By Annabelle Wong

JK Rowling, our beloved author of the Harry Potter series, has been portrayed and accused of transphobia on social media platforms. She has written several tweets about her views of transgender people, and has even gone as far as linking her Twitter followers to a shop selling anti-transgender items, with badges written “F**k your pronouns” and “Notorious transphobe”. Most replies opposed her ideas, with even Harry Potter actors Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson disagreeing with her essays and tweets.

Whilst Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson disagree with JK Rowling, they maintain their discretion by not speaking out of turn. As someone who is not in the LGBTQ+ community, maybe JK Rowling should not speak of things she is not an expert about. People who are not LGBTQ+ can’t really be offensive to people who are. For example, a person cannot call a transgender person who changed their gender from boy to girl a boy. Saying that would be disrespectful to their wishes. On the other hand, someone who is not LGBTQ+ could show support, so long as it is not offensive. What JK Rowling is doing is being disrespectful to the wishes of people who are LGBTQ+, and speaking about a topic she is not really an expert in. She is not a transgender expert; she is not a psychologist; and she is not someone who is LGBTQ+. She is an author who writes children's books and fiction. She does not have a say in a topic she does not know more about. I am not an expert in LGBTQ, which is why in this article, I’m not talking about facts. I’m talking about respect towards the LGBTQ community, and some of the basic manners (etiquette) one should know. 

On the topic of JK Rowling, we should also explore the responsibilities celebrities have. They have a responsibility for what they say in public, and this is because they have a big influence on people. They are influencing the way people think, and with that power comes great responsibility. Some celebrities may even take advantage of that fame, and influence people to think in their favour. The question is: should celebrities even have that kind of responsibility? Is it fair for them to have those responsibilities? The answer is: no. Celebrities are humans too, and in fact, they are only separated from “ordinary” people by fame. We believe famous people only because of their career, wealth, or even their reputation (Donald Trump, the famous example). We, as “ordinary” people, probably shouldn’t believe everything we hear from celebrities, but yet we do. Why? I don’t know, ask Trump’s supporters.

We, as non-experts and “ordinary” people have responsibilities as well. We have the responsibility to react to a celebrity if they behave a certain way. For example, if Donald Trump said some terrible things (oh wait, he has), there are a number of things we could do. We can stop listening to him on television and not vote for him as president. This is called cancel culture. Cancel culture means to stop supporting the celebrity/company by not buying any of their products and just ignoring them. As JK Rowling is saying all these things that may be disrespectful to a community, we have the power to cancel her. What we do matters. Either we support what she and other celebrities say, or we disagree and cancel them. JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on the differences wizards and non-wizards, or muggles, have, and how they treat each other differently based on their different perspectives and cultures. Wizards treat muggles like animals, and if they find out about wizards, the wizards will erase their memories, though muggles don't even know wizards exist. JK Rowling wrote her first Harry Potter book containing subtle hints of discrimination from wizards against muggles, but it is almost as though she herself is discriminating against others, and she is doing exactly what wizards are doing to muggles in her book.

After talking about all of this, what are some practical steps to moving forward? Well, as we read through the article, we can cancel JK Rowling, and not buy her products or read her books. But on this topic, what if cancelling her gets a little more … personal? For example, what if one of your younger siblings asked you if JK Rowling’s Harry Potter is a good book, what would you do? I have a little brother myself, and he is about five years old. If one day he came up to me and asked if the Harry Potter series are good books, I would probably say they are, but then explain to him why he shouldn't read them. What would you do?

Some other practical steps to moving forward: should I be more proactive and write an opinion piece in the school newspaper on my thoughts? I need a Twitter account … with a blue tick - on second thought: cancel that too.