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Cancel continues to run rampant. More and more minority but boisterous groups are coordinating to “cancel” everything that is considered “inappropriate” in the eyes of political correctness. They do it online, in most cases, through smear campaigns and harassment; but they also do it in person, putting people’s emotional and even physical integrity at risk, as happened to Joanne Rowling, better known as J.K. Rowling.
On November 22, the Harry Potter author denounced that a group of trans activists had organized a demonstration in front of her home in Scotland, and then published a photo with her home visible in the background where her home address was exposed.
“I have to assume that @IAmGeorgiaFrost, @hollywstars, and @Richard_Energy_ [the three trans activists] thought that by doxxing me they would intimidate me from speaking out about gender-based women’s rights. They should have reflected on the fact that I have now received so many death threats that I could wallpaper the house with them, and I haven’t stopped speaking out,” the British writer continued.
In her thread, Rowling reported that many women told her that they were “subjected to campaigns of intimidation ranging from harassment on social networks, singling out their employers, to doxxing and direct threats of violence, including rape.”
According to the writer, these cases arose from the simple fact that these women refused “to uncritically accept that the sociopolitical concept of gender identity should replace that of sex.”
This episode began with a tweet from Rowling in June 2020 when the writer criticized an article that, instead of using the word “women,” used the term “people who menstruate” in its headline, presumably so as not to hurt the sensitivities of trans people.
From that tweet, the Harry Potter author suffered firsthand the culture of cancellation at the hands of the LGBT community. Trans activists, particularly, came down hard on the writer, accusing her of transphobia. The attack against Rowling was so great that there were even bookstores that withdrew the British author’s books just because of her opinion on trans people.
What heated things up, even more, was that J.K Rowling did not soften and, after her tweet, published an extensive essay where she talks about the fear that women feel about inclusive policies related to trans people.
“When you open the doors to bathrooms and locker rooms to any man who thinks or feels like a woman – and, as I’ve said, gender confirmation certificates can now be granted without surgery or hormones – you open the door to all men who want to enter. That’s the plain truth,” reads the article.
What J.K. Rowling denounces is nothing more than common sense. Biological men, however, they perceive themselves, should go to men’s restrooms. Biological men, even making their gender transition, should not compete in women’s sports because they have a significant physical advantage and that would be unfair. Women, of course, are the only ones who can menstruate and expressing it is not an act of transphobia.
However, the cancellation culture does not conceive of or commune with common sense. It is, in fact, an outburst of irrationality capable of overcoming the Internet barrier. For J.K Rowling has not only received insults and threats online but has also been removed from major events, most recently from one organized by HBO Max, which launched a Harry Potter special featuring the entire cast of the series.
The British author was sidelined without explanation, but many assume it is because of her “negative” image towards the LGBT community.
The cancel culture also does not understand allies, races, social strata or ages. For years, J.K. Rowling was a writer most associated with progressive ideas. She herself declared, back in 2000, that she is “left-leaning.” In 2008, she donated $1,900,000 to the UK Labour Party; she publicly criticized conservative politicians like Donald Trump and also opposed Brexit. But now leftist activists accuse her of being a ”fake progressive“; and they do so only because the author didn’t play along with them and stand up to policies or ideas that may be dangerous to women.
Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón is a journalist at El American specializing in the areas of American politics and media analysis // Emmanuel Alejandro Rondón es periodista de El American especializado en las áreas de política americana y análisis de medios de comunicación.
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