JK Rowling has engaged in a parody spat with a trans troll on social media, revealing (though no one asked) her haircare routine and whether she’s in a polyamorous relationship.
That sentence is a little mind-bending, so let me clarify. The interaction arose when Rowling, a noted TERF who also happened to write a few popular books a while back, responded to an X post written by Dame Katy Denise. For those unaware, Denise is a notorious satirical troll intended to mock trans people, so it should come as little surprise that Rowling found herself co-g a post that makes fun of the trans experience. For its part, the declared that it is “NOT [JK Rowling],” before listing an array of fake ‘achievements’ for supposed trans causes, like “67 rodents given life saving gender reassignment surgery.”
Doubling-down on the harmful messaging, Rowling chimed in by “clarify[ing] once and for all” that she is “NOT [Dame Katy Denise]” while sharing a range of hurtful stereotypes about trans people. “I don’t have back hair so thick it requires horse clippers,” Rowling wrote, adding that she doesn’t “have to tape up my ‘hanging ovaries’” and that she isn’t “in a long distance relationship with a polyamorous furry called Basil.” It’s a shame the author chooses to use her words in this way, rather than… I don’t know, moving to a faraway island without access to X and enjoying the spoils of Harry Potter in complete solitude.
It marks the most recent time Rowling and Denise have traded satirical barbs at the expense of trans people. The pair have seemingly had a fake beef on social media for many years, with Rowling ing in on Denise’s parody causes like #ChairPoverty. Of course, this makes a mockery out of actual trans struggles (like powerful authors inexplicably coming after them on social media), but this kind of transphobic rhetoric is unfortunately unsurprising for Rowling.
Despite creating voluminous fantasy worlds complete with spells and flying cars (and I imagine other stuff, but I never read the books), she can’t quite conceive of a reality where trans people are treated equally.
Earlier this year, was ed in these attacks by Elon Musk (nightmare blunt rotation), and the pair used Khelif — a biological woman — to ignite a culture war which regurgitated harmful talking points about trans people. When your name is listed along Musk’s, you know you’ve made a wrong move somewhere along the way, but Rowling has continued her TERF diatribe with consistent online hate speech in the months since the Olympic Games.
Rowling has subjected HBO’s Harry Potter reboot series to a cloud of controversy, since Daniel Radcliffe will certainly not appear), the series — which will dedicate one season to each book in the franchise — is expected to hit streaming services in 2026.
By that time, maybe Rowling will have softened her views on trans people but on second thought, that’s about as fanciful of a prediction as flying broomsticks or a noseless villain. Again, I never read the book, since my witches of choice are ones dressed in pink in floating bubbles, not ones with a penchant for attacking people on social media.
Published: Dec 16, 2024 05:49 pm