British transphobia's virulence derives from its acceptability among British liberals, full stop. J.K. Rowling doesn't fit American liberals' idea of an anti-trans bigot (who they prefer to envision as a MAGA-spewing right-winger). Thus, all the softpedalling in press coverage.
They literally don't know what to do with her. "Wait, I thought you were one of the good ones?" The problem is that now this bigotry risks becoming more acceptable because of *who's* spouting it. It breaks the partisan priors held by many cis American liberals.
Their assumption was that transphobia *seemed* bad because it was a conservative thing. Now J.K. Rowling offers them ideological cover--as long as they don't look too closely, which they probably won't. They'll be inundated with whitewashing headlines and ledes.
Meanwhile, the fact that she's approvingly quote-tweeting people with open homophobia on their timeline will not be remarked upon in much of the coverage. It'll instead be framed as "Rowling expresses controversial views on transgender rights."
The thing is, Rowling's liberalism has always been pantomime. It's her brand. Her tweetsona, if you like. But she's never been genuinely progressive--see the thousand and one critiques of anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, etc. in HP.
What grates about her retcons--"Oh Dumbledore was gay, I just never told you" or "Oh Hermoine *could've* been Black" is that no genuinely decent person would've tried that. They'd have acknowledged they have a lot to learn and strive to do better in the future.
Instead of being honest about her implicit biases and working to correct them in future work, she retcons and doubles down on her ignorance. The retcons reconcile her past with her current liberal persona in the lowest-cost way possible. She was never wrong, oh no.
We all have to learn and grow. But her unwillingness to admit that she was ever mistaken is telling. It's all about the brand for her.
But her transphobia? Like all Twitter TERFs, she's got religion on this. This is who she really is and what she actually *cares* about.
But her transphobia? Like all Twitter TERFs, she's got religion on this. This is who she really is and what she actually *cares* about.
