The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World

by Andrew Doyle

Having spoken to a number of people who consider Rowling to be transphobic, I have been struck by the lack of substance upon which they have based their conclusions. Either they attribute opinions to her that she does not believe, quote phrases out of context in order to skew their meaning, or attempt a form of guilt by association. For example, her ‘liking’ of a tweet posted by an individual who elsewhere might have expressed hostility towards trans people is taken as evidence that Rowling herself shares such hostility, as though agreeing with an individual on any given point suggests an endorsement of everything he or she has ever said. One apparently damning moment was when Rowling posted an image of a T-shirt that she had bought from ‘Wild Womyn Workshop’, along with a link to the shop’s website. Pink News described the online store as ‘a hotbed of anti-trans messaging and merchandise’, citing badges and stickers bearing phrases such as ‘F*ck your pronouns’, ‘Lesbians don’t have penises’ and ‘Trans-ideology erases women’. Leaving aside the dubious claim that such sentiments are actually ‘transphobic’, these were not the items that Rowling had promoted. Under the circumstances, it is to be expected that she would feel a certain affinity for the slogan on this particular T-shirt: ‘This witch doesn’t burn’

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