J.K. Rowling’s Attack on the Trans Community Was Deplorable, but So Was Glorifying Her Abuser in Response

On June 6, J.K. Rowling immediately received backlash after sending a tweet that implied only women menstruate. A few days later, Rowling attempted to justify her transphobic comments by publishing a 3,600-word essay on her website, which included the revelation that she is a survivor of domestic abuse. She used this fact in defense of her transphobic comments, claiming that her experience with abuse is the reason she does not want trans women to inhabit women-only spaces

As a survivor of mental, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, I understand how hard it must have been for Rowling to tell her story. But using her experience as a defense for transphobia is unacceptable. After everything I’ve been through, I was, and still am to an extent, wary of men. I am not, however, wary of trans women because they are not men — they are women.

I am quite open about the abuse and trauma I experienced to educate others and help them know they are not alone. While J.K. Rowling may claim to be sharing her story for the same reason, her generalization, based in no fact, that trans women pose a threat to cisegender women, does the exact opposite for her Twitter following of over 14.5 million. In actuality, Rowling weaponized her abuse, as well as the experiences of other women, against trans women, only spreading ignorance.

Rowling’s statement had broader political implications, too. Not long after these events, on June 14, the United Kingdom’s prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced plans to withdraw the Gender Recognition Act, which allows trans people to identify as their preferred gender. A few days later, Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford effectively shut down a vote on the Equality Act — legislation that would provide consistent and explicit nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people across numerous areas of their lives — and cited Rowling’s essay as a defence against the bill.

All that being said, two wrongs don’t make a right — and that’s why one of the U.K.’s biggest newspaper’s responses to Rowling’s comments, featuring Rowling’s abuser, was unacceptable. On June 11, The Sun’s front page featured a photo of Rowling’s abusive first husband, Jorge Arantes, stating “I slapped JK and I’m not sorry.”

Although The Sun ironically claims to champion women and support victims of abuse, those claims are negated by giving an admitted abuser a platform to express his lack of remorse for his violence. Doing so not only restored the power Arante once held over his victim, but triggered countless victims of abuse who have been spoken to or about in the same way. Personally, as a survivor, I cried when I saw the article, and spent the day talking to friends who have also experienced abuse. We reassured each other that it was OK, we were safe.

J.K. Rowling has undoubtedly hurt the trans community, but giving her former abuser a platform does absolutely nothing to alleviate the pain she’s caused, and only adds to the pain spread by these events. The appropriate response to Rowling’s transphobic essay would’ve been to debunk the claims she made about “men in toilets” and how gender dysphoria affects teens, of which there is plenty of evidence. It’s a shame that, instead, The Sun attempted to silence domestic violence victims and women instead of doing some real good.