JK Rowling, famed author of the Harry Potter book series, is a great case study in this discussion on cancel culture.
The Story
Before 2019 Rowling would have been generally celebrated and well-regarded, in large part because her books upheld the values of inclusion and diversity. But that all changed in 2019 when she tweeted out her support for Maya Forstater, a woman who had lost her job and then become embroiled in legal battles over tweets she had made criticizing "self-ID," the concept that a person's legal sex should be determined by their gender identity without any medical requirements. Rowling's tweet in support of Forstater was met with significant criticism but the controversy faded away soon after.
Then, in the summer of 2020, Rowling sent out the following tweet mocking an article she read that used the term "people who menstruate" instead of saying "women":
She quickly went on to clarify her perspective with this series of tweets:
The criticism of these tweets was loud and profound. Anger, disbelief, and grief poured in from around the world as people who were fans of Harry Potter felt she had betrayed them. There were calls to cancel her books, some people literally burned her books, Harry Potter fan sites removed her picture from their pages, actors from the Harry Potter movies distanced themselves from her, and people compared her to Voldemort (the Harry Potter bad guy). Rowling wrote an essay to help clarify her beliefs in more detail, but it did little to repair her reputation.
Evaluating Her Case
So what are we to make of this? So much can be said but here are 6 points:
1) 2 Mistakes
Before I go on to share a sympathetic perspective on Rowling, I want to point out two mistakes she made. First, if her hope was to express an opinion on such a heated and sensitive topic, Twitter was probably not the best place to do it. Twitter is designed for sharing brief thoughts, not digging into nuance and details. Second, the sarcastic/mocking tone of the "wumben wimpund" tweet was not helpful. Again this is an incredibly sensitive topic and her tone likely provoked more hostility than a gentle approach would have.
2) Cancellation is Not the Answer
Even if Rowling's perspective was 100% wrong, the best response was not to cancel her, as I laid out in the previous post of this series on free speech. Cancelling someone is unlikely to change their perspective or the perspective of their like-minded followers but only fuel how passionately they hold their convictions, fuel antagonism, and divide the two sides of the culture war. If Rowling is spreading incorrect ideas then those who disagree with her should go do their research, collect all the data and studies that prove her wrong, and then present their findings to her and others invested in the conversation.
3) Hate is Not the Answer
Under her controversial tweet people posted comments calling her a "b*tch" and a "whore", announcing they wished they could punch her, and hoping she died or was stoned to death. A couple days after her tweet the police contacted her saying they were investigating legitimate threats of violence against her. Not only is this hateful response sad but also perplexing. It's perplexing because presumably these same people consider themselves champions of tolerance, love, and peace, yet ditch those values when faced with someone who disagrees with them. This is a classic example of trying to "overcome evil with evil" (Rom 12:21).
4) Nuance rather than All-or-Nothing
The most controversial issues of our time are heated because both sides believe they have very strong evidence, because the issue is personal and both sides feel they are fighting for people they love, and ultimately because the issues are complex. There is no easy straightforward formula for how to help a child navigate gender dysphoria. So it is precisely when we are most tempted to think in a black-or-white, all-or-nothing, us-versus-them binary way of thinking that we need to have the patience to dig into details and nuance.
Here's a list of some of the things Rowling has said about trans people, many of which are taken from her initial tweets themselves and some she shared later:
She personally knows trans people
She loves trans people
She feels a kinship with trans people and is empathetic towards them because of the ways they are vulnerable
She respects trans peoples' right to live in a way that feels authentic to them
She would march with them if they were being discriminated against
She would use their preferred pronouns
She believes gender transition can be the right choice for some adults
Surely this is evidence that she is not a bigot and that she does not hate trans people or want them "erased," as her critics have claimed. In contrast, we know that (tragically) there are true bigots and transphobes out there who are actually disgusted by trans people and believe them to be somehow inferior or degenerate. It's not helpful to lump Rowling in with those types of people. Although they would probably never acknowledge it or see it this way, it seems to me that there is significant overlap between Rowling and her critics in their overall disposition and goodwill towards trans people, and that their points of difference are in the details of certain policies and ideas about gender.
