#rupert grint updates

[grinterest88-blog]

6 days to go before the Turner's final chapter.

[grinterest88-blog]

These are the reasons why I love going through rupert grint tags on twitter nowadays.

This is what they mean with “There are no small roles, only small actors.”

[itsawritblr]

Graham Linehan is right. These Harry Potter stars will regret their betrayal of JK Rowling.

via The Telegraph:

Michael Deacon, Columnist, 3 October 2023 • 7:00am

In Tough Crowd, Graham Linehan’s new book chronicling his battle against militant trans activism, the comedy writer reserves particular scorn for the three main stars of the Harry Potter films. When JK Rowling was monstered on social media for daring to speak up in support of women’s rights, those three actors – Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint – could have leapt to her defence. But they did not. Instead, they each loftily proclaimed their support for the trans rights movement.

“[They] instantly betrayed her,” Mr Linehan writes. “[They] deserve to be remembered as symbols of the most remarkable arrogance, cowardice and ingratitude.”

He needn’t worry. Because one day, I strongly suspect, they will be.

Obviously none of us is obliged to share the opinions of the people we worked for at the start of our careers. Whenever I sit down to write a column, I do not first ring up the manager of the Edinburgh branch of Bargain Books I worked at in summer 2001, just to check that my views on Sir Keir Starmer or the Duchess of Sussex meet her approval. Nor do I run my opinions on Black Lives Matter or Just Stop Oil past the former editor of J17, the long-defunct teenage girls’ magazine for which I was junior staff writer in 2003.

Those three former child stars, however, are in an unusual position. JK Rowling did not give them a paper round, or a Saturday job in their local corner shop. She gave them global fame – something they would have been unlikely to achieve without her. And so, even though they don’t share her views, their response should at least have been more respectful. They could have said in the immediate aftermath: “I will always support trans rights. However I am appalled by the abuse of JK Rowling. Nothing she has ever said is remotely bigoted or transphobic. She’s just speaking up for women, that’s all.”

So why didn’t they fight her corner? Are they absolutely beyond doubt that their views place them on “the right side of history”? Or were they simply scared of being cancelled themselves?

I don’t know. But I do know that, if “the right side of history” turns out to have been JK Rowling’s, their treatment of her will be the only thing that anyone remembers about them.

*~*~*~*

GCs and Radfems, if you're not reading Graham Linehan you should be.

On Twitter-X.

On Substack: The Glinner Update.

[moon-meridian]

hello, friends! here is a collection of some of my favorite faces. i'll update this list as i come into contact with faces that i've been introduced to and want to interact with. please keep in mind that this list is just what comes to mind, i love new faces so feel free to suggest new ones to me !#happyroleplaying

ACTORS

a-e

aaron paul, aaron taylor-johnson, aaron tveit, adam dimarco, adan canto, alan ritchson, alberto rosende, alexander calvert, alexander skarsgard, alex fitzalan, alfie allen, alfonso herrera, alfred enoch, alvaro rico, andre lamoglia, andrew garfield, andrew matarazzo, andy samberg, angus cloud, antoni porowski, antony starr, armie hammer, aron piper, austin butler, avan jogia, ben barnes, bill skarsgard, blair redford, blake jenner, bob morley, boyd holbrook, brandon flynn, brant daughtry, brenton thwaites, brian j. smith, bright vachirawit chivaaree, cameron monaghan, casey cott, carter jenkins, chace crawford, chadwick boseman, chance perdomo, charles melton, charlie coxx, charlie heaton, charlie hunnam, charlie weber, chase stokes, cheyenne jackson, chris evans, chris hemsworth, chris messina, chris pine, christian navarro, christopher abbott, chris wood, cody christian, cody fern, cole sprouse, colton haynes, curran walters, dacre montgomery, daniel sharman, darren barnet, darren criss, david castaneda, david castro, david corenswet, dean geyer, dominic cooper, dominic sherwood, drey ray tanner, drew van acker, dylan minnette, dylan o'brien, dylan sprayberry, dylan sprouse, ed westwick, eka darville, eric dane, evan peters.

