Analysis of Episode One ”Plotted in Darkness” of the Podcast ”The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling”

Firecracker , Working Group I

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Abstract
The text discusses the first episode of a podcast that defends J.K. Rowling and criticizes her pro-trans critics. The episode portrays Rowling as a victim of extreme censorship and her critics as violent extremists. We argue that the podcast follows an agenda to promote a right-wing, anti-trans ideology by distorting the critics’ actual positions. Additionally we state, that the podcast appears to aim towards conflating the criticisms of pro-trans activists and the actions of Christian extremists i.a. by utilizing similar language to describe their respective actions.

We note the high amount of advertisement in the podcast and suggest that monetary reasons may be a factor in the podcast’s content. Overall, the text criticizes the podcast for its bias and misrepresentation of the issues at hand.

Summary of the Podcast

We split the episode into three sections of meaning. Starting with the introduction into the podcast followed by Megan Phelps-Roper introducing herself and her ambition concerning the podcast. The latter or main part tells the story of Joanne K. Rowling writing Harry Potter and how it became a success while her abusive ex-husband was standing against her.

The podcast’s introduction is divided into two parts: an interview segment and a section that introduces Rowling and her controversial views.

The Interview
The introduction begins with interviews of four fans some of whom may be familiar from the podcast’s trailer. The interviewees express how much Harry Potter meant for them, describing how it brought joy into dark times they have faced. Then they enthusiastically praise the “wonderful values” Harry Potter embodies, such as friendship, kindness, acceptance, love and forgiveness. Following this, they get asked about Harry Potters author “Joanne K. Rowling”. They suddenly shift in tone and answer hesitantly, a bit scared to speak their mind. One person even wants the interview to be terminated to make their comment. J.K. Rowling seems to be a taboo subject. 

About J.K. Rowling
Megan Phelps-Roper begins by talking about Rowling. She describes her as the most beloved author of the last 25 years. She says, her books teach children about the best values such as including outsiders or the celebration of difference. Then she claims that in summer of 2020 an essay about sex and gender published by Rowling was beginning to change that perception. The essay would have resulted in a twitter shit storm with friends and colleagues taking a stand against her and wanting her book to be banned, boycotted and, in some cases, burned.

Then, some recordings of critics, whose voices we couldn’t recognise, say that what she promotes is frightening. They say she puts trans people at further risk and that it is disgusting and pathetic. One voice says: “Hermione would punch this woman in the face”. Another says that the Harry Potter franchise is making the world unsafe for kids.

Phelps-Rober continues that many people denounce Rowling i.a. human rights organisations. Some people supporting Rowling even in small ways would have been fired form their jobs. 

The introduction ends with Phelps-Rober saying that the condemnation of Rowling is becoming a symbol on rallies. The sound of a crowd is being played, one voice shouts “You are murdering ~not understandable~ children!” (maybe they said “You are murdering our grandchildren!”).

Megan Phelps-Ropers Ambition
Phelps-Roper talks about how she spend her first 26 years in a strict fundamentalist christian community: “The beliefs of my church were the complete embodiment of my identity and my worldview”. Then she tells about leaving the church ten years ago and her ambition to analysing how belief compels to act and identity and how it changes the perspective on the world.

Rowling’s Controversy
She goes on by telling about her being surprised by Rowling’s tweets and the change in the eyes of many who had loved Rowling. She explains her reaction by remembering that her old church thought Rowling was evil and her books dangerous. They also wanted to ban and burn her books.

Phelps-Roper describes Harry Potter as one of the most banned books of the 21st century and its author Rowling as a “subject of intense widespread and vocal backlashes from people whose politics could not be more at odds”.

The Ambition
Phelps-Ropers talks about how she has spent the past year to figure out why J.K. Rowling’s  books “captured the ire of very different groups of people across time”. Finally, she wrote a letter to Rowling which she answered.

Rowling’s quote from the trailer follows: “I never set out to upset anyone. However, I was not uncomfortable with getting off my pedestal”. Rowling points out that she is not worrying about her legacy concerning the surrounding controversy.

