News & Opinion
In a recently published essay from world-renowned author Alice Walker, we come to learn she and fellow author J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter) share similar perspectives regarding the exclusion of transgender people. Citing social media’s refute of Rowling's stance on trans people and rights as a “witch hunt” she compelled readers to be more understanding of Rowling’s views—and respect her rights to express them.
Rowling's drastic transformation from famed author to villain arrived after writing a tweet expressing her disdain for headlines using the phrase “people who menstruate” — as opposed to the biologically correct identifier. She would then go on to publish an essay further discussing her take on sex and gender issues; to many of her fans’ displeasure.
“I consider J.K. Rowling perfectly within her rights as a human being of obvious caring for humanity to express her views about whatever is of concern to her”, Walker states in her essay.
“I also believe that listening to each other before going for the match would put some distance between us and the Middle Ages.”
Headlined “They’re burning the WRONG witch”, Walker’s essay is respective to a February podcast from the Free Press entitled The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling. “As an Elder (which I take seriously), I must remind us that there is no “right witch” to burn”, Walker asserts. “‘Woman’ for whatever sinister reason was being erased in language well before she/her was being disappeared from dictionaries and society.”
Many readers have taken to social media, to share their disappointment in Walker’s support of Rowling and at the thought that women are being erased because of trans inclusion. Equally thrown at Rowling three years prior, the term TERF has been given to Walker as well. Abbreviation for trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF), Dictionary.com defines it as:
“an advocate of radical feminism who believes that a trans woman’s gender identity is not legitimate and who is hostile to the inclusion of trans people and gender-diverse people in the feminist movement.” Zimbabwean-American writer Zoe Samudzi shared a tweet slamming walker for using her elder status to justify her position.
Walker also made the implication that gender language used amongst children can affect a child’s confidence in their gender and could ultimately lead to gender reassignments of some form. “The use of “guy” for both male and female eroded the ability of children to easily feel confident in which gender they were," Walker stated.
She concludes her essay with, “From that confusion, considered irrelevant, apparently, to the forming of young minds, has come much cutting off of parts and restructuring of essential physical equipment. After all, the human body is a miracle, of whatever sex, tampering with a miracle is unlikely to serve us.”
Earlier in 2023, Walker also made comments seemingly targeting transgender people. Found on her website Alice's Garden, her post reads: "We're watching as these globalists are moving us towards a future where transhumanist agenda is carried out. Today the Cambridge dictionary updated its definition of woman to include men."
Walker nor Rowling have commented since the essay's release. Read it in full HERE.