A Polarizing Figure

I already had this post, below, in the queue, when, oddly enough, the topic of JK Rowling popped up at the family dinner table last week. Let me note, in passing, that I do not follow JKR at all on social media, but I do very much like her Cormoran Strike novels. Someone I do follow, however, linked to the following piece, and I thought it worthwhile to post here.

Before reposting, however, let me say that JK Rowling is despised by many who think, quite mistakenly in my opinion, think that she is anti-transgender. She wrote a list of questions in a tweet to one of her haters and challenged them to state where she was wrong. This is the link, but I've copied and pasted it below.

As another man who once worked with me declares himself saddened by my beliefs on gender and sex, I thought it might be useful to compile a list for handy reference. Which of the following do you imagine makes actors and directors who aren’t involved with the HBO reboot of Harry Potter so miserable?

• Is it my belief that women and girls should have their own public changing rooms and bathrooms?
• That women should retain female-only rape crisis centres?
• That men don’t belong in women’s sport?
• That female prisoners shouldn’t be incarcerated with violent men and male sex offenders?
• That women should remain a protected class in law, because they have sex-specific needs and issues?
• That language should reflect reality rather than ideological jargon, especially in a medical context?
• That women shouldn’t be harassed, persecuted or fired for refusing to pretend humans can change sex?
• That women should not be threatened with violence and rape when they assert their rights?
• That freedom of speech and belief are essential to a pluralistic democratic society?
• That troubled minors, especially those who are gay, autistic and trauma-experienced, should be given mental health support instead of irreversible surgeries and drug treatments on non-existent evidence of benefit?
• That gay people shouldn’t be pressured to include the opposite sex in their dating pools, nor should they be smeared as ‘genital fetishists’ when they don’t?
• That cross-dressing heterosexual male fetishists aren’t actually oppressed, but having the time of their lives piggybacking off gender identity ideology?
• That said ideology, and the privileged, blinkered fools pushing it because they suffer zero consequences themselves, have done more damage to the political left’s credibility than Trump and Farage could have achieved in a century?

Let me have your thoughts.

In the meantime, I will share one of my opinions on this difficult issue. Labelling people is unhelpful. JKR is routinely labelled as a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist). I don't know if she fits the definition or not. I certainly don't think being pro-women's rights makes one exclusionary. 

The problem is labels; they can almost become a smear. Once one is labelled, lines are drawn, and it may become very difficult to discuss the issues. How would we discuss any of the above items when someone is chanting "TERF, TERF, TERF" in an accusatory tone?

There does not have to be two exclusionary camps, both claiming virtuosity. There can be gradations of how people stand on different aspects of the issues. I might firmly agree with some of her points but waffle a little on others. Like JKR, I don't like to see women who have trained hard in a sport to be upstaged by a trans person who went through puberty as a male and thereby accrued some physical advantages. On the other hand, I, am quite happy to be served by a trans cashier at the checkout, and I beleive that JKR would concur.