Phelps-Roper ends this section of meaning by talking about her preparations for the podcast. She claims to have spoken with historians; transgender adults, teens and advocates; doctors; lawyers and many of her critics including those who want Rowling’s books banned. And she observed that all parties felt under attack and threatened, they invoked the language of witch hunts.

Main Part
The main part begins with a colorful description of Rowling’s “small castle” where she lives with her husband, kinds and her dog. They record the podcast in that house. We hear them prepare for the recording and how they close the door. Rowling takes a deep breath and says “Lets do it!”. 

The conversations starts of with Rowling’s answer to the question of why people like magic and wizards. In essence, she answers that powerless people specially kids like the thought of being powerful, having a secret super power. They continue about how Rowling got the idea of Harry Potter, the idea came in a train. Rowling points out that even if she wrote Harry Potter she was never a fan of the fantasy genre but of the human nature.

J.K. Rowling’s Life
Rowling describes the 1990s as a decade of loss and flux. She talks about her ill mother dying and how it influenced Harry Potter, it got darker. Later she met a journalist in Portugal. She moved there and worked as an English teacher. She got pregnant and because of that, she says, he proposed to her. But she lost her baby by a miscarriage which she describes as a traumatic event. She got doubts about the marriage, but went through with it and became pregnant immediately again.

After a while, she says, her husband became abusive. She left him two time until she left for good. Rowling describes her husband as violent and controlling. Every time she came home he searched her handbag. Further, she even had no key, he was controlling the door to her home. She kept writing Harry Potter which was important for her so her husband took her manuscript hostage. Then Rowling tells about her plans to escape him and how she carefully copied the manuscript, two pages a day. 

1993 she gave birth to her daughter Jessica. Some days before her plans to leave would have taken action she told her husband about them. Her husband was threatening her to hide her daughter if she leaves. They had a fight which ended with her lying in the streets. The next day she got Jessica back with the help of the police. Rowling also talks about her suicidal thoughts she had during this time. She has already worked 17 years on Harry Potter back then.

Advertisements
The podcast gets interrupted by three advertisements: Moinkbox (“ethical” meat), Stamps.com (mail) and Netsuite by Oracle (cloud financial system). The ads take about 3min 53sec which is about 8.1% of the whole episode.

The Rise of Harry Potter
Charles McGrath introduced as the former editor of the New York Times book review from 1995 to 2004 and Cat Rosenfield introduced as a culture writer and author of five books leave some positive words regarding Rowling.

Rowling tells about getting rejected by many publishers and how she finally got her work published with only 500 copies printed. The publisher just wanted to print her initials and added the “K.” in J.K. Rowling. Rowling explains the publisher was worried about boys not reading a book written by a woman. Getting her book published was one of the best moments in her life.

After some time her books got popular just by the word of mouth. Then we hear kids being interviewed, they rave about Harry Potter. They think of Harry Potter as the best book, a book that stands out. She goes on and tells that after a while the book got famous and so did she. She expresses the gratefulness she had about her book being loved. The downside of her fame, she says, was the high amount of journalists in front of her house. And after her ex-husband broke in to her house they moved. She tried to hide from him while she got more famous. 

We hear more audios of people raving about how great the book is. According to Rowling, since 2000, the Harry Potter franchise has grown to such an enormous size that it has become overwhelming. She tells about a bomb threat from a far right christian extremist. Phelps-Roper notes at the conclusion of the podcast that it has become increasingly evident since then that a significant backlash against Harry Potter has been mounting. She points out that in the 21st century, the culture is facing challenges and there are growing calls to halt the publication of Harry Potter books. We hear christian voices outraging “Heather has too mothers!”, “witchcraft”, “Aborting of children”, “no god”

“The Free Press”
The last 45 seconds are about an advertisement for the publisher “The Free Press”. They explain their agenda: “The Free Press is a new kind of media company trying to help restore trust in journalism at a time when that trust is at a historic all time low. And we are doing that by printing stories, hosting debates and publishing a wide range of opinion pieces, all in an effort to break out of echo chambers and fight against confirmation bias and see the world as the complicated and sometimes wonderful mess that it really is.” Then they want you to subscribe to their service. That 45 seconds make up about 1.6% of the episode.

The following section aims to provide some essential information for interpreting the podcast.

