“‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people.” With those words, JK Rowling threw herself into perhaps the most febrile debate in contemporary society. Even Covid-19 has not dampened the furore over transgender rights. As two world views collide, fundamental truths that previous generations thought were self-evident have been cast into doubt. What is a woman? what is a man? and how can we tell them apart?
“‘Personas menstruantes’. Estoy segura de que solía haber un nombre para estas personas”. Con estas palabras, JK Rowling se lanzó al que probablemente es el debate más febril de la sociedad contemporánea. Ni siquiera la covid-19 ha servido para atemperar el furor en torno al debate sobre los derechos de las personas transgénero. Conforme dos visiones del mundo colisionaban, algunas verdades fundamentales que generaciones anteriores consideraban indiscutibles han empezado a ponerse en duda. ¿Qué es una mujer? ¿Qué es un hombre? ¿Cómo podemos diferenciarlos?
Die Bestseller-Autorin J. K. ist wegen ihrer Äußerungen über Transmenschen in die Kritik geraten. Hier erklärt die britische Transgender-Aktivistin Debbie Hayton, warum sie sich mit der “Harry Potter”-Autorin solidarisiert.
Nachdem Joanne K. Rowling im vergangenen Monat eine Flut von Beschimpfungen erhalten hatte, weil sie das Wort “Frau” zur Beschreibung ihres Geschlechts zurückforderte, hätte man J. K. Rowling vielleicht verzeihen können, wenn sie den Staffelstab der Kampagne an andere weitergereicht hätte. Die Transgender-Debatte, an der sie teilnahm, ist vielleicht der toxischste und spaltendste Streit, der in den sozialen Medien tobt.
Как трансженщина, родитель и учитель, я утверждаю, что Дж.К. Роулинг совершенно права: подталкивать детей к смене пола — это насилие над ними.
Автора бестселлеров заклеймили позором за предупреждение относительно того, что трансактивисты подталкивают детей, испытывающих психологические трудности, к приёму гормонов и хирургическим операциям. Однако она поступает храбро и верно, высказываясь на этот счёт. После обрушившегося на неё в прошлом месяце шквала оскорблений за то, что она просила вернуть слово «женщина» для описания своего пола, Дж.К. Роулинг, вероятно, была прощена за то, что передала правозащитную эстафету другим.
The best-selling author has been vilified for warning about how children struggling with their mental health are being shunted towards hormones and surgery by trans activists. But she is brave and right to speak out.
After last month receiving a barrage of abuse for reclaiming the word ‘woman’ to describe her sex, JK Rowling might have been forgiven for handing the campaigning baton onto others. The transgender debate that she entered is perhaps the most toxic and divisive dispute raging across social media.
For nearly a week now, the mob has had JK Rowling in its sights. Her crimes against trans ideology seemed relatively minor but like some authoritarian quasi-religious cult, trans rights activism demands total compliance to its dogma.
Following a series of courageous tweets last Saturday in which the children’s author defended biology and reclaimed the word ‘woman’ to describe those now seemingly called ‘people who menstruate‘, her critics went berserk.
To readers about to switch off from yet another dose of transgender nonsense comes a warning. Coffee House readers may pride themselves in knowing that biological sex is real and, no, we can’t change it. But too many people have stayed silent for too long.
Covid-19 has put many things on hold, but not the transgender thought police. JK Rowling had been in their sights since Christmas when she tweeted her support for Maya Forstater, who had lost her job at a think tank after questioning whether trans women were women (spoiler: we are not — we are the other sex).
When the children’s author accidentally tweeted the contents of her clipboard last Friday the thought police reached new levels of apoplexy. Not for anything Rowling had said: the tweet was swiftly deleted and an explanation given. She was condemned for what she had been reading.
Debbie Hayton