edhopper]

54. This would be funny

If it wasn't so pathetic.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

57. Fuck outta here with that incoherent hateful shit.

[yardwork]

58. Our resident troll?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

59. nah someone who's got a few hundred posts. But this was a bad one.

[Takket]

61. some people are just black hearted bags of misery and hate

[Emrys]

70. Rowling's been characterized as a social media troll in a reply above. That's what she is.

The distasteful aspects of her online persona are nothing new, and I don't believe they came from any outside influence.

My partner, who's an old-school feminist but generally had better sense than to waste her time on the darker reaches of social media, commented once that she'd heard that poor Rowling was being picked on online. I replied that a few years ago (before I lost patience and paid Rowling no more attention than I could avoid, a process that took very little time), Rowling regularly unleashed her online fanbase (who are generally nutty and rabid) on any online person, large or small, with whom she'd had a disagreement, so such sympathy was severely misplaced.

Those fans would then persecute whoever it was en masse and relentlessly. She was directing packs of small-minded, merciless bullies to do her dirty work, and knew full well how it would pan out. Her fans, modelling themselves on her, set about the task gleefully with cries of "Slay, Queen!" and similar inanity.