As Phelps-Roper herself admits, she spent her first 26 years in a strict fundamentalist christian community. But she misses out some detail about her life in the church and its beliefs. To be exact she was a member of the Westboro Baptist Church. At the age of five years she was demonstrating with her church against homosexuality. She was holding a sign “Gays are worthy of death”. Further, Phelps-Roper was engaged in activism against Jews: “I said Jewish customs are dead rote rituals that will take them all to hell”. 

The Topeka Church itself was founded by Phelps-Ropers grandfather Fred Phelps in 1955 and is know as one of the most hateful groups in America also known to be anti-LGBTQIA+ (specially anti homosexual and trans people). To name one example: 2021 they staged a “God hates f****” protest outside a high school of a bisexual 14-year-old student who took his own life.

Megan Phelps-Roper describes Rowling as “a kind of saint”, “JK Rowling is arguably the most successful author in the history of publishing, with the possible exception of God”. Phelps-Roper criticized by pro-trans groups for i.a. her association with “gender critical” pundits, states regarding Rowling that she knows how it feels “to be an object of intense hatred”. We assume the reader is aware of Rowling’s previous anti-trans activities, but we may provide more information about this topic in the future.

Conclusions
The agenda of the podcast regarding Phelps-Roper and Rowling seems to fit in their already known course of action. Both individuals are recognised for their opposition to the transgender community, making their anti-trans views a recurring theme in their public discourse. Although Phelps-Roper may have reconsidered her aversion towards homosexuality, her opposition to the transgender community remains steadfast. This becomes more clear analysing the podcast.

The podcast takes a firm stance in support of Rowling, standing up for her against all critics, or as she may perceive them, “attackers”. The music provokes clear emphatic emotions regarding Rowling. The way she and her stories are described are supporting that assumption. She gets pictured as just a woman with a horrible past who is trying to achieve the best for all people and her family. She lives with her husband, kids and dog in a romantic little castle on the land. Everybody loves her, specially the kids. For the kids who grew up by now they read out cozy passages of the Harry Potter book and remind them of the positives effects it had on their lives. For instance the interview part in the beginning, the interviewees talk about that Harry Potter brought them joy in times of darkness. 

On the other hand, the critics are being portrayed as extremists who desire nothing less than to silence Rowling, ban her books, and even burn them. This caricature of pro-trans critics as advocates of censorship and violence towards Rowling is a gross misrepresentation of their actual positions which are articulated by reputable human rights organisations like Amnesty International. Moreover, the motivations of the critics are given short shrift, as if  their “extreme” reactions are solely based on a single essay and a few generic tweets. This distorted portrayal of the critics serves to support the right-wing agenda of promoting a “cancel culture” without just cause.

In the whole podcast Phelps-Roper treats christian extremists and supporters of trans rights (critics of Rowling) as equivalents. She explains that she recognizes the “radical practices” of the pro-trans critics from her old extremist church. Once she even puts them at same line of course: After the christian bomb threat she suggests it became clear that Harry Potter would mount significant backlash. As if the christian terrorists and the pro-trans critics had a common motivation of some kind.

Throughout the episode she gives herself as benevolent and neutral. She points out how surprised she was about the “attack” on Rowling. She states that her self-imposed task is to find out why people feel threatened and attacked by Rowling. She implies that the reason behind the outrage is not obvious. Thus, from her perspective, the stated reason of her critics – namely, concern for the well-being and human rights of the transgender community, and the negative impact that Rowling’s actions may have on them – cannot be considered a legitimate justification. Concerning Phelps-Ropers associations with “gender-critical”, this conclusion seems to be reasonable.

Another impotent observation is the high amount of advertisement. If we add the 3 minutes and 53 seconds of clear advertisement and the 45 seconds of promotion by the publisher at the end of the episode we get 4 minutes and 38 seconds which is a bit less than 10% of the whole episode. Monetary reasons may be impotent to upcoming interpretations.

While the tragic events in Rowling’s early life may lead to speculations about how and why she become a TERF, these details are irrelevant for our current purpose. The podcast is promoted as a “witch trial,” with Rowling being  confronted by her critics’ arguments. Therefore, it appears that her personal story is being used primarily as a stylistic device. Although her experiences are compelling and her struggles are certainly regrettable, they do not appear to align with the podcast’s official agenda as communicated thus far.