f-l

felix mallard, finn jones, finn wittrock, froy gutierrez, gavin leatherwood, gong yoo, grant gustin, gregg sulkin, gus kenworthy, hart denton, hasan minhaj, henry cavill, henry zaga, herman tommeras, hero fiennes-tiffin, hugh dancy, ian bohen, ian harding, ian somerhalder, itzan escamilla, iwan rheon, jack falahee, jack quaid, jack mulhern, jack o'connell, jacob artist, jacob elordi, jai courtney, jan luis castellanos, jared padelecki, jason momoa, jedidiah goodacre, jensen ackles, jeremy allen white, jeremy jordan, joe dempsie, joe keery, joel kinnaman, joel mchale, joe manganiello, jonathan groff, jon bernthal, jon krazinski, jordan fisher, jorge lopez, joseph gilgun, josh hartnett, joshua bassett, justin hartley, justin theroux, karamo brown, karl urban, kit harrington, kj apa, kyle allen, liam hemsworth, logan shroyer, louis partridge, lucien laviscount, luke evans, luke pasqualino.

m-s

manny jacinto, manu rios, matt bomer, matthew daddario, mark pellegrino, mason gooding, maxence danet-fauvel, max irons, max riemelt, mena massoud, michael cimino, michael trevino, michael vlamis, michele morrone, michiel huisman, miguel bernardeau, miguel herran, mike colter, miguel angel silvestre, miles heizer, milo ventimiglia, nathan parsons, nicholas galitzine, nick robinson, nico mirallegro, nico tortorella, nikolaj coster-waldua, noah centineo, nolan gerard funk, oliver jackson-cohen, oliver stark, omar ayuso, omar rudberg, oscar isaac, paul wesley, penn badgley, pol granch, rafael silva, rahul kohli, rami malik, richard madden, ricky whittle, riz ahmed, robert sheehan, rome flynn, ronen rubenstein, ross lynch, rudy pankow, rupert grint, ryan guzman, ryan kelley, ryan potter, sam claflin, sam heughan, samuel larson, scott eastwood, sean teale, sebastian de souza, sebastian stan, shiloh fernandez, skeet ulrich, steven strait.

t-z

taron egerton, taylor zakhar perez, theo james, thomas doherty, timothy granaderos, timothy olyphant, toby kebbell, toby wallace, tom ellis, tom hiddleston, tom holland, tom hopper, tom pelphrey, tyler blackburn, tyler hoechlin, tyler lawrence gray, tyler posey, wentworth miller, zac efron.

MUSICIANS

austin porter, benito ocasio (bad bunny), brandon arreaga, charlie puth, dominic fike, edwin honoret, harry styles, jack gilinsky, jack harlow, jaden smith, joe jonas, lil nas z, machine gun kelly, nick jonas, nick mara, omar apollo, shawn mendes, troye sivan, zayn malik, zion kuwonu.

EASTERN

bang chan, choi chanhee, choi minho, christian yu, han seungwoo, jackson wang, jay park, jung ki-suck, kim jennie, kim jisoo, kim jongdae, kwon hyuk lai, kuan-lin, lalisa manoban, lee dae-hwi, lee tae-min, mark yien tuan, ong seong-wu, roseanne park, taehyung, wong kunhang, wu yi fan, xiao dejun, and yan an.

MODELS

adam senn, adil haddaoui, adrien sahores, agustin bruno, arthur gosse, billy vandendooren, bo develius, brad skelly, brooklyn beckham, cameron dallas, casey jackson, christian hogue, daniel abohzira, daniel bederov, david gandy, derek chadwick, desire mia, diego barrueco, francisco lachowski, gage gomez, gui fedrezzi, harvey newton-haydon, isha blaaker, ivan kozak, jacob bixenman, janis danner, jamie dornan, joe collier, jordan torres, juan betancourt, julian schratter, kit butler, lenny izaguire, manu rios, marlon teixeira, marvin cortes, matthew noszka, matty carrington, maverick mcconnell, michael yerger, neels visser, nick bateman, nicolas simoes, nyle dimarco, ollie loudon, owen lindberg, rafael lazzini, rafael miller, reese king, richard diess, robbie satchwell, sean opry, simon loof, simon nessman, tanner reese, tom webb, vinnie hacker, will higginson, xavier serrano, zander fitzpatrick

UNCLASSIFIED

gus kenworthy, noah beck, ryan garcia, vlad hoshin.

