#genuine question: does jkr want trans people to kill themselves or..?? what

[ryan-sometimes]

Does JK Rowling want every trans person on earth to drop dead or something? This trans woman isn’t even PLAYING a sport. She’s not “stealing” any cis woman’s spot on a sports team or using her “biological advantage” to dominate any women’s sports. She’s quite literally just the referee.

[not-poignant]

I’ve been having a lot of Thoughts while reading FFS about how there is really no space in society for people who have committed assault or rape to meaningfully rehabilitate or re-integrate, especially if what they’ve done goes public. Do you think there’s a point where holding people accountable for what they’ve done sort of morphs into not letting them grow or improve?

This is a really complicated issue.

Firstly, in some parts of the world, there are specialists and psychologists who do specialise in helping people like Efnisien integrate back into society. They usually work in concert with community housing or government departments, and there are - especially in more welfare focused countries - many programs designed specifically to offer support to people like Efnisien (and criminals in general - though Efnisien has never been to prison or even juvenile detention).

A lot of this stuff is invisible in society, because of taboo and stigma, and because like you say, if a lot of these people are identified publicly (outside of a sexual offenders register), it’s often bad news for them. A lot of people don’t know these things exist unless they a) do something terrible and encounter them firsthand or b) are a loved one who knows about someone going into those programs.

As to the issue of holding people accountable, there’s a lot of things going on in your statement. People need to be held accountable, but that is not the same as tacitly approving bullying or abusing people who have done terrible things. Holding someone accountable is not done by bullying or abusing a person, and studies repeatedly show it’s counterproductive to treat people like this when they are trying to rehabilitate. There’s a direct correlation between recidivism and how a person’s rights (including the right to respect and care) are fulfilled after they’ve committed a crime. Also, once a person has proven they are self accountable, one has to question whether it’s relevant or necessary to hold them accountable after that in a way that is designed to destroy a person’s quality of life. Self-accountability changes how we hold people accountable; but...you wouldn’t always know that with the internet these days.

We definitely live in a culture where in some parts, people are not permitted to grow, improve or rehabilitate, and are bullied or abused for things they said or did that aren’t remotely criminal, even ten or fifteen years ago, even when it’s clear that they’ve changed. This is not holding someone accountable, this is scapegoating someone you don’t like for a reason that feels righteous, and bullying them for it. Of course their target can’t grow or improve in an environment like that; because it actually has nothing to do truly with accountability.

It’s one thing to hold JKR accountable for her horrific transphobic views. But if by some fucking miracle she manages to apologise and make genuine amends, somehow, in the next few years (unlikely but whatever, a trans person like me can dream), people bullying her after that won’t mean ‘holding her accountable.’ That’s just bullying under an umbrella of ‘this is justified, right?’

One of the reasons I actually write Falling Falling Stars is actually to explore the often very left-wing perspective that people who are morally grey, or who have done bad things, should be treated like scum, or like the worst of the worst and - as Efnisien knows - deserve to be killed or tortured or treated terribly etc. But all humans deserve human rights; that’s why they’re human rights. And it’s been interesting watching people...become very defensive in the face of what this story challenges. It hasn’t happened nearly as often as I expected, but it has happened.

My story at the end of the day is just a story, no one has to read it if they don’t like Efnisien or don’t think he deserves good things; but it’s been heartening to see so many people sort of...supporting him because he’s trying. It’s been great to show how consistent support and positive regard can actually create positive knock on effects.

Because like, we know that happens in reality too.

(Also, because you (the proverbial you, not you specifically, anon) would be surprised how many people who haven’t done criminal things still sometimes feel like reprehensible people who don’t deserve forgiveness for things that they’ve done in the past; because we’ve created a culture that...perpetuates this. A lot of people really identify with Efnisien, not because they’ve molested people, but because they feel like they might not deserve forgiveness for something in the past, or might not deserve to live a full or happy life because of something in the past.)

But the world is also far more complicated than Falling Falling Stars. Efnisien is a unique case, and not everyone who has committed crimes or been abusive can recover, and may only ever be interested in exploiting the system (Crielle is a great contrast to Efnisien in this sense; as Efnisien says ‘does this mean Crielle is human too?’ - whatever applies to him, also applies to her, and yet we know Efnisien can rehabilitate; and Crielle can’t. It’s a tough world out there, not everyone will stop committing crimes or atrocities in the face of support; and yet they still have a right to be supported. Human rights are complicated sometimes, and very challenging.) Also, a general caveat, no victim of an abuser ever has to forgive their abuser, no matter how much that abuser has changed. Ever. Ever ever ever.

But many people act like victims of other people, when they never have been, and use that to excuse the most horrific rhetoric (we see this when antis treat people who write taboo content like scum, they act like they’re being victimised, when they’re not; they’re choosing to engage in that content, with those authors and artists -> if they feel like a victim, it’s because they’re victimising themselves. They don’t believe in self accountability).

Anyway, lots of rambling, this is incredibly complex and you could write many books on the subject and still not be done. I’m not against callout culture, but I am against condoning bullying and abuse of ‘people who have never done anything to me but who are still shitty and it feels good to not manage my anger and just dump it on them instead’, especially under the umbrella of supposed ‘righteousness.’ I’m a big believer in rehabilitation, education and support programs for many types of criminal acts, as well as early intervention (i.e. spotting criminal behaviour in youth and acting early). 

Ultimately one of the most important things in these situations is self-accountability. This means holding someone accountable, but it also means offering support so a person can safely learn to be self-accountable, and process what that means. It’s scary to go ‘I’ve been abusive’ or ‘I have treated people badly and that’s on me’ - it’s scary to do that even just in an argument with a friend, let alone criminal acts. It’s naive and callous to assume that people who engage in behaviours we deem terrible, to be capable of confronting these kinds of truths without support. Like we don’t want to offer them tacit support, but we don’t have to!!! Of course we don’t have to be the ones who support them, but it’s important to support programs and facilities of people who are trained to support them.

Some countries are a lot worse than others. The USA, obviously, is pretty bad at offering this kind of support. Some European countries and some parts of Australia are getting better at it, etc. For example, we know that ‘prisoners and pets’ programs are actually really amazing for reducing recidivism and improving outcomes.

In the absence of support, all you can do is protect yourselves and sometimes, yes, publicly point out the people that aren’t going to change in the absence of support, so that everyone can be as potentially safe as possible.

Anyway it’s complicated. There are lots of caveats and disclaimers, it changes country by country, crime by crime, condition by condition, person by person, situation by situation. But yeah I think there is a radical difference between holding someone accountable, and just bullying and abusing them publicly. And I think that is something basic, that a lot of people on the internet have forgotten over the years, in these times of polarised, black and white thinking. 

I don’t know what the right answers are. I support Efnisien, but there are criminals I’ve known personally who have impacted me directly that I hate, and I struggle to view them as human beings worthy of human rights. This story challenges me too. Will I change my mind about those criminals? Maybe. Maybe not. Sometimes I change my mind, sometimes I don’t. I generally support programs that help reduce recidivism, and repeatedly, those programs are ones that offer support, counselling, community and friendship, and connection to others. I think any program that reduces recidivism is a good one. But you’ll never eliminate recidivism entirely, and that makes the subject complicated. People will point to the failures, to justify getting rid of programs that have successes. They cost a lot of money, it’s...complicated. :/

But it’s sometimes hard to wrap your head around that when people who have never done anything wrong in a significant way struggle to get any kind of support themselves, but that’s a greater government welfare issue, and... well...

Now my brain is breaking and I have to stop talking, lol.