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Oh no, I& #39;m going to tackle Rowling’s tweet. You know the one. I& #39;ll get it out of the way and then go back to what actually matters: black lives, including black trans lives, and the pandemic. I’ won& #39;t link to the tweet. She doesn’t need the traffic. I don’t need the traffic.
While I would love it if Rowling changed her mind, engaged with trans people in good faith, and eventually apologized, I don’t think we’re likely to make that happen. This, instead, is for everybody who feels that, on the face of it, Rowling’s tweet seems a reasonable argument.
And yes: her tweet masquerades as a reasonable argument and it feigns concern with the oppressed, but it’s all sleight of hand.
As one of my professors would say, way back when in grad school, before taking one of my arguments brutally apart, “let’s try to unpack her statement a little bit.” It’s disagreeable work, but we’re going to do it anyway.
“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction.”
A couple of things are happening here and none of them are savory. First of all, nobody is denying that sex is real. That’s not what advocates for trans rights are saying. What we have here is a straw man.
A couple of things are happening here and none of them are savory. First of all, nobody is denying that sex is real. That’s not what advocates for trans rights are saying. What we have here is a straw man.
A straw man is a rhetorical technique. It’s “an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent& #39;s real argument.”
What, then, is the real argument, the one Rowling does not want to engage?
What, then, is the real argument, the one Rowling does not want to engage?
Advocates for trans rights are saying that biological sex is not the only thing we should take into account when we think of gender and lived experience.
They are saying that sex is more complicated than we’re used to thinking it is.
They are saying that sex is more complicated than we’re used to thinking it is.
They are saying that layers of cultural expectations influence our understanding of what sex is.
Our habitual ways of thinking about biology are not shaped only by science. They are shaped by culture too. Often, they are too simplistic.
Our habitual ways of thinking about biology are not shaped only by science. They are shaped by culture too. Often, they are too simplistic.
That’s not surprising. It’s not shocking either, since most of us aren’t biologists. It does mean that we should probably listen quite carefully to people who *are* biologists.
One of the things that biologists and trans advocates are in agreement on is that sex is not a binary.
One of the things that biologists and trans advocates are in agreement on is that sex is not a binary.
Even apart from trans people, we know this to be scientifically true.
For example, there is no space for intersex people either if we imagine sex to be strictly binary.
For example, there is no space for intersex people either if we imagine sex to be strictly binary.
Second, note the focus on same-sex attraction. Rowling is positioning herself as the defender of a minority: lesbian and gay people.
Rhetorically, it’s clever to start with this.
Rhetorically, it’s clever to start with this.
Never mind that the majority of gay, lesbian and bi/pan people see trans people as allies whose existence and rights in no way take away from our own.
What Rowling wants to signpost here is that she is not bigoted: she is just concerned with the rights of oppressed people.
What Rowling wants to signpost here is that she is not bigoted: she is just concerned with the rights of oppressed people.
Rowling pretends she is arguing against people saying “sex does not exist in any way.” If this is true, she says to her imaginary adversary, how can anybody be attracted to people of a particular sex?
In fact, what trans people and most lesbian, gay, and bi/pan people are saying is: “Sex – and gender – are complicated, non-binary things.”
Do you see how Rowling’s argument collapses if you try it out on this position?
Do you see how Rowling’s argument collapses if you try it out on this position?
You absolutely can be a woman who is attracted to women, also if “woman” is a more complicated and less binary category than we have been used to imagining.
Good god, there’s more.
“If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.”
The rhetorical move is the same as before.
“If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.”
The rhetorical move is the same as before.
Rowling has picked a different category of people to feign support for – the women of the world – but she’s still misrepresenting the argument of trans people and their advocates to sound reasonable.
We absolutely can talk about the lived reality of women globally while also acknowledging that sex is not a simple, binary category.
We also do not need biological sex to be the only criterion for womanhood to be able to talk about the reality of women.
We also do not need biological sex to be the only criterion for womanhood to be able to talk about the reality of women.
We already know that we are able to talk about the lived reality of women who have entirely different experiences of womanhood while still acknowledging that they are all women.
This tweet is helpful: https://twitter.com/mckinleaf/status/1269407126109040641?s=20">https://twitter.com/mckinleaf...
This tweet is helpful: https://twitter.com/mckinleaf/status/1269407126109040641?s=20">https://twitter.com/mckinleaf...
A woman of colour in America has a different experience of womanhood from a white woman.
A poor woman in Copenhagen with no education and no job has a different experience of womanhood from me, even though we are both women living in the same city.
A poor woman in Copenhagen with no education and no job has a different experience of womanhood from me, even though we are both women living in the same city.
We are entirely able to accept a diversity of experience and still talk about women and their lived realities (yes, J.K., I’m sorry, I changed it to a plural, because the assumption that there is a single lived reality shared by all women smacks of privilege).
Oh no, the tweet isn’t over yet.
Rowling now states that she knows and loves trans people (that& #39;s nice, I guess?) and then she concludes her argument by saying that:
“…erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.”
Rowling now states that she knows and loves trans people (that& #39;s nice, I guess?) and then she concludes her argument by saying that:
“…erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.”
NOBODY HAS ERASED THE CONCEPT OF SEX. Saying that categories are complicated and that we interpret them culturally & socially is not the same as erasing them. Saying that we won& #39;t rely on biological sex only when talking about womanhood is not the same as erasing biological sex.
“It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”
She& #39;s not simply speaking the truth. She is not just presenting facts. She’s a proponent of a very particular way of interpreting biological sex.
She& #39;s not simply speaking the truth. She is not just presenting facts. She’s a proponent of a very particular way of interpreting biological sex.
It’s also an interpretive decision to consider everything aside from biological sex irrelevant when talking about what women are and can be.
Frankly, it’s a deeply limited way of understanding sex and, if I may say so, severely lacking in imagination. It’s also unkind, because it shuts out whole swathes of people—intersex as well as trans. Is it hateful? Yes, I rather think it is.
Friendly announcement: I will block everybody who comes into this thread to spread transphobia.
So this took off.
If you& #39;re able, consider donating to an organisation working with black trans people.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7wnbb/tony-mcdade-nina-pop-how-to-help
https://www.vice.com/en_us/art... href=" https://www.ukblackpride.org.uk/ukbp-donate
The">https://www.ukblackpride.org.uk/ukbp-dona... Bail Project is not trans specific, but they& #39;re doing excellent and necessary work right now: https://bailproject.org/?fbclid=IwAR06dYn1XQyzPrpDRQh2fnVUejF3BQ7VsTIFIgaFvo5HUPNzSdVa4WyKl8Y">https://bailproject.org/...
If you& #39;re able, consider donating to an organisation working with black trans people.
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/n7wnbb/tony-mcdade-nina-pop-how-to-help
The">https://www.ukblackpride.org.uk/ukbp-dona... Bail Project is not trans specific, but they& #39;re doing excellent and necessary work right now: https://bailproject.org/?fbclid=IwAR06dYn1XQyzPrpDRQh2fnVUejF3BQ7VsTIFIgaFvo5HUPNzSdVa4WyKl8Y">https://bailproject.org/...