[weirdjanuary]

(Versione in italiano qui.) From an idea taken from the web, here’s a small recap (spoiler free) of the TV shows I finished between January-June 2023. Tomorrow I’ll create a second post, to be updated gradually, for those that I’ll finish between July-December. Maybe I'll do some sort of “the best” for 2022...

His Dark Materials (S03) - Final season. In general, quite forgettable series, if you don’t watch it you won't miss anything!

Happy Valley (S03) - Watched exclusively for James Norton, it’s the classic crime/drama series, like so many others out there.

The Rig (S01) - It’s not the series of the year but I liked it (I always like these scientific “stuff” xD). I know it has been renewed and for sure I’ll watch the second season too.

Servant (S04) - Final season (fortunately xD) of a series I never liked, I always found it boring, and that I watched exclusively for Rupert Grint.

The Last of Us (S01) - Not my thing but I liked the first season and will watch the second.

9-1-1 Lone Star (S04) - There’s not much to say, it’s one of those procedurals that I follow because I like the characters and it’s suitable when you want to watch something non-demanding.

Lockwood & Co. (S01) -I liked this a lot, I’m very sad about the cancellation :( I will almost certainly compensate with the novels!

Endeavor (S09) - Final season, sigh. I’ll miss young Inspector Morse (and Shaun Evans too).

The Mandalorian (S03) - Good season even if maybe I preferred the first two. I like Mando and Grogu more and more <3

9-1-1 (S06) -The same goes for the spin-off above but I have to say that the characters are a bit boring for me, I think I’ll stop here.

Shadow and Bone (S02) - They had done a good job with the first season, unfortunately the same cannot be said for this one. They wanted to show too much, and too fast. The only good thing is the Crows, they remain the best and deserve a separate series!

Yellowjackets (S02) - I liked it a little less than the first but, in general, it’s a series that I recommend (if you’re not too impressionable!)

Succession (S04) - Final season for the Roys too, sigh. I will miss them! I’d like to see a couple of actors in other projects :)

Titans (S04) - I didn’t like this season much (the only joy was seeing Jason Todd again!). I much preferred the previous ones. Too bad because they also had Joseph Morgan in the cast this year but they also mishandled him/his character.

From (S02) - In my opinion, a superior season to the first (which I also liked a lot). It reminds me a bit of Lost and other similar series (but I hope for a more satisfying ending than this last one!). I can’t wait for the third season to come out (which they told me is already in production) and I'm enjoying reading the various theories on the web!

Silo (S01) - Very good! I have to say I didn’t expect it, I read the novels several years ago (I really liked them) and I didn't know what to expect from the television transposition but I have to admit that they did a good job. Only in the last episode in my opinion they made a little confusion, I hope they explain things better in the second season. Tim Robbins masterful!

Manifest (S04) - All in all, a satisfactory conclusion. The risk of a Lost ending was high and instead they managed to conclude in a quite worthy way! It’s a great series and I enjoyed following it :)

[littlewalken]

Feb 27

At least my medical records have anemia on them so if I sleep away most of a day I have a legit reason.

Almost forgot I did do some physical stuff I probably shouldn't have done but now all the Halloween pajamas are in one tub and can stay there until the end of summer. Most are getting worn out and I should consider making a quilt out of them but I'm going to wear them as long as possible.

Also managed to put some odds and ends away, the new metal stamps got as far as the container with all the metal stamps but the resin bits didn't get in to that exact tub. There are several smaller tubs with resin supplies that can go in to one bigger tub but it will make me want to make something to use up one of the bottles and this weather isn't right for it.

Still, if you have any form of ADHSquirrel clear 'project tubs' that hold the supplies you need for hobbies are your friend. You can see what hobby is in there, or stick a label on, and everything you need is right there.

