J.K. Rowling Is SO CLOSE to Getting the Harm She’s Caused If She’d Only Connect the Dots

Fans of Harry Potter have had to come to terms with a lot in recent years. Author J.K. Rowling has shared her transphobic views online, and then, when she received backlash, wrote an essay doubling down on her transphobia to make it clear that she does not consider trans women to be women. Her transphobia is clear and has hurt those in the trans community who looked to the Harry Potter series for guidance. But more than that, her transphobia has led to her fans going on the attack on her behalf and causing a lot of harm towards the trans community.

But now, Rowling is using her platform to, essentially, play the victim. Time and time again, she’s used her platform with 14 million followers to share misinformation on the trans community and weaponize her hatred, and has given others who share her harmful views a figure to idolize.

Rowling took to Twitter to share that she’s been receiving threats because of her transphobic presence online.

I don’t condone sending anyone death threats, but the problem with this is that kind of hate, targeted at much more vulnerable people, is exactly what Rowling brings upon others by spreading her anti-trans views. She won’t realize it, though, because she’s using the response to her transphobia as a means of justification. She’s used her 14 million followers and made her own army. There are plenty online who will take it upon themselves to defend Rowling, including making threats just like this, to anyone who challenges the Harry Potter author.

Project manager Nicola Spurling said it best in her tweet about Rowling.

Rowling hasn’t spoken out once against the threats her own fans send to those who rebuke her transphobia. But Rowling being sent those same threats is her problem? It shouldn’t happen either way, but Rowling, as Spurling pointed out, started the fight by spreading hatred towards a group of individuals because Rowling somehow saw the trans community as a threat.

Maybe she’ll realize she’s in the wrong now that Ben Shapiro is on her side …

No one should receive death threats, but J.K. Rowling using her huge platform to share harmful transphobic rhetoric has done a lot of harm to the trans community, and Rowling needs to recognize that this isn’t a one-sided thing. Her fans attack those in the trans community and those who support the trans community all because Rowling uses her platform with 14 million followers to share hatred, and that’s the truth she doesn’t want to talk about.

(image: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

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Rachel Leishman

Rachel Leishman (She/Her) is an Assistant Editor at the Mary Sue. She's been a writer professionally since 2016 but was always obsessed with movies and television and writing about them growing up. A lover of Spider-Man and Wanda Maximoff's biggest defender, she has interests in all things nerdy and a cat named Benjamin Wyatt the cat. If you want to talk classic rock music or all things Harrison Ford, she's your girl but her interests span far and wide. Yes, she knows she looks like Florence Pugh. She has multiple podcasts, normally has opinions on any bit of pop culture, and can tell you can actors entire filmography off the top of her head. Her current obsession is Glen Powell's dog, Brisket. Her work at the Mary Sue often includes Star Wars, Marvel, DC, movie reviews, and interviews.

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