In news that is sure to cause a single tear to fall from the eyes of Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, J.K. Rowling refuses to “forgive” the stars of Harry Potter for speaking out against her virulent transmisogyny.
The author posted to X on Wednesday to laud the publication of the Cass Review, a 398-page report by Dr. Hilary Cass, a pediatrician and former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. The report was commissioned by the National Health Services (NHS) in 2020, in order to inform recommendations for gender-affirming care for trans youth. The report has been celebrated by anti-trans activists and criticized by UK-based trans advocacy and medical organizations.
Obviously, the publication of the report was a field day for Rowling, who has spent the last several years fearmongering about the dangers of gender-affirming care for children and the (fictitious) threat posed by trans women generally. On X, Rowling, a noted non-expert of medicine or healthcare, called the report “the most robust review of the medical evidence for transitioning children that’s ever been conducted” and claimed that trans advocates were “cheerleading for what now looks like severe medical malpractice.”
One of her fans responded, writing, “Just waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology … safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them …”
Feeding further into this positive feedback loop of delusion, Rowling replied, “Not safe, I'm afraid. Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.”
Back in 2020, when Rowling was only just starting to embrace TERFism, she posted about gender-neutral language for people who menstruate. When she faced backlash, she doubled down and posted a lengthy essay to her website, coming out as a survivor of domestic abuse. She used that experience as her justification for refusing to recognize trans women as women, despite the fact that trans people experience significantly higher rates of intimate partner violence than cis people. In response, both Radcliffe and Watson voiced support for trans people, and Radcliffe has continued to advocate for trans youth.
It’s wild to think that Watson tweeting “trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives” was enough to make Rowling feel as though she’s owed an apology, but if there’s one thing she’s good at, it’s playing the eternal victim.