I just put the hand full of crochet thread books in with the crochet thread for now. I can't keep the hooks in there because I have several things that use them but I also made a cute project bag with knit and crochet terms on it to hold the hooks and needles.

The next movie I watch might be Cherry Bomb with Robert Sheehan and Rupert Grint. They were in my dream last night but it was also tangled with Robert's audio book and talking about Borzoi snoots. When that scenario changed to something I wasn't liking I literally said I'm too old for this shit and walked out of that part or my dream. Woke up not long after.

First step with non region DVDs is to see if the VLC media player recognizes them, it does with my Region 0 Japanese Tea Ceremony and a couple of the Pet Shop Boys ones.

Second step is to see if you can put a remote control code in to one of your older players and unlock it. All was good until the door broke on mine.

Third step is to get a region free DVD player from Lord Bezos because they aren't any more than regular ones and don't get caught up in the mark up game. Search for the least fancy one, if you deal with a seller tell them it's for grandma to watch her region 4 stories on DVD and she can use a regular player but not passwords etc.

Fourth step is to hope the one you bought so many years ago you've forgotten still works and doesn't need wifi update shit.

Fifth step pray that someone uploads it to the internet somewhere but that it's in your language or has subtitles. Some of you know what I mean, fucking German dub.

[rupelover]

Rupert Grint attended UcconX festival on July 30 and 31, 2022 in Brazil to meet his fans.

Next event he’ll be attending is German Comic Con Dortmund on December 3 and 4, 2022.

[headcanonsandmore]

You have successfully downloaded the Harry Potter film series update 2.0!

Below are some of the changes that have been made:

The entire Weasley family is treated with respect

It is now made very clear that Harry and Hermione see each-other as siblings and nothing more

Ron Weasley now has his correct personality, mannerisms, and character developments in place (this was left out in the original format)

Hermione Granger has human flaws

Harry Potter is now in possession of the book-accurate level of sass

‘Calmly’ means ‘calmly’ this time

Ginny Weasley now has a personality

Hermione’s bushy hair will now remain consistent throughout all of the films

Ron’s jokes are witty rather than irritating

Charlie Weasley exists

Tonks has her backstory and character arc restored to its original setting

Ron Weasley has his greatest moments restored to him (most of them were mistakenly given to Hermione in the previous format)

Lavender Brown’s ethnicity will not automatically change to ‘white Caucasian’ when she becomes integral to the plot

The Marauders have their original ages restored (there was a system error last time, which left them all looking middle-aged)

Harry and Hermione don’t start quasi-romantically dancing randomly to a Nick Cave song (we think this might have been a computer bug)

Steve Kloves will not be allowed anywhere near the production

[poirott]

July 28 - 29 2018: New The ABC Murders shooting location revealed: HOLBECK, LEEDS - Film crews have been spotted shooting the period drama at an abandoned viaduct near Leeds city centre on July 28 2018. Several actors dressed as policemen in old-fashioned uniforms were seen beneath the arches of the old Holbeck viaduct off Whitehall Road. The mile-long Holbeck railway viaduct, which runs from Granary Wharf to the ring road at Farnley, was built in the 19th century but closed in 1988 and has been derelict ever since. Additional pictures posted by Yorkshire Evening Post on July 31 2018 show Rupert Grint in his Inspector Crome costume shooting a scene at the location on July 28 2018. He is in his blue suit and big coat in the top right photo in the collage thumbnail. We also see Crome and a group of policemen chasing a man. That could be Cust, the character played by actor Eamon Farren. Cust is an important character in the Agatha Christie novel. The pictures don’t come in HD, unfortunately! John Malkovich and his wife were seen in York by several twitter users on the weekend of July 28 - 29 2018. An instagramer saw him at a “pastry/bread/coffee shop” on July 29 2018. I only mention these sightings in case York is a potential The ABC Murders shooting location for next week. :) York is also close to Leeds, Yorkshire, where the film studio is located, and it’s possible York is just a weekend getaway for John and has nothing to do with filming. July 26 2018: An instagramer posted a pic of John sitting in the bit of shade on set at the Albert Terrace, Saltaire, location on July 26 2018, adding, "Seeing John Malkovich! Damn him for looking away from me!!" July 25 2018 (for more July 25 shooting, see my previous post): Locals took more close-ups of the lovely “Asher’s” tobacconist and grocers shop set and its props on Herbert Street, Saltaire, where filming took place on July 25 2018. John Malkovich and extras were seen at the nearby set at Salts Mill, Victoria Road, Saltaire, one local even recorded a video of John interacting with the series’ director Alex Gabassi (scroll through the pics for the video). The extras appear to be exiting the “Andover train station”, a cloud of steam rising about them. More fan footage of John chilling on set (with his suspenders down :)) on July 25 2018 was posted on twitter.

