JK Rowling’s role in the culture war won’t just harm trans abuse survivors
metro.co.ukauthor JK Rowling, remains steadfast in her opposition.She has cited what she perceives as a negative impact on single-sex spaces, and by mentioning her fears for the most vulnerable – alluding to survivors of abuse – she is suggesting that places like refuges could be under threat.With the UK survivor sector being drained of resources by over a decade of austerity measures, I want to air my real fears around disinformation that can further spur on the culture war gripping the UK, and worsen the hostile environment it enforces on trans people.Firstly, I need to state some facts.
Having a birth certificate has no impact on access to gendered spaces.In fact, these the vast majority of these services have functioned through self-identification of the user for over a decade.There are already many different forms of state paperwork that are far easier to change gender markers on, such as passports, yet birth certificates are usually the last remaining documents to be changed, and the benefits for trans people can be massive – including avoiding being ‘outed’ without consent.I am a non-binary trans person, and a survivor of life long domestic abuse – in childhood at the hands of a family member, and in adult life by former male partners.
I grew up a quiet child spending days in the library and fostering a love of literature. By my late teens I was reading second wave feminist writers like bell hooks, Andrea Dworkin and Marilyn Faye; and as fiction goes, ironically, I grew up an avid fan of Harry Potter.
My Potterhead leanings were shaken in 2020 when Rowling first came out with her infamous essay on the so-called ‘trans debate’.
