Earlier today, during the Playstation 5 event, they showed a Harry Potter game and I said "F* JK Rowling" and a lot of people took issue with that. I agree that such colorful language isn't productive, I'm sorry for using it. It's not setting a good example, and it might make people think they have a pass to behave in a way that wouldn't be acceptable by our guidelines on our Twitch chat and I need to be a paragon of standing to those guidelines. Let me rephrase my "F* JK" sentiments into something more productive.
First off, to me the word "fuck" doesn't really carry a whole lot of weight, it's a throw away word and doesn't carry sexual connotations for me as I now realize it does for some others. I did not in any way mean to imply anything like that.
Secondly, I think that JK Rowling's behavior with regard to the trans community is unconscionable, unacceptable, disgusting, and ignorant. She has repeatedly quadrupled down on transphobia and refuses to budge, seemingly digging in even deeper. I think my ire was particularly piqued today because I recently learned that the villain of her new book is a "transvestite" which is an offensive and out-dated term for trans people or cross-dressers. Which is just…. I can't even. So while what I should have said was something more along the lines of "I can not in good conscience support this game due to JK's anti-trans rhetoric." or something less clinical sounding, I boiled over and swore at her.
I will say this though. Transphobes are not welcome with me. You're not welcome. I encourage you to open your eyes and to learn, but there isn't room for transphobic language or behavior in my purview. If you want to learn and have questions I can help, but if you just want to hate then I don't have time for that. At JK's first infraction I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, but now she's clearly choosing dangerous and hateful rhetoric, and that's not something I can support. I've been content to discuss it in private and just not buy or support any of her stuff, but today I condensed my thoughts in an irresponsible way, and again I'm sorry for that as it's not helpful.
I don't hate JK, I don't know her. But her words and actions are dangerous to the trans community. A community that is disproportionately the victims of violence and abusive language. I haven't said much about it because a lot of people think I just put politics into everything anyways, but to me this isn't a political issue. Trans safety, just like the safety of black lives, isn't a political issue, it's a human issue. If any mention of a world event or group of people other than the majority seems political to you then I don't know what to tell you.
So I apologize for my unfortunate phrasing, but I do not apologize for being "too political" when what I'm trying to do is stand up against transphobia, racism, and bigotry. To me the notion of Love and Respect doesn't just mean being quiet and happy all the time and not standing up to wickedness. To me Love and Respect means standing up for what's right, and I didn't do that elegantly today, so I'm sorry for that, I'll be more precise in the future.
Ian
www.twitch.tv