In a nutshell, this episode appears to support the theory that the podcast’s main aim is to defend Rowling’s anti-trans agenda and actions, while simultaneously discrediting activists who advocate for trans rights and the trans community.

The Twitter user @Croticval has created an english version of said document. The document still links to german article, but might get updated in the future.

This document can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bD2rr9nGWB7YAd7EvowMu2NFXIpJspykQoYQI8JquIk/edit
The german version of this post can be found here: https://snitchtrials.blackblogs.org/2023/02/15/dokumentation-zu-j-k-rowlings-transfeindlichkeit/

We are reproducing the content of the document in this blog post and we are updating it along with the document. Thanks to William and all contributors.

The blog post is current as of 02/15/2023

A Documentation about J.K. Rowlings Transphobia

This document covers some of J.K. Rowlings Transphobia. It includes explanations of her transphobic statements and sources. This document was created because the topic kept coming up. Use it in private or in twitter discussions whenever you’re in need of sources or if you just want to learn about the topic.

Introduction

Rowlings transphobia can not be explained in a single example. She is leading a political fight against the interests of trans people by positioning herself against laws and advocacy groups that aim to fight for trans rights. In doing so, she relies on phrases, which deny trans people their identity, put them under general suspicion and support organizations and individuals who also promote discrimination against trans people. All of that is broken down in this document. 

The discourse of transphobia often focuses on the question “how many genders are there”, where identification of a person is limited to their genitals. A perspective on gender that has little to do with the social scientific and complex biological reality. 

JKR focuses on the “threat” to women by “warning” them that supposed men are invading women’s safe spaces. In doing so, she plays marginalized groups off against each other (but you have to acknowledge the existence of trans* people in order to understand that). If you are stuck to the outdated world view that there are only two genders in biology (male/female), then you will not be able to recognize transphobia either. So aside from the fact that trans people are simply a biological reality, the binary biologistic view that Rowling and other feminists refer to is now unfounded and ultimately serves only to justify transphobia.

J.K. Rowlings Transphobia 

Individual evidence  (not yet in chronological order)

All of the tweets presented here will be reviewed in the chapter about Rowlings tweets. 

• Rowling sets the mood against trans people

Rowling sets off an anti-trans tweet by addressing the problem of counting the person as female when a trans women commits rape and denies them their identity.

J.K. Rowling macht wieder Stimmung gegen trans Frauen – queer.de (german Website)

• Rowling indirectly equated trans women with male sex offenders

J.K. Rowling teilt erneut gegen trans Menschen aus – queer.de  (german Website)

• Rowling against Self identification

The prominent author portrays Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon as a “destroyer of women’s rights”. 

Rowling macht Stimmung gegen schottisches Selbstbestimmungsgesetz – queer.de (german Website)

• Rowling does perpetrator-victim reversal in her new novel

Rowling’s latest book is causing a stir because of its plot. The book “The Ink Black Heart” is about a young woman who is accused of transphobia and racism. Finally, the cartoonist has to defend herself against hostilities on the internet and is murdered.

J.K. Rowling: Neues Buch handelt von transphober Cartoonistin, die ermordet wird – queer.de (german Website)

• Rowling launches a cis women only resource

Rowling founded an aid organization for female victims of sexual violence – but not

  for all women. Because trans women are excluded here.

Transphobie: J.K. Rowling gründet Anlaufstelle ausschließlich für cis Frauen – queer.de (german Website)

• Rowling about Hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

Rowling compares hormonal therapy to conversion therapy (which was used to “try” to “cure” homosexuality) and thus frames trans identity as a disease, while saying that trans people are “young homosexual people” which denies trans people their identity and pathologizes them.

J.K. Rowling: Trans-Hormontherapie ist die neue “Homo-Heilung” – queer.de (german website)

• Rowling supports anti-trans activist

Rowling expresses her solidarity with transphobic scientist Maya Forstater, who was denied a contract extension because of her anti-trans statements.

J.K. Rowling: Die Dementorin unter den Feministinnen – DER SPIEGEL (german website)

Feminismus: J. K. Rowling unterstützt transfeindliche Frau (german website)

J.K. Rowling verteidigt Trans-Hasserin – queer.de  (german website)

• Rowling criticizes law in favor of trans people 

Rowling is involved in an anti-trans smear campaign against Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the gender recognition bill in Scotland.

