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J.K. Rowling accused of being a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF)

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Chamomile

Chamomile

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Oct 25, 2017
335
J.K. Rowling was recently dragged by some of her followers for liking a Tweet that links to an article that demonizes trans women.
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https://twitter.com/Graemdyne/status/922859173347577859

The article that Rowling liked is this:
https://medium.com/@GappyTales/me-too-now-what-sex-the-left-and-gender-identity-236b08f194b0

I am, quite frankly, disappointed that some women are using this opportunity to lump trans women into the evils caused by cishet men. It only serves to perpetuate the notion that transpeople are sexual deviants and disgusting miscreants.
 
Meg Cherry

Meg Cherry

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Oct 25, 2017
7,268
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The article is disgusting, but denouncing somebody for liking one tweet is a bit much. I've liked countless tweets by accident, and many with the intention of just reading the article later.
 

bdwnfn99

Member
Oct 25, 2017
837
I use likes all the time to bookmark things I plan to read later, whether I agree with it or not. It's the easiest, quickest option inside the app. This is a bit ridiculous
 
Geist

Geist

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Oct 25, 2017
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I can only hope that like was an accident, or she didn't read it and thought she was supporting something else. Otherwise...Milkshake Ducked. :-/
 
Vamphuntr

Vamphuntr

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Oct 25, 2017
3,301
Did people even ask her about it. Pressing a like button doesn't mean much. I mean mistakes happen. If she didn't comment yet people should wait before starting the witch hunt.
 
ElectricBlanketFire

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This doesn't jive at all with her past public comments on LGBT rights.

I'm not a huge fan, but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt on this one.
 
Secret Fawful

Secret Fawful

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Oct 25, 2017
954
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I would be shocked if JK Rowling was actually a transphobe. I have a really hard time believing it, without knowing how the like happened.
 
sersteven

sersteven

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Oct 25, 2017
1,205
Philadelphia
Unless she retweeted it or had come out actually saying anything to the effect of this, it seems like something to disregard. Obviously it's disconcerting, but her actual public activity speaks to the contrary.
 
Mindwipe

Mindwipe

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Oct 25, 2017
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Mushroomer25 said:
The article is disgusting, but denouncing somebody for liking one tweet is a bit much. I've liked countless tweets by accident, and many with the intention of just reading the article later.
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While that's fair enough, this did happen a few days ago and she's been getting an awful lot of heat over it. It seems unlikely that she hasn't become aware of it by now and could have just said it was a mistake if it was.
 

Deleted member 9207

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I am constantly upvoting and downvoting random stuff on the Reddit app by mistake, so I understand if someone does so too.

Then again, she hasn't commented on it has she?
 
fundogmo

fundogmo

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Oct 25, 2017
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In the kangaroo court of twitter, does skimming an article and clicking "like" become tantamount to a firebrand endorsement of every single sentence within?
 
Kirblar

Kirblar

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Oct 25, 2017
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Making the accusation based on a single twitter like for an article that appears to be a perfectly acceptable sentiment (its mostly about the banality of women's existences navigating a world filled with shitty men) until you get to the final 1/10th where it completely derails isn't cool. She could have bookmarked it, she might not have read all the way through, etc.
 
ElectricBlanketFire

ElectricBlanketFire

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Mindwipe said:
While that's fair enough, this did happen a few days ago and she's been getting an awful lot of heat over it. It seems unlikely that she hasn't become aware of it by now and could have just said it was a mistake if it was.
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Searching "J.K. Rowling Trans" brings up nothing but stories about her defending the LGBT community that I can see.
 
mjc

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Oct 25, 2017
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Might be a bit unfair to assume the worst of it until/unless she comments on it.
 

Deleted member 15326

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It possible she only read the title and thought it was a positive article. People tend to like/retweet things without actual reading links or full threads
 
hydrophilic attack

hydrophilic attack

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Oct 25, 2017
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So many people showing such concern over sexual assaults perpetrated by trans women. I doubt this concern in any way is actually motivated by crime statistics

(This post was regarding articles like the one JKR liked. I'm going to give JKR herself the benefit of the doubt while waiting for her to comment.)
 
