The conversation around
inclusivity and gender identity has never been as conflicting as it is today. Many
people find it especially difficult to accept the voice of minorities – like JK
Rowling. Yeah… the shock!

Her controversial
opinion about the trans community has shocked people all over the world. Her
fans were disappointed and heartbroken to find out that the one person who made
them feel loved and valued all these years is actually a monster pretending to
be someone else.

Source: Daily Mail

In the Harry Potter
series, she created characters like Lupin and Tonks to show that different doesn’t mean danger. Anyway, as if her
insensitive take on Twitter didn’t hurt us enough, she has now come up with a
novel whose general premise is transphobic and hurtful.

What does a normal
person do when the world shuts them out? They turn to books and flip through
pages to find themselves – because books aren’t judgmental—they accept you just
as you are. However, JK Rowling is now making that difficult, too. She has used
fiction as a means to spew hatred on trans people.

The new story is centered around a
male serial killer who dresses up in women’s clothing to shield himself. Indirectly,
Rowling is suggesting that we shouldn’t trust a “man” in a dress. Quite
strategically, this character isn’t portrayed as the central antagonist, but he
is just “one of the suspects”. Apparently, the killer has a fetish for lingerie
and all things stereotypically feminine. Hence, the man goes around stealing
women’s coat and wigs that eventually help him disguise his crimes.

In all honestly, this
book may not have hurt us as much as it does now – now that we are well aware
of where she’s coming from. How can we put aside Rowling’s insensitive comments
regarding gender identity and transgender people? Think about the impact this
story will have on the LGBTQ+
community? It will harm them quite tragically because this toxic narrative reinforces
prejudice and misinformation if you imagine or reimagine. And let us not forget, they’ve been ripped off
basic human rights for as long as we can remember.

Marginalized
communities are deeply affected by the stories we choose to tell on paper and
on-screen. How can you compose a story of a man dressing up as a woman to
commit violence? Give them a slice of freedom, please! The portrayal is downright disgusting and prejudiced.  It’s only adding more fire to the already
complicated representation of the trans community.

Put everything aside,
Rowling’s pen name should also be subjected to questions. Think about it, she’s
a woman, pretending to be a man in the 21^st century – all of it is
being projected in her stories and opinions now.

Fiction is supposed to
reflect the world we live in. Rowling’s work is jeopardizing authenticity and
negating us towards false assumptions and deep-rooted hatred. A writer of her
caliber should be creating stories for kids who are lost and searching for love and acceptance– stories they can latch onto when the
world becomes too critical and scary for them.

It’s unfortunate that
Rowling is being completely unapologetic about her stance on the minorities in front of Harry Potter fans. Harry
Potter helped generations to learn to not only accept but love themselves – and
it’s disheartening to hate the person who taught you how to love yourself in the
first place.