J.K. Rowling Traffics in Transphobic Stereotypes by Creating Murderous Cis Man Serial Killer Who Dresses as a Woman To Kill
J.K. Rowling has continued her transphobic agenda, this time using her series of mediocre mystery books to do so. When will it just stop?
According to The Telegraph, in the latest installment of her Strike mystery series, that she publishes under the name Robert Galbraith, the “meat” of this 900-page novel is an investigation into a cold case: the disappearance of a woman in 1974, believed to be a victim of a cis male serial killer who murders people while dressing up like a woman. So we are doing the same transphobic slasher horror/thriller tropes that we should have left behind long ago? Cool.
Also, 900 pages? Ma’am.
This is apparently not the first time she had gotten this kind of criticism for her depiction of trans characters. According to Pink News, in the second book in this same series, The Silkworm, she created a trans character described as “unstable and aggressive.”
After the attack the titular detective manages to trap Pippa in his office, where her trans identity and deadname are revealed. At this point, JK Rowling describes the character’s Adam’s apple and hands, with the Strike character warning her that prison “won’t be fun for you… Not pre-op.”
Oh great, some rape jokes as well. So feminist.
I continue to be disgusted at the flagrant way Rowling has paraded her transphobia, truly reveling in hurting some of the people who once turned to her books for a sense of salvation. Giving them up has been fairly easy for me, but it still stings to know that she has infected Harry Potter, something so loved, with so much hate.
LGBTQ organizations have offered numerous times to meet with J.K. Rowling in a private setting to respectfully discuss trans identities and the overwhelming medical and scientific consensus behind them, and she’s refused each time.
Remember that.
— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️🌈 (@cmclymer) September 14, 2020
I know a lot of you who follow me probably share some of the fears around the myth about “men who dress up as women to hurt women”. If I wasn’t trans I suspect I would too.
But I ask you to look inside your heart and question what is really happening here https://t.co/cdYE2TKmkt
— Paris Lees (@parislees) September 14, 2020
JK Rowling made her fucked up attacks against trans people and threatened to sue anyone who called her transphobic because she’d already sent her manuscript off to the publisher and wanted to preempt the inevitable criticism of this. pic.twitter.com/541EElKfJk
— Laurie (@TheStuffOfMemes) September 13, 2020
These stereotypes are transphobic, homophobic, and should be relics of thrillers long past. Yet Rowling has revived these awful tropes for what reason? In order to depict some fictional illusionary world where this is a legitimate fear that cis women like her have to deal with? It is a lie and a farce when we live in a world where trans folks, especially Black and Brown trans women, are most likely to be murdered in these streets.
This is harmful, hateful, and just plain lazy writing from Rowling. I continue to be ashamed of the fact that a writer who I admired and looked up to so much in childhood has turned into such a disappointing human being.
(via Pink News, image: John Phillips/Getty Images)
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