MEANING/PERSONA
Canceling J.K.Rowling and What Is the Tolerance All About
Who among us didn't expect a letter from Hogwarts, didn't imagine that this stone from the pavement is necessarily a philosopher's one, and this twig is a magic wand from Ollivander's Shop? Briefly, the Harry Potter's universe captured everyone's heart. More than one generation grew up with the boy who had survived, learning three Unforgivable Curses and eager to play Quidditch. But in the last few months, the universe has been increasingly criticized. Well, not the universe, but its creator – J. K. Rowling. Sadly, but one of the famous writers loses her most loyal fans, actors and filmmakers turn away from her, even those who owe their careers to her. And to be honest, dealing with this problem made my hair stand up, and the phrase "what's wrong with this world?!" did not leave my head. But what happened? Well, to answer this question, we need to take advantage of this Time-Turner and move to June of 2020…
by Varvara Ushakova
30/09/2020
June 7 or hatred flared up
In comments to this post, Twitter users accused the writer of disrespectful and hostile attitude towards transsexuals, transgenders and people with non-binary gender. Despite the barrage of aggression, Joan calmly replied to the comments. Later, she wrote a couple of tweets where she said that she respected the right of everyone to live as they wanted to.
September 14 and a new wave of aggression
On September 15, J.K. Rowling's new Book, "Troubled blood", went on sale. In it, the character investigates the disappearance of Doctor Margot Bamborough, which occurred back in 1974, the serial killer-psychopath Dennis Creed is suspected in the crime . Reviews of the book were released by many publishers, including the newspaper The Telegraph. It notes that Creed is a cisgender man who dresses in women's clothes : "One wonders what critics of Rowling's stance on trans issues will make of a book whose moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress", wrote the reviewer Jake Kerridge.
After The Telegraph's review, a new wave of criticism has risen in social networks. On September 14, the hashtag #RIPJKRowling hotted Twitter trends hinting at the death of Rowling's career. However, if you read the tweets that come out with this hashtag, you can understand that there are people who keep posting comments asking her to die.
After The Telegraph's review, a new wave of criticism has risen in social networks. On September 14, the hashtag #RIPJKRowling hotted Twitter trends hinting at the death of Rowling's career. However, if you read the tweets that come out with this hashtag, you can understand that there are people who keep posting comments asking her to die.
But maybe J.K. Rowling is wrong after all?
J.K. Rowling made an inaccuracy to some extent. Transgender men can have menstrual blood. This is what people tried to explain in the comments under her post: "Non-Binary people and transgender people can also have menstruation. And I, a 37-year-old woman with a uterus, haven't had a period in 10 years." Transgender people are also able to bear children. For example, transgender Kaci Sullivan from Wisconsin was born as a girl, but she gave birth to a child even after changing her gender. Sullivan talked about his pregnancy on YouTube. By the way, Sullivan refuses to declare the baby's gender, as he is going to raise "gender neutral" child until they grow up and make their own choice. "I don't like being asked what my child's gender is. He will decide for himself".
Why J.K. Rowling is right
"A woman is a woman. This concept exists and cannot be erased. A woman should not be called a menstruator because it erases the overall female experience" - this comment was given to me by my friend who considers herself a radical feminist. In general, if you look down the rabbit hole called "Twitter", you can see that there are a lot of aggressive people in the trans community who constantly criticize someone's statements and do it with great anger. But not everyone, of course.
What about «Troubled blood»... As I said earlier, the book tells the story of a serial killer Dennis Creed who wears a woman's coat and wig. But the character is not described as a transvestite. At all. Moreover, this character was based on the stories of real maniacs — Jerry Brudos and Russell Williams. Brudos killed four women in Oregon in the 1960s, and Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010 for murdering two women. Both criminals were stealing women's underwear. So where is the insult of the trans community, please tell me?!
What about «Troubled blood»... As I said earlier, the book tells the story of a serial killer Dennis Creed who wears a woman's coat and wig. But the character is not described as a transvestite. At all. Moreover, this character was based on the stories of real maniacs — Jerry Brudos and Russell Williams. Brudos killed four women in Oregon in the 1960s, and Williams was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2010 for murdering two women. Both criminals were stealing women's underwear. So where is the insult of the trans community, please tell me?!
Why canceling is awful
But it doesn't even matter whose side you're on. You can condemn Rowling's opinion, or you can support it. The most burning theme which is important today – the cancel culture. This is the name given to the practice of condemning public figures and companies for their statements if they seem reprehensible or offensive to the public. People stop supporting such a person or a company, publicly criticize them, unsubscribe from their social media accounts. And you have no idea how disgustingly this is. No, seriously, people just don't understand how serious consequences of their tweets can be, which, oh my God, are so convenient to write from anonymous accounts! Have you heard of August Ames? So, this is a famous porn actress who refused to be in one porn video with a gay man because she was afraid that she could catch some desease from him. And the world community began to accuse her. They wrote her something like: "How could you beat this gay guy?", "creature", "die". For all of them, was it just a drop in the bucket, a meaningless tweet that they were trying to, I don't know, boost their self-esteem? And for August, it was a giant wave that eventually tore her down – she couldn't stand all that aggression and she killed herself.
In June, the writer made fun of the expression «people who have menstruation»:
"People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"
(from Twitter)
(from Twitter)
"I know and love trans people but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. I respect every trans person's right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I'd march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it's hateful to say so."
(from Twitter)
(from Twitter)
So at what point did excessive tolerance become a weapon? What kind of tolerance, in principle, can we talk about when people so openly wish for somebody's death? Tolerance is forbearance and, most importantly, respect for someone else's point of view. If you don't like that opinion, okay – that's up to you. If you don't support transgender people – for goodness' sake. If you don't like J.K. Rowling's work, don't read her books. But you can never divide the world into black and white because social relationships are very delicate and fragile things. I thought there are well-known words: many men, many minds. But for some reason, everyone completely forgot about this obvious truth. Be respectful and God will bless you.