[callieskye]

Rupert Grint Appreciation Week 2017

August 22 - Day 5: Favourite pictures.

[grinterest88-blog]

Rupert Grint for GQ (January 30, 2023)

[acciohunks]

Rupert Grint’s IG update // January 21st

[grinterest88-blog]

Hope these will keep coming!

SERVANT SEASON 4 RUPERT GRINT REVIEWS (based on the first 3 episodes)

Harry Potter alumni Rupert Grint is a revelation as Dorothy’s alcoholic brother Julian. He may provide the comic relief, but he’s also on an intriguing redemption story of his own. (….) The horror elements are amplified further too and that dark, sarcastic humor returns, thanks to a stand-out performance from Rupert Grint. -readysteadycut

First out of the gate and – potentially this show’s biggest asset – is Julian, who has graduated from wealthy hard-drinking brother to Dorothy into part-time lover to Leanne over three seasons. Skulking beneath the conniving characterization, any memory of Grint’s former fame is buried in a shallow grave out back. - wegotthiscovered

The chemistry between Free, Ambrose, Kebbell, and Grint continues to be vitally important as this story begins its final season, and all four are at the top of their game in these three episodes. - joblo

Julian (Rupert Grint, always fantastic) has relapsed, trying to figure out where he fits in the family unit,… - rogerebert

Sean and his brother-in-law, Julian (a terrific Rupert Grint),… - AVclub

[thetaleofsirthopas]

Dragon Age: Inquisition (Updated) Fancast The Inquisition

Blackwall - Nick Offerman (American actor, b. 1970) Cole - Rupert Grint (English actor, b. 1988) Cullen - Dan Stevens (English actor, b. 1982) Iron Bull - Jason Momoa (American actor, b. 1979) Josephine - Vidya Balan (Indian actor, b. 1979)

This is a fancast, not a faceclaim, so I’ve chosen only actors (no models) that are within the range of the characters’ age and background. 

Other Fancasts DAI: The Elves DAI: The Tevinters

[amphtaminedreams]

J.K Rowling & The Echo Chamber of TERFs: Why Nobody Wants your Transphobic “Opinion”

TW// Discussion of Sexual Assault and Transphobia

SO...

I’ve seen the term “allyship fatigue” going round a lot lately on Twitter, since the issues of police brutality, institutional racism, and now transphobia have taken central stage.

And it’s weird. To be honest, hearing other white cis people calling themselves “allies” has always sounded kinda self-congratulatory. Taking this to the level of martyrdom that the phrase “allyship fatigue” evokes makes me want to heave. It’s shit that anyone even has to be saying Black Lives STILL Matter, but it does seem to unfortunately be the case that every time there is a highly publicised murder of a black individual by police, the explosion of us white people calling ourselves allies and retweeting and reblogging statements of solidarity only lasts so long before half revert back to being complacent with and uncritical of a world seeped with casual racism. Is that what “allyship fatigue” is? The excuse for that? Not only does the term take the focus off of the marginalised group the movement is centred around but it makes supporting equal rights sound like some kind of heroic burden we’ve chosen to take on rather than addressing a debt we owe and being not even good but just plain decent human beings. WE are not the ones shouldering the weight here, and if your mental health is suffering, that is not the fault of the people asking for their rights. Log off. We have the privilege to do that. It just doesn’t need to be a spectacle.

