Is J.K Rowling’s legacy going to paint her as a transphobe? The debate has restarted recently upon the release of the famous and now best-selling video game, Hogwarts Legacy. Many people decided to boycott the game according to what J.K Rowling said two years ago about trans people. Since then, the community has been divided. Some of them don’t mind politics and play the game like any other game, others decided to boycott the game to support the trans community, also some trans people decided to play the game despite what she said, and many other cases exist.
Also, in order to annoy the players, some people defending the cause tried to spoil the end of it on Twitter and other social media to disgust people from playing the game. But with all those movements and ‘wars’ between communities, J.K Rowling decided to talk once and for all in a podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper called ‘The Witch Trials of J.K Rowling”. In this podcast that comes out on the 21st of February, J.K Rowling will try to make it clear that she is not a transphobe. And even though It’s not out yet, we already have some hints on the discussion.
How J.K Rowling Became Hated By The LGBTQ+ Community
According to Megan Phelps-Roper, J.K Rowling is “the most successful author in the history of publishing, with the possible exception of God”. And of course, her image in the past wasn’t what it is today. Before J.K. Rowling was a broke, abused, and depressed single mother who used to write at cafes across Edinburgh. She used to give conferences at Harvard with very inspirational speeches: “We do not need magic to transform the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already”. After those speeches, she used to have many rounds of applause and was respected.
But today, it is impossible to see that in any University, or even any public place in the US, because, for many people, she became like “Voldemort”, the main villain of her own book. She is someone we can not invite or talk about freely, because of what she tweeted in the Summer of 2020.
“People who menstruate, I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”. In this first tweet, she clearly states that trans people cannot have menstruation, and on top of that, she seems to make fun of them. Of course, this first tweet has already angered a lot of people in her community, particularly the LGBTQ+ part which considered J.K Rowling like a “God” because of what she has done with some Harry Potter characters. But that’s not all.
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She then added on another tweet: “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. 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.” And of course, the ‘firestorm’ that followed the tweet was harsh and totally killed her image. Not only the fans were angry at her, but the staff and the publishers also decided to turn their backs on the author, and she received a “torrent of negative headlines around the globe”. Even the actors didn’t want to have anything to do with her anymore. Some fans also removed her pictures from blogs, others removed their Harry Potter tattoos, and finally, some others tore apart her books on Tiktok.
And while many people wanted her to apologize because they felt heartbroken, she never backed down and decided to publish an essay on sex and gender issues, where she included the story of her ex-husband’s abuse, a terrible story. After that, It was never the same for J.K Rowling anymore. But what does she has to say about this situation today?
J.K. Rowling Says She Never Wanted To Hurt Anyone
Many people wonder why she decided to talk about these subjects, and from what she says to Megan Phelps-Roper in the podcast, she feels kind of relieved by that situation: “I never set out to upset anyone. However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal”.
To the fans who said she has “ruined her legacy”, J.K Rowling answers: “You could not have misunderstood me more profoundly”. And these are the only words we have for now. From what we understand, she doesn’t seem to regret what she said. However, it might be interesting to hear her full explanation in the podcast to find out who she really is, where she comes from, and of course, if she is really a transphobe or not. Maybe this will change the mind of many people, or maybe this will just confirm what they thought about her. See you on the 21st of February for that answer.