5) Knowing Her Backstory and "Reason Why"
Rowling has shared online and on podcasts that before she wrote the Harry Potter books she was in an abusive marriage that led to her fleeing from her then-husband out of fear for her life. Additionally, she has also shared that she was seriously sexually assaulted in her twenties. When you know these two things about her, her passionate feminism, concerns over the safety of women, and critiques of certain gender ideas make a lot of sense. When she says that she feels empathy for the vulnerability that trans people experience, she is speaking as someone who knows firsthand what it feels like to be vulnerable and taken advantage of. This is a good reminder in most cases people have deeply-felt reasons for doing and saying what they do that at least in part grows out of their personal story.
6) Correct vs Understandable Beliefs
To be clear, truth matters. Nothing I'm about to say is to suggest we stop seeking or caring about the truth. But in this diverse and increasingly polarized society we need to find ways of seeking and debating truth while still tolerating one another without hating, hurting, or killing each other.
In a society like ours we need to ask not only whether a person's beliefs are correct but are they at least understandable. Our polarization would decrease and our tolerance would increase if we could get to the point of admitting (where possible) when the perspectives of people we disagree with are reasonable or understandable, even if we still think they are wrong.
Like we noted above, Rowling actually supports trans people in a number of signifcant ways. But here are the three points (that I can see) where she diverges from her critics:
Rowling believes there is a legitimate difference between biological males and biological females, and that it is important that we use language that reflects that legitimate difference.
Rowling has concerns about trans women being allowed in female-only spaces like washrooms, changerooms, prisons, and shelters for female victims of abuse.
Rowling has concerns about allowing children and youth to take any concrete steps towards transitioning because they are too young to fully take into account all the factors and ramifications of those decisions.
Maybe you feel like Rowling is wrong on all three points—you are allowed to hold that opinion! But surely we have to admit that her three points are at least understandable? On a personal/emotional level it shouldn't be too hard to see why someone who has been through what she has experienced would be concerned about the vulnerability of women. And on an intellectual level, even if you disagree with and feel uncomfortable about her concerns, we have to acknowledge that these are at least fair (understandable) questions for someone to ask. If you listen to her speak you'll hear the reasons and pieces of evidence she has for her concerns—they are not coming from a place of unthinking prejudice.
If there is even a chance that some women and girls in certain situations or contexts are at a greater risk of harm by allowing trans women into female-only spaces, wouldn't we want to know? The same can be said about gender-affirming care for children: if there is even a small possibility of harm or making a decision that will later be regretted, wouldn't we want to make sure we have all the facts?
If someone is unwilling to even consider Rowling's questions and concerns, I can only think of four possible explanations for why that would be the case:
They have already done comprehensive research on the subject and have irrefutable evidence that the concern is unfounded (in which case, share the evidence with Rowling and the rest of us!).
They are scared about where the evidence may lead.
They aren't interested in the truth or basing their perspective on facts.
They are so entrenched in their side of the culture war that the possibility of Rowling making a valid point is inconceivable to them.
Concluding Thoughts
This blog post is not meant to be a wholesale defense of Rowling and everything she has ever said or done. First of all, I honestly haven't followed Rowling close enough to do that. But more importantly (echoing point #4 above), we need to get out of this unhelpful "either you're entirely for Rowling or entirely against her" binary. Between the black and white extremes are a range of grey:
My goal was moreso to show that Rowling wasn't the absolute villian that she was made to be by her critics.
Relatedly, my point was not to defend her gender-critical perspectives. Again, I haven't done enough research to have a solid perspective about her concerns. Echoing point #6, rather than claiming her view is correct it is my belief that her concerns are at least understandable and worthy of grappling with. She doesn't deserve all the cancellation, hate, and villifying that she got, and as a society it does us no good to respond that way either. Responding with a cancellation attitude further polarizes us and keeps us from actually grappling with these important societal questions and figuring things out together.
For More Info
If you want to dig into all of this deeper, I highly recommend listening to the podcast series "The Witch Trials of JK Rowling". In my opinion it is a well-balanced look into both sides of the debate and also gets into more of her backstory and journey leading up to the tweets.