OPINION: J.K. Rowling isn’t worth your outrage

“J.K. Rowling attends Broadway Opening Day performance of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two' at The Lyric Theatre on April 22, 2018 in New York City.” Photo by Walter McBride / WireImage, sourced from Getty Images

Danny Murnin is a sophomore studying journalism and an opinion writer for The New Political. 

Please note that these views and opinions do not reflect those of The New Political.

Growing up, I was fascinated with everything related to "Harry Potter." My brother and I would take our LEGO sets and fake wands and play out pretend scenarios. The entire franchise was (and still is) a way for wondering children to temporarily escape the difficulties of the real world and get enlightened by the magic of that universe.

However, others' views on the franchise may have changed as a result of various choices made by the series’ renowned author, J.K. Rowling.

Rowling is beloved by many for creating the "Harry Potter" universe, but others allege that Rowling is a transphobic bigot because of her various statements, mainly made on social media. Over the last few years, Rowling has commented several times on debates related to transgender rights, leading many to hold misguided beliefs.

It is important to understand who J.K. Rowling actually is in order to get the full picture of why I so strongly disagree with her critics. Rowling doesn’t have many of the rude, self-righteous traits that I believe are present in most prominent bigots.

Rowling began writing the first Harry Potter book in the early 1990s, when she was a single mother living on welfare. The finished manuscript was rejected 12 different times before it finally found a home with Bloomsbury Publishing.  

That initial deal was the start of significant success for Rowling. With the combined sales of all seven novels, Rowling is the author of the best-selling book series of all time. Considering the massive popularity of the series and its adaptations, it is no surprise that Rowling is extremely wealthy.

What Rowling often does with her wealth, however, is admirable. Rowling dropped off the Forbes World’s Billionaires List in 2012 in part because of the over $150 million she had donated to charity at that time, which represented over 15% of her wealth. Since then, Rowling’s charitable actions have continued, including donating $1 million to aid the homeless and domestic violence survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic, and pitching in hundreds of thousands of British pounds to help provide safe passage out of Afghanistan for 508 female lawyers on Taliban kill lists.

There are many reasons why people dislike J.K. Rowling, but I don’t believe any of them are legitimate.

The controversy surrounding Rowling’s views on transgender people started in late 2019, when she expressed support on Twitter for a woman named Maya Forstater. Forstater lost her job as a tax expert at an international development think tank after several tweets saying that transgender women and biological women should not be legally considered as having the same sex.

Rowling’s harmless tweet simply said “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?” 

The legal meaning of sex has been Rowling’s main focus when discussing transgender rights. In June 2020, Rowling made several comments on transgender rights that angered people. She mocked an increasingly common gender-neutral term in the medical field, “people who menstruate”, suggesting it is demeaning to cisgender women. She said she believes the concept of biological sex is under attack, and that this attack threatens women’s rights. She published an essay explaining her thoughts on the entire matter, and waded into the debate surrounding medication for transgender youth the following month. 

In the over two years since then, Rowling continues to speak out on the matter, and the criticism of her has only increased. The truth is, J.K. Rowling is not a transphobe. She has never endorsed outright discrimination against transgender people, nor has she questioned the right of transgender people to exist and live their lives freely. All she has done is address how this issue sometimes comes into conflict with legal aspects and science. She has said nothing that indicates a personal bias against transgender individuals.

For example, Rowling has been very outspoken against a piece of legislation in Scotland called the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which would make the process of legally changing one’s gender quicker and easier. Rowling opposes the bill because she is concerned about potential safety risks for cisgender women. Rowling has cited the case of Isla Bryson, a transgender woman in Scotland who was initially sent to an all-female prison after being convicted of two rapes. Bryson was moved to a men’s prison after uproar. Rowling and others opposed to the bill have said they worry it could lead to similar cases and make it more difficult to put a prisoner in a prison that doesn’t align with their legal gender. 

You may not agree with Rowling’s opposition to the bill, but she makes a legitimate, though uncomfortable, argument that is focused and policy-based, rather than the blatant general disdain you would see from an actual transphobe. 

If Rowling’s critics took the time to dive into what she has actually said, they would likely find that there is little to be upset about. EJ Rosetta, a lesbian writer who said she initially was a part of the anti-Rowling crowd, was tasked with finding some of Rowling’s most transphobic statements for an article, and came to the conclusion that Rowling is simply questioning legal and medical procedures for transgender people. Rosetta’s reflection on her shift in thinking does an excellent job at illustrating just how constructed the controversy surrounding what it means to be transphobic really is. 

People have every right to disagree with Rowling’s perspective on this matter, as this is a complex issue that most people, myself included, have a lot to learn about. However, she has not said anything that justifies the disgusting harassment campaign aimed at her. 

Sadly, she now isn’t the only one being harassed in regards to this issue. A few weeks ago, a highly anticipated “Harry Potter”-themed action role-playing game titled Hogwarts Legacy was released, and it has been embroiled in controversy, as Rowling will indeed profit from game sales as sole creator of the Harry Potter universe, even though she had zero role in developing the game. 

There have been several instances where people who bought and streamed the game, which has received excellent reviews, have been heavily harassed. This isn’t okay. People have the right to enjoy fun things without having vicious insults lobbied at them over insignificant royalties given to a singular, already very wealthy person. 

I’m noticing a theme here of excessively woke, excessively online activists engaging in what is known as performative activism. Performative activism is ‘activism’ that is done to make one look morally better rather than take actual actions that could have actual benefits. People campaigning against Rowling are definitely engaging in performative activism, because they are accomplishing absolutely nothing. Case in point, almost every critical tweet or article written about Rowling comes from inside the United States. When Rowling makes statements about transgender issues, it is almost entirely in the context of the debate in the United Kingdom, where Rowling lives. 

Why are so many people in the United States so concerned about what J.K. Rowling has to say about legal and political debates in Britain? These debates have no effect on Americans, including transgender ones, whatsoever. You know what does, however? The hundreds of bills being debated in state legislatures all across the country that would have terrible effects on transgender individuals if passed.

In states like Oklahoma and South Carolina, there is a push to ban even legal adults from accessing gender-affirming care. In my home state of Missouri, there have been more bills filed regarding the participation of transgender students in school sports than there are transgender student athletes in the entire state. 

These are actual problems that people should be paying attention to and fighting against. Yet, I have heard more in the news and on social media about J.K. Rowling’s views on this subject than about these terrible bills. Why? J.K. Rowling is not a transphobe, she is not a bigot, and she is certainly far from the most pressing issue facing the transgender community. It is time for many people to stop looking for ridiculous reasons to get outraged, and instead focus on what actually matters. J.K. Rowling has been an ally to different voiceless and marginalized communities for nearly 25 years in more ways than one. It is time for her critics to accept that they are fighting the wrong battle.