“I stand in solidarity with @ForWomenScot and all women protesting and speaking outside the Scottish parliament. #NoToSelfID”

J.K. Rowling kritisiert Gesetz zugunsten von Transmenschen   (german website)

• Rowlings TERF Wars

Rowling Essay

J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues

• Rowling praising Matt Walsh Movie “What is a Woman”

Rowling praised far-right activist Matt Walsh‘s anti-trans film What Is a Woman.

Walsh’s film was produced by Ben Shapiro‘s Daily Wire, a right-wing website that regularly publishes misinformation surrounding climate change, the coronavirus and trans issues.

WELT goes Fox News – Lob für Transfeindlichkeit & “Faschist” Walsh – Volksverpetzer (german website)

Rowling’s Tweets

• Rowling shows solidarity with Maya Forstater

Rowling expresses their solidarity with Maya Forstater, whose contract was not renewed because of anti-trans tweets. Among other things, she wrote, “I’m so surprised that intelligent people I admire, who are staunchly pro-science in other areas, and champions of human rights and women’s rights, contort themselves to avoid having to admit that men can’t just turn into women.”

December 19th, 2019, JKR tweets 

Statements of solidarity for Maya Forstar can be found under the “#StandWithMaya”. What makes Rowling’s tweet unbearable is not only her anachronism, but also lies in the inherent logic of her statement. (german website)

• Rowling about “people who menstruate” 

June 6th, 2020, JKR tweets

With this statement she denies being a woman to trans women.

• Rowling and the concept of gender

June 7th, 2020, JKR tweets  

An absurd claim, because trans women living out their identity does not negate gender per se, nor does anyone’s life history get erased.

• Rowling compares hormone therapy to conversion therapies

July 5th, 2020, JKR tweets

Rowling compares hormone therapy to conversion therapies designed to “treat” trans people.

• Rowling bewirbt transfeindlich Online-Shop 

September 22nd, 2020, Rowling tweeted a picture of herself wearing a t-shirt, referring to an online shop. 

The shop sells merchandise with anti-trans messages. e.g. “Trans women are men” badges.

• Rowling again with anti-trans women sentiments

The Sunday Times” reports that trans people are recognized by the police – specifically the report was that a “male genital rapist” could allegedly be registered as a woman if he identified his gender as female. 

December 12th, 2021, Rowling retweeted the article with “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. The penised person who raped you is a woman.”

• Rowling shares controversial article, indirectly equating trans women with male sex offenders

Shona Robison, politician from Sturgeon’s pro-European separatist party SNP, had tried to allay fears like Dalgety’s in parliament. There is no evidence that male criminals have ever pretended to be a woman in order to sexually abuse other women. 

Rowling-backed journalist Dalgety feared in an op-ed piece in The Scotsman that “violent, abusive men” will “exploit” the change in law. By men, she also means the “pedophiles” who “stole her soul. 

March 5th, 2022, JKR tweets

• Rowling follows up on the Shona Robison case

March 5th, 2022

• Rowling retweets LGB Alliance

July 9th, 2022, Rowling retweeted an appeal for funds from the LGB Alliance advocacy group opposing the policies of LGBT rights organization Stonewall on transgender issues.

• Rowling praises Walsh movie „What is a Woman” 

July 10th, 2022 In her tweet, Rowling praised the anti-trans film “What Is a Woman” by far-right activist Matt Walsh, who describes himself as a “theocratic fascist.”

Walsh’s film was produced by Ben Shapiro‘s Daily Wire, a right-wing website that regularly publishes misinformation surrounding climate change, the coronavirus and trans issues.

• Rowling tweets about self identification 

October 6th, 2022, Rowling tweeted against the gender recognition bill: “I stand in solidarity with @ForWomenScot and all women protesting and speaking outside the Scottish Parliament. #NoToSelfID”.

She is wearing a T-shirt that calls Scottish Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon a “destroyer of women’s rights”.