Kaitos

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Oct 25, 2017
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Sometimes I like tweets I don't agree with to read them later.
 
Fudgepuppy

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About 8 years ago, I pressed the wrong button on a newpaper's website, and on my FB wall it said for weeks that I 'liked' an article about a woman being gang-raped.

I'm giving her the benefit of doubt on this one.
 
peyrin

peyrin

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Oct 27, 2017
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tbf if you have 13 million followers you really shouldn't be liking something as questionable as that just to bookmark it.
 
Jakten

Jakten

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Oct 25, 2017
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I like many tweets and articles that I don't agree with as reference for later in case I need to refer to them in the future during an argument or something. Not saying she does or doesn't believe this in anyway but assuming such a thing off of that alone seems like a bad idea. Just because it's called 'like' doesn't mean people don't use it for other purposes.
 
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Chamomile

Chamomile

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Oct 25, 2017
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I don't understand how it could be a "witch hunt" when the author of the original Medium article is a fairly established British journalist critiquing the recent removal of a British columnist, Sam Kriss, after sexual assault allegations. Rowling is British herself, so I would assume that she knows of them. Further, GappyTales is overly outspoken about her transphobia on her Twitter feed.

While I do not endorse harassing Rowling over merely liking a Tweet, you should all be able to empathize with her LGBT+ fanbase, who Rowling has generally supported throughout her career. They want answers, and thus far, she has provided them none. Moreover, my making this thread is to also encourage ERA posters to acknowledge that, even in leftist spaces, we tend to be exclusionary of trans people.

Here is one of GappyTales tweets, if you're curious:
https://twitter.com/GappyTales/status/912967842223489025
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Acorn

Acorn

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Oct 25, 2017
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JK Rowling's Twitter made me go from indifferent to actively disliking her.

She's a walking centrist bingo game.
 
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Chamomile

Chamomile

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Oct 25, 2017
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The same people that follow GappyTales are TERFs that claim that "transwomen benefit from male privilege" at some point in their lives. GappyTales is a noted figure in transphobic language that other similarly exclusionary people rally underneath. I absolutely understand the anger being levied towards Rowling for being silent about the entire situation. All it takes is one Tweet to silence any concerns of her actually endorsing transphobic rhetoric.
 
Platy

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Chamomile

Chamomile

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Oct 25, 2017
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Lord Brady said:
Liked a tweet?! Clearly a horrible person.
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No; that's misjudging the situation. People are just in awe that someone that has been a clear ally for LGBT+ rights may be exclusionary of trans people. If my friend liked an article about something that is clearly bigoted in some way, then I would absolutely ask them why they did it. There's no inherent maliciousness to this.
 
Secret Fawful

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woman said:
I don't see what's shocking about it. A lot of transphobic attitudes and ideas are normalized in our society.
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I know. Rowling has been a staunch supporter of LGBT rights in the past, though. If she really does have these ignorant views, it would be surprising because she'd have to have severe cognitive dissonance to have them, and it doesn't mesh with her other views. I'm not saying that's not TOTALLY possible, but I'm going to wait and see if it's true.
 
Lord Brady

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Poor TIES said:
No; that's misjudging the situation. People are just in awe that someone that has been a clear ally for LGBT+ rights may be exclusionary of trans people. If my friend liked an article about something that is clearly bigoted in some way, then I would absolutely ask them why they did it. There's no inherent maliciousness to this.
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Did I misread your subject line? Seems like people are more than "in awe". They're accusing her of being a "TERF". Based not off a tweet of hers. But of a Tweet she hit like on. That's absurd.
 
ElectricBlanketFire

ElectricBlanketFire

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Poor TIES said:
No; that's misjudging the situation. People are just in awe that someone that has been a clear ally for LGBT+ rights may be exclusionary of trans people. If my friend liked an article about something that is clearly bigoted in some way, then I would absolutely ask them why they did it. There's no inherent maliciousness to this.
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I'm not "in awe" of anything. If she truly feels that way, she deserves to be called out. I just need to see more evidence than liking a tweet. Clarification would obviously be a good thing.
 
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