JK Rowling’s fans threatened to cut my dick off | by Gemma Stone | Oc…
archived 6 Oct 2020 12:10:02 UTC
The last 24 hours of my Twitter experience has mostly been filled with threats of violence, misgendering and accusations of everything from sexual violence to child grooming. This is Twitter when you’re a trans woman who doesn’t back down to the angry, hateful mob that has now taken JK Rowling’s brand to be their martyr.
In a moment I will fill this entire article with all the horrifying replies and quote tweets I received in the last 24 hours, many of which have posted in support of JK Rowling. But first a little context is probably necessary. That context is mostly Helen Staniland to be honest, who has spent years trying to undermine trans equality and oppose GRA reform. She’s infamous on trans Twitter for having endlessly framed trans people using the bathroom as “waving their penises around by your daughters”. So infamous in fact it prompted one of the funniest memes from a great Scottish trans chick you should check out right here.
Helen was once again doing her “but penises though” thing when someone in my feed spoke about it. I quote tweeted my friend saying that I understand why she does it, it is an easy win to frame the conversation around this false idea of ‘protecting children’ from trans people being able to change privately and safely in stalls. However the argument still comes down to prejudice once you get passed the emotional weight of what’s being said, there’s nothing else too it.
Helen being Helen found the tweet entirely unconnected to her and quote tweeted me to once again reiterate her whole shtick and I just wasn’t prepared to get into a slagging match with her over the same stuff she knows is just hateful prejudice over and over again. So I did what I do best, I made fun of her.
My tweet is worded provocatively yes, it is a complete wind up. But it isn’t abusive, or harassment or mean or anything like that, the actual content of it simply states the position of law regarding trans equality in the UK right now, as confirmed by Baroness Berridge in the House of Lords recently. Trans women have access to spaces regardless of the status of our genitals, and there’s nothing transphobes can do about that.
Cue the hatred, threats, violence, and even the gaslighting. I cannot tell you the amount of tweets I had saying that I was the reason they were going to mistreat other trans people. As if that isn’t just very literally and unashamedly prejudiced? The irony of them acting as if I was making them look bad rather than the other way around is honestly not lost on me.
Hence this rather prescient article, given JK Rowling’s recent letter about the hate she’s received, and the constant onesided-ness of such takes. Which almost always seem to frame transphobes as being the victims and never ever take note of the horrific things they say. Here’s the antidote to that clear poison, and I’m afraid its just more poison. I doubt JK is reading this but if you are? Know that this is what you are the face of now, this is your legacy.
Quick note before I go on: I am absolutely fine, maybe I have a higher tolerance for this stuff but none of this has affected me the way they wanted it to. If anything I’m just more head strong in the fact that winding them up is the best way to get them to expose themselves for the hateful bigots they are. But I thank you for any concerns you may have had for my wellbeing, ya cute ❤)
Due to Medium’s image limit, I cannot upload all the images of abuse and harassment to this article, so instead here’s a link to a Tweet thread where you can find them all instead.Below is just a select handful including threats of violence, attempts to get me fired from a job I don’t have because I’m a freelancer and even comparisons to serial killers.