At the same time, this public onslaught of ignorance and hatred that the coverage of the Black Lives Matter movement has triggered (that let me again emphasise, black people have had to involuntarily be on the receiving end of their whole lives) and the frustration and anger that comes from seeing these absolute trash takes from people with no research into the subject who build their argument purely on “what about”isms is do-I-even-want-to-bring-children-into-this-fucking-world levels of miserable. In terms of earth beginning to look more and more like the prequel describing the events which lead up to a dystopian novel, the chaos of the last 4 weeks or so (2020 has not only shattered the illusion of time but also danced on the shards, I know) is the tip of the iceberg. I saw a thread about what’s going on in Yemen at the moment, which I had no idea about, and immediately felt consumed by guilt that I didn’t know. With the advent of social media, there’s been this sudden evolutionary shift where we’re almost required and expected to know about, have an opinion on, and be empathetic with every humanitarian crisis at once. I think young people feel this especially, which is why I say that sometimes it’s worth talking to an older person before you brush them off as a racist or a homophobe and see if they’re open to hearing different opinions-in general, I think we’re a generation that is used to being expected to consume a huge amount of information at once. They are not. For a lot (NOT all) of the older, middle-class, white population, ignorance isn’t a conscious choice, it is the natural way of life. The parameters of empathy until very recently have only had to extend just past your closest circle of friends to encompass people you “relate to”. That doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of caring about other things, and sometimes we owe them a chance to change their perspective first, if for no reason other than to advance the cause of, well, basic human rights for all.

So where does J.K Rowling come into all this? I hear you ask. Why doesn’t she just stop rambling? You potentially wonder. Well, I’m getting to it. 

J.K Rowling isn’t an unconsciously ignorant people. She is what I would call consciously ignorant. And of all weeks to flaunt this ignorance, she chose a time when people are already drowning in a cesspit of hatred. The woman whose whole book series supposedly revolves around the battle between good and evil didn’t even try to drain the swamp. She instead added a bucket of her transphobic vitriol into it. 

Let me preface this by saying that I wouldn’t wipe my arse with the Sun. What they did with the statement she made regarding her previous abusive relationship, seeking out said abusive partner for an interview and putting it on the front page with the headline “I slapped J.K”, whilst expected from the bunch of cretinous bottom feeders who work there, is disgusting. That being said, the pattern of behaviour J.K Rowling has exhibited since she first became an online presence is equally disgusting, and just because the Sun have been their usual shithead selves, doesn’t mean we should forget the issue at hand, that issue being her ongoing transphobia and erasure of trans women from women’s rights.

As I’m sure is the case for many people on Tumblr, J.K Rowling has always been such a huge inspiration for me, and Harry Potter was my entire childhood. My obsession with it continued until I was at least 16 and is what got me through the very shit years of being a teenager, and that will forever be the case. I’m not here to discuss the whole separation of the art from the artist thing because whilst I ordinarily don’t think that’s really possible, at this point the “Harry Potter universe” has become much bigger than J.K herself. I was so pleased to see Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint all affirm their support for trans rights-I was raised on the films up until the 4th one which I wasn’t old enough to see at the cinema, and the DVD was at the top of my Christmas list. They were always my Harry, Hermione and Ron. It was only between the fourth and fifth films that I started to read the books to fill that gaping in-between-movies hole, but as I grew up, I read them over and over and over again. Any of the subtext that people are talking about now in light of her antisemitism and transphobia went completely over my head, though who knows, whilst I can sit here and write that I’m certain I didn’t, maybe I did pick up some unconscious biases along the way? The art/artist discussion is a complex one and I don’t know if I’ll ever read the books again at this point.