• Rowling being provocative again on Twitter

December 12th, 2022, JKR tweets “Merry Terfmas”

Actors distance themselves from Rowling

• Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) distances himself

“Trans women are women. Any statement that contradicts this erases the identity and dignity of trans people,” he wrote on the website of The Trevor Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to LGBTQ suicide prevention to which Radcliffe donates regularly.

The trigger was a tweet from Rowling. “If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.”

Daniel Radcliffe distanziert sich von Harry-Potter-Erfinderin J.K. Rowling – DER SPIEGEL (german website)

• Emma Watson (Hermione Granger) and Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander) also distance themselves

Emma Watson tweeted: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”

Eddie Redmayne commented on Variety “I disagree with Jo’s comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men, and non-binary identities are just as legitimate. I would never want to speak on behalf of the community, but I know my dear trans friends and colleagues are fed up with the constant questioning of their identity that all too often leads to violence and abuse. They just want to live peacefully and it’s time to let them do that.”

The reason was Rowling’s essay on her website

J.K. Rowling: Auch Eddie Redmayne und Emma Watson auf Distanz – DER SPIEGEL (german website)

jetzt.deHarry Potter Stars kritisieren Joanne K. Rowling für Transfeindlichkeit – LGBTQ –  (german website)

Rowlings Pseudonym 

• Rowling also goes by the name Robert Galbraith

Rowling had continued writing novels under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith after Harry Potter. For a long time it was unclear who this author was. Rowling later confirmed that this was her alias.

Joanne K. Rowling schreibt Buch unter Pseudonym Robert Galbraith – DER SPIEGEL (german website)

• Who is Robert Galbraith?

Robert Galbraith Heath (May 9, 1915 – September 21, 1999) was an American psychiatrist. He followed the theory of biological psychiatry that organic defects were the sole cause of mental illness and that consequently mental problems were treatable by physical means. He was also an advocate of conversion therapy, which is sometimes still used “to heal” homosexual and transgender patients. 

Robert Galbraith Heath – Wikipedia

• Rowling does perpetrator-victim reversal in her new novel

The latest book by British author J.K. Rowling is causing a stir because of its plot: The crime thriller “The Ink Black Heart”, which was released in English on Tuesday, is about a young woman who is accused of transphobia and racism. Finally, the cartoonist has to defend herself against hostilities on the internet and is murdered.

J.K. Rowling: Neues Buch handelt von transphober Cartoonistin, die ermordet wird – queer.de (german website)

• Rowling is writing a novel in which a man in women’s clothing kills

Her 2015 novel Troubled Blood is about a serial killer who kills in women’s clothing. Dennis Creed is a serial killer and rapist. “He has repeatedly fooled his victims by wearing a wig and a pink coat, impersonating a woman or drag to avoid appearing threatening.”
J.K. Rowlings neuer Roman handelt von einem “transvestitischen Serienkiller” – queer.de (german website)

Debatte um „Böses Blut” von J.K. Rowling – “Trans Menschen trifft das besonders” | deutschlandfunkkultur.de (german website)

Organizations/people that Rowling supports 

Beira´s Place

• Beira´s Place 

Beiras’s Place is a Scotland-based private support service for victims of sexual violence. Founded in 2022 by J.K. Rowling, the organization describes itself as a “women-only ministry”; trans women are not part of the staff or care recipients as they were classified as male at birth. 

Beira’s Place – Wikipedia

BBC report on Beira’s Place

JK Rowling funds women-only rape help centre in Edinburgh – BBC News

For Women Scotland

• For Woman Scotland

For Women Scotland (FWS) is an advocacy group in Scotland that opposes the Self-Determination Act. The group believes that both freedom of expression and women’s rights are being attacked in Scotland. The background is that claims and statements by the organization are justiciable under anti-hate speech laws.

In October 2022, Rowling For Women described Scotland as “a grassroots feminist group that in recent years has emerged as a leading voice for Scottish women”. In December 2022, Rowling announced that Susan Smith (co-founder of FWS) would join the Beiras board ´s place.

Also in October 2022, the group organized a protest against the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, at which prominent anti-trans activists acted as speakers. Among them Maya Forstater, Helen Joyce, and Johann Lamont. In support, Rowling tweeted her solidarity with the protesters and wore a t-shirt calling the Prime Minister of Scotland a destroyer of women’s rights and the #NoToSelfID.

