He Who Shall Not Be Named actor Ralph Fiennes has once again defended JK Rowling‘s transphobia, and characterized those calling her out as disgusting harassers.
In an interview with The New York Times, Fiennes claimed Rowling has been subject to “verbal abuse” online. This “appalling” behavior stems from what Fiennes describes as “just a woman saying, ‘I’m a woman and I feel I’m a woman and I want to be able to say that I’m a woman.’”
Fiennes, who has defended Rowling in the past, seems to have spectacularly misunderstood what Rowling’s position actually is and why people might object to it. Aas we have covered previously, Rowling is a TERF. The author of the Potter books has come under fire previously for her retweeting of known anti-trans women associations and organizations, and doubled down with a full-blown rant on her personal Twitter which you can read more about here. Others have recognized this descent and everyone from Daniel Radcliffe to the various Quadball (formerly Quidditch) leagues have sought to distance themselves from the British millionaire’s rampant transphobia.
This is part of what is so disappointing about Fiennes’ statement. Framing Rowling’s bigotry as “a woman who wants to say that she’s a woman” is missing the point because no one is asking her to do otherwise. Critics are merely calling on Rowling to recognize that trans women, of all stripes, are also women who deserve dignity and respect. Rowling’s continued attacks on trans people may be framed as defenses against some powerful figure telling her that she cannot identify as one thing or another, but in reality she is that villainous spectre gate-keeping the definitions of femininity and womanhood as though she has any more right to them as a cis person than any trans person does.
“I understand where she’s coming from,” Fiennes continued. “Even though I’m not a woman.”
We sincerely hope that this is not Fiennes soft-launching his own foray into TERF-dom. In all likelihood, it is a case of someone with good intentions being mislead by the deliberately obscuring language utilized by bigots. With any luck, someone will be able to sit down with Fiennes and patiently explain the reality of the situation and he may amend his statement after witnessing the further reaction this draws. Or maybe he’ll double down too and slither on over to the Death Eater-y side of history. We can only hope for the better.
