This Sunday, the hashtags “Mother's Day”, “Happy Mother's Day” and “Mothers Day” were top trends on Twitter in France. In the middle of this festive theme, the name of JK Rowling arises. Why did the British author, mother of the wizard Harry Potter, find herself among the most commented subjects of the day, with more than 820,000 publications mentioning her name? Explanations.
A tweet that sets fire to the powder
On Saturday, JK Rowling relayed an editorial from devex.com calling for "creating a post-Covid-19 world for menstruating men." A formulation that questioned the author. "I'm sure there was a word for these people. Help me. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? A rhetorical question for the Briton pretending to have forgotten the word "women".
'People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA
" I am a man ! I have my periods ! "
This tweet aroused the circumspection and / or anger of a large number of Internet users. The reason ? It could be summarized by what was answered by Zeke Smith, a trans man, ex-candidate of Survivor , the American version of Koh-Lanta : “Hello! I am a man ! I have my periods ! Stop being a dump… ”
As the American explains, followed by nearly 35,000 subscribers, in another tweet, talking about "menstruating" also includes non-binary people, that is to say who do not feel neither entirely "men" nor entirely "women". This is indeed what the article relayed by JK Rowling mentions. "I'm tired of the world pretending that my body, what I live, does not exist, and that I should be content to be relegated to the background," said Zeke Smith.
“People who menstruate” is fewer words, and also includes non-binary people.
I'm tired of the world pretending my body and experience doesn't exist, and that I have to take a back seat and be happy about it.
Why is my IUD different from anyone else's?
According to his tweets, JK Rowling does not take into account the fact that trans men and non-binary people can also be affected by menstruation. "Every month, I face the same difficulties created by a world refusing to recognize that women are not the only ones who have their periods", testified in 2018 to the HuffPost , Cass Blist, who identifies as trans non -binary, in a post entitled "Having your period when you are not a woman". This subject, like that of transgender pregnancies - when a trans man gives birth to a child - is little publicized.
JK Rowling defends himself
Accused of transphobia, JK Rowling defended herself in a series of tweets. “I respect the right of every trans person to live as they please. I will walk by your side if you are discriminated against because of your transidentity. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being a woman. I don't think saying it is hate, she pleads. The idea that women, like me, who have empathized and bonded with trans people for decades because they are just as vulnerable as women - to male violence, for example - would hate trans people because they think sex [male and female] is a reality is absurd. If sex is not a reality, then there is no "same sex" attraction. If sex is not a reality, the reality of what women experience in the world is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex prevents many people from talking about their lives. It is not to hate to tell the truth. "
If sex isn't real, there's no same-sex attraction. If sex isn't real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn't hate to speak the truth.
- JK Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020JK Rowling uses the term "sex" here and not "gender", seeming to refer a person's gender identity exclusively to their sexual organs. In other words, she lets it be understood that she does not consider a trans woman as a woman, nor a trans man as a man.
An echo to another controversial position
The point of view expressed by JK Rowling here is in line with his position, last December, in support of Maya Forstater. The latter had been dismissed by the NGO for which she worked because she had written on Twitter, about transidentity, that "men cannot become women" and that it is "unfair and dangerous that trans women compete in women's sports. "
If Maya Forstater contested her dismissal, the British courts agreed with her employer. After the judgment, she insisted: "Just as I said in my testimony, I believe that sex is a biological and immutable fact. There are two sexes. Men are males. Women are females. It is impossible to change sex. "
Dress however you please.
Call yourself whatever you like.
Sleep with any consenting adult who'll have you.
Live your best life in peace and security.
But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill
JK Rowling went in the direction of Maya Forstater by tweeting: "Dress as you want, call yourself as you want […] but fire women because they claim that sex is a reality? "
What is a "TERF"?
This statement had earned JK Rowling to be called "TERF", an acronym meaning "transgender exclusionary radical feminist". In French: "radical feminists excluding trans people". This pejorative term thus designates activists who believe that trans people and their rights are foreign to feminist and / or lesbian fighting. In 2018, a small group of demonstrators had blocked the head of the London Pride march by proclaiming slogans hostile to trans women who, according to them, could not claim to be lesbians.
More broadly, since 2018, JK Rowling has been the subject of criticism on social networks for its more or less assumed support for transphobic tweets, as reported in May by the French site Komitid English on news related to LGBT subjects.
"I've never felt as shouted down, ignored, and targeted as a lesbian * within * our supposed GLBT community as I have over the past couple of years." https://t.co/9tmEEydPIr
- JK Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020This Saturday, JK Rowling supported his argument by relaying a blog post from a lesbian author, Julia Diana Robertson, also a columnist at the English- speaking Huffpost and qualified as TERF by her detractors. "" Feminazi "," TERF "," witch ". Times are changing, hatred for women continues, "tweeted the creator of Harry Potter on Saturday without specifying what she meant by" women. " And so, without seeming to understand that it is on this point that the indignation of Internet users is tied.
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