For Women Scotland – Wikipedia

• Rowling’s new friends
  Breaking down and summarizing Rowling’s connections and associations with anti-trans activists.

JK Rowling’s New Friends

Problems with the Harry Potter universe

• 20 Troublesome Things About Harry Potter

There must also be a critical look at the whole universe. Topics covered include: Toxic Relationships, Annoying Girls, Unhealthy Relationships, Bullying, an Unscrutinized Justice System, Slavery, Child Abuse and much more

Harry Potter und 20 problematische Dinge – Alpakawolken (german website)

• Harry Potter: a neo-liberal fairytale 

Another critical look at the Harry Potter universe 

Neoliberale Märchen: Harry Potter und die reaktionäre Weltsicht von JK Rowling (german website)

• A problematic image of women

The whole universe has a problematic image of women. Because almost all relevant characters that really advance the plot are male.

Harry Potter ist sexistisch: Das Problem mit den Frauenfiguren – DER SPIEGEL (german website)

Problems with Hogwarts Legacy

• Former Lead Designer Troy Leavitt is part of the GamerGate community

Former lead designer Troy Levitt is part of the former GamerGate

community. An anti-feminist community that emerged as part of the #metoo movement in gaming.

Hogwarts Legacy: Lead Designer Troy Leavitt betrieb antifeministischen YouTube-Kanal | Eurogamer.de (german website)

Summary

• Rowling’s perfidious manner

Rowling und die trans Community und wo der Fehler liegt. (german website)

• Summary of Rowling’s transphobia (german)

Aufschlüsselung und Chronologie von Rowlings transfeindlicher Agenda (german website)

• Summary of Rowling’s view (english)
  Breaking Down JK Rowling’s Transphobic Essay

• A summary of Rowling’s anti-trans views regarding her essay

J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues

• Essay on Rowling’s transphobia 

J.K. Rowling | ContraPoints

• Rowling’s new friends

Breaking down and summarizing Rowling’s connections and associations with anti-trans activists.

JK Rowling’s New Friends

• Essay on Rowling’s anti-trans novel 

Let’s Talk JK Rowling’s Transphobic Book

• Is Hogwarts Legacy transphobic?

Hogwarts Legacy ist transfeindlich? [2023] | FiNessi (german video)

Information material 

• Queerphobic codes and Dogwhistle

Symbole und Codes: Queerfeindliche Narrative und Dogwhistles – Belltower.News (german website) 

• British government blocks Scotland’s democracy on self-determination bill

„Angriff auf Schottlands Demokratie“: Britische Regierung blockiert Schottland bei Transgender-Reformgesetz (german website)

• Study: Life situations and discrimination experiences of lesbian and gay young people in Germany (Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth)

Lebenssituationen und Diskriminierungserfahrungen von lesbischen und schwulen Jugendlichen in Deutschland (german website)

On February 14th 2023 J.K. Rowling announced that she will bless the world with her perspective on the last couple of years, which she spent fighting a political war against trans people and trans activists.

How extensive her advocacy against trans people is will follow in later posts, providing you with a proper documentation.

Just three days ago, on February 11th, 16 year old Brianna Ghey was murdered in Warrington, England.

Brianna was trans. And she was bullied for it. Yet her family said: “She was a larger than life character who would leave a lasting impression on all that met her. Brianna was beautiful, witty and hilarious. Brianna was strong, fearless and one of a kind.”

Brianna was alive. And she was murdered for it. The hatred spread by people who frame themselves as criticals. sceptics. normal people with worries. fueled and lead to this.

And while her memory is already being attacked and her family is going through hell, no words of compassion from J.K. Rowling. No condemnation of the crime. Instead she announces that she recorded a podcast called “The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling” – framing herself as the victim of a prosecution.

This blog will accompany and document the Podcast, so you don’t have to.

Rest in power, Brianna.

Sources:
https://www.cheshire.police.uk/news/cheshire/news/articles/2023/2/family-of-brianna-ghey-provide-tribute/
https://www.thepinknews.com/2023/02/14/jk-rowling-podcast-trans-westboro-baptist-church-megan-phelps-roper/