There was absolutely no subtext, however, in the “think piece” on J.K’s website addressing the response to her transphobic tweets. There wasn’t all that much to unpack in the first tirade, they were quite openly dismissive-first that womanhood is defined by whether or not one experiences menstruation (I currently don’t due to health issues but I’m betting this wouldn’t make me any less woman in her eyes), and second, regurgitating an article which furthers the fallacy that trans women simply existing erases the existence of cisgender lesbian women. Rowling’s initial response to the backlash was to blame it on a glass of red wine, I think? Which is such a weird go-to excuse for celebrities because not once have I ever got drunk and completely changed my belief system. If you’re not transphobic sober, you don’t suddenly become transphobic drunk. What you are saying is that you’re not usually publicly transphobic (which isn’t even the case with Rowling because this is hardly her first flirtation with bigotry via social media) but that whoopsies! You drank some wine and suddenly thought it was acceptable!

Now what is her excuse for the formal response she wrote to the backlash, dripping with transphobic dog whistles and straight up misinformation (UPDATE: and as of yesterday, blocking Stephen King quite literally for replying to her with the tweet “trans women are women”, in case you thought that this whole thing was a case of her intentions being misconstrued)? Drunk tweets are one thing but if she managed to write a whole fucking essay whilst pissed I imagine there’s a lot of university students out there who’d pay her good money to learn that skill.

Here is the bottom line. TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN. There is no discussion around that. And if you don’t understand why, at the very least, you can be respectful of the way a person chooses to identify, especially when that person is an already targeted minority.

Obviously, sex and gender are complex things. Based on the fact that we don’t walk around with our nether-regions out, we generally navigate our way through the world using our gender and the way we present our gender. Gender of course means many different things to many different people; some see it as a sliding scale kind of thing whereas some people can’t see themselves on the scale at all, and choose to use terms other than man or woman to express how they identify. But, whatever gender one chooses to identify as, we live in a modern world-with all the scientific advancements we’ve made and all that we now know about the brain, using what is between people’s legs to define them is an ignorant, outdated copout. You’ll find that a lot of transphobes can live in harmony with trans women who conform, who have classically feminine features, maybe facial feminisation surgery, trans women who keep quiet about how they’re seen by cis women and don’t kick up “too much of a fuss” (which is in itself still a perfectly valid, brave and understandable way to live your life after years of feeling like you don’t fit in btw). The trans women that Joanne and her friends take the most issue with is the ones who want to expand what womanhood means and stretch the boundaries of what is and isn’t acceptable, destroying the confines of simplistic model that TERFs feel comfortable operating within. The ones who fight to be recognised as no “lesser” than cis women. Calling a person a TERF is quite literally just asserting that they are someone who wants to exclude trans women from their definition of womanhood, or in other words wants to cling to the old, obsolete model. If J.K Rowling cannot let the statement “trans women are women” go unchallenged (which we’ve seen from her response to Stephen King’s tweet she cannot), then she is by definition a TERF. It’s not a slur. It’s a descriptor indicating the movement she has chosen to associate herself with. Associating the descriptor of the position you so vehemently refuse to denounce in spite of all evidence and information offered to you with the concept of a “witch hunt” when trans women are ACTUALLY brutally murdered for an innate part of their identity is insulting, at the very least.

Let’s get this straight: despite transphobes trying to conflate sex with gender and arguing that sex is the only “real” identifier of the two, our existence on this planet and our perception of this world is a gendered experience. It is our brain, where the majority of researchers agree that gender lies, which decides and dictates not only who we are and how we feel but also how we interact with everyone around us. I don’t think it’s an outlandish statement to say that when it comes to who we are as people, that flesh machine protected by our skull is the key player.  PSA for transphobes everywhere: when people say penises have a mind of their own, they are NOT talking literally. The more you know. 

