With the release of Hogwarts Legacy the JK Rowling controversy is reignited. Is there a middle ground?
Why has the LGBTQIA+ community labeled Harry Potter Author JK Rowling transphobic? She originally offended them in a twitter post. Then Rowling drew the ire of many in the community with further comments and a refusal to back down. Let’s take a look at the tweet that triggered the movement to cancel Rowling and an attempt to cancel the latest video game inspired by JK Rowling, Hogwarts Legacy.
Lost in translation
Rowling embedded the website article in the above tweet and was criticizing the website for defining anatomically female women as “menstruating people”. But something was lost in translation because many people perceive the original article as an attempt to label straight women as “people who menstruate”. It was an article about general menstruation health, and they chose to include all people born anatomically female regardless of how they choose to identify their gender.
Was JK Rowling Right?
notrightnotleft.net do not consider her right or wrong. We believe all men (people) are endowed by their creator (some say nature) with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We also believe all people have a right to express an opinion.
Was JK Rowling insensitive?
I do not know if the original “offending” tweet should be considered insensitive, but it is unusual given the context of the article which is an article about menstruation health. We understand Rowling’s position but she chose an odd place to make her stand. Regardless it is very clear that Rowling has consistently advocated for the queer community.
Is it wise to attempt to cancel JK Rowling and Hogwarts Legacy over an opinion she tweeted?
The way that Cancel Culture attacked Rowling was and continues to be miss-guided and in some cases wrong. Many death threats against her have been documented. Many attempts to Dox her have been documented. In our opinion even attempts (failed) to attack her and entities associated with her financially (in various ways, chiefly boycotts) are not warranted and probably, logically, should be considered an attack on an LGBTQIA+ ally because she has only ever expressed support for this class of people and one of her most beloved characters from Harry Potter is gay.
Our conclusion
JK Rowling was arguably insensitive and inconsistent with her statement about people she publicly supports. All people have the right to live their lives as they please. But this must also include JK Rowling. The way that the left has attempted to cancel Rowling has in many cases been very wrong. It is logical to conclude that the left (from their perspective) reasonably identified her original statement as a gaffe. But they are working against a very important public figure that has consistently supported them. Countless millions of people young and old love the Harry Potter universe. The undisputed leader of all things good in that universe (Albus Dumbledore) is a gay man. This has been known since 2007 when she made this public statement, which was later confirmed, can be inferred, and was reconfirmed in the most recent movie Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. You can’t buy that kind of press for queer folk.
Albus Dumbledore Quote “I went along because I was in love with you.” Dumbledore speaking to his one great love Grindelwald the man.
Post Script: we asked openai.com (a recently released to the public AI system) this question. “Is JK Rowling transphobic” OpenAI responded in this way and we will leave it to our conclusion.
“There has been significant controversy and debate around J.K. Rowling’s views on transgender people and transgender rights. Some people believe that she is transphobic because of her statements and actions on social media and in public statements, while others believe that she is a supportive ally of the transgender community. It is ultimately up to each individual to form their own opinion on this issue.”
2 thoughts on “JK Rowling Controversy, Hogwarts Legacy”
this seems reasonable
agree