Author J.K. Rowling has been involved in controversy of late for her tone deaf and in some cases hateful remarks about trans women, in particular, and transfolk in general.
Yesterday, she posted an essay to present her side of the story. You may find it here: https://www.jkrowling.com/opinions/j-k-rowling-writes-about-her-reasons-for-speaking-out-on-sex-and-gender-issues/
LGBTQNation summarized the essay with this: "tl;dr -- Transgender people were mean to her on social media. Her ex-husband abused her. Freedom of speech."
And, yes, those were the factors Rowling used to defend her point of view.
1) If bad apples from some random group insult you, please try not to take it out on the whole group.
2) Telling you that you are being a bigot is a service to both you and the community, which is not really being a bad apple anyway. I'm certain some people crossed ethical boundaries they shouldn't have, in their upset, and said things or did things that would be fair to condemn. But simply pointing out the harm that Rowling is doing with her position, is not wrong.
3) A history of abuse does have a tendency to increase the risk of the victim later becoming an abuser. And I think that is illustrated in this case. Sympathy is warranted for all involved.
I think the LGBTQNation hot-take is less well considered than it could be, however.
Near the end of her essay, Rowling writes:
The last thing I want to say is this. I haven’t written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me, not even a teeny-weeny one. I’m extraordinarily fortunate; I’m a survivor, certainly not a victim. I’ve only mentioned my past because, like every other human being on this planet, I have a complex backstory, which shapes my fears, my interests and my opinions. I never forget that inner complexity when I’m creating a fictional character and I certainly never forget it when it comes to trans people.
Acknowledgement that your environment was responsible for making you who you are is a VERY GOOD THING.
It is not, however, a justifiable excuse for not wanting to improve further. What is happening now to Rowling is also part of her backstory. And, if the people she interacts with take the time to listen to her story about her motivations and formative events in her life, respectfully acknowledge the validity of those experiences, AND challenge the conclusions she has drawn from those experiences, the chances of her someday seeing the errors in her current thinking improve. Nothing all to valuable is gained by simply flinging insults. Correctly labelling TERFs and education about why the positions they advocate are wrong is super important. Being respectful in conversation with them is ALSO hugely important, because it improves our overall chances of making the world a better place.
Every person you ever interact with, has good things about them, bad things about them, weird things about them. And in any particular interaction, you only see whatever combination of those attributes are active at that moment. You can't read her essay and correctly think that it has given you ALL the information about what she thinks, however it is more information than we had previously, it was proffered to help us all understand each other, and I think that despite the fact it includes hateful things, we should appreciate that she shared it because that aids understanding, and hopefully someday, healing.