Gender is obviously a much newer concept than sex-it is both influenced by and interacts with every element of our lives. It’s also much more complex, in that there are still many gaps in our understanding. I assume these two factors combined with the familiarity of the (usually) binary model of biological sex are a part of why TERFS fundamentally reject the importance of gender in favour of the latter. Yes, most of the time, we feel our gender corresponds with our sex, but not always, and nor is there any concrete proof that this has to be the case. Most studies tend to agree that our brains start out as blank slates, that we grow into the gender we are assigned based on our bodies. In other words, our sex only defines our gender insofar as the historical assumption that they are the same thing, which in turn exposes us to certain cultural expectations. To any TERFs that have somehow ended up here-if you haven’t already, I suggest looking into the research of Gina Rippon, a neuroscientist whom has spent a large portion of her professional career analysing the data of sex differences in the brain. Whilst she originally set out to find some kind of consistent variance between the brains of the 2 prominent sexes to back up the idea that the brains of men and women are inherently different, she found nothing of significance-individual differences, yes, but no consistent similarities in the brains of one sex that were not present in the other. Once differences in brain size were accounted for, “well-known” sex differences in key structures disappeared-in terms of proportion, these structures take up the same amount of space in the brain regardless of sex. Her findings are best summed up by her response to the question: are there any significant differences in the brain based on sex alone? Her answer is no. To suggest otherwise is “neurofoolishness”. Not only does her research help put to bed the myth that our brains are sexed along with the rest of our bodies during development (this is now believed to happen separately, meaning the sex of our bodies and brains may not correspond), but also the idea propagated by the patriarchy for centuries that basically boils down to “boys will be boys”-a myth used to condone male sexual violence against women and even against each other on the basis that it is inherent and “can't be helped”. That they are just “built differently”. Maybe at one point in human evolution, men were conditioned to fight and women were conditioned to protect, but whilst the idea remains and continues to affect our societal structures (and thus said cultural expectations), we’ve moved on. I mean we evolved from fish for fuck’s sake but you don’t see us breathing underwater. 

Gender identity is based on many things and admittedly we don’t fully have the complete picture yet. The effects that socialisation and gender norms in particular, as much as we don’t want them to exist, have on our brain are huge; there’s evidence that they can leave epigenetic marks, or in other words cause structural changes in the brain which drive biological functions and features as diverse as memory, development and disease susceptibility. Socialisation alters the way our individual brains develop as we grow up, and as much as I’d love to see gender norms disappear, they’ll probably be around for a long time to come, as will their ramifications. The gap between explaining how socialisation affects the brain of cisgender individuals compared to the brains of transgender or non-binary individuals is not yet totally clear, but as with every supposed cause and effect psychology tries to uncover, there are outliers and individual differences. No, brains are not inherently male or female at birth but they are all different, and can be affected by socialisation differently. In one particularly groundbreaking study conducted by Dick Swaab of the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, postmortems of the brains of transgender women revealed that the structure of one of the areas in the brain most important to sexual behaviour more closely resembled the postmortem brains of cisgender women than those of cisgender men-it’s also important that these differences did not appear to be attributable to the influence of endogenous sex hormone fluctuations or hormone treatment in adulthood.

Maybe dysphoria is something that evolves organically and environmental factors don’t even come into it. Like I said, we don’t have the whole picture. What we DO know is that for some people, as soon as they become self-aware, that dysphoria is there, and the evidence for THAT, for there being common variations between the brains of cisgender individuals and transgender individuals, is overwhelming. You can be trapped in a body that does not correspond with how your brain functions, or how you wish to see yourself. Do individuals like J.K Rowling really believe it is ethical to reinforce the idea that we are defined by our sex and that our sex should decide the course of our lives, should decide how we are treated? That we should reduce people to genitals and chromosomes when our gender, the lens through which we see and interact with the world, could be completely different? Do they not see anything wrong with perpetuating the feelings of “otherness” and dysphoria in trans individuals that results from society’s refusal to see them as anything more than what body parts they have? In a collaboration between UCLA MA neuroscience student Jonathan Vanhoecke and Ivanka Savic at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, the statistics collected pointed to what trans activists have always been trying to get at-the areas of the brain responsible for our sense of our identity showed far more neural activity in the brains of trans individuals when they were looking at depictions of their body that had been changed to match their gender identity than when this wasn’t the case; when they saw themselves with a body that corresponded with their gender identity, when they were “valid” by society’s definition, they felt more themselves. When J.K Rowling tells trans people that their “real identity” is the sex they were born with, she is denying them this right to be themselves and due to her large platform, encouraging others to do the same. YOU are doing that, J.K. And who knows why? Where does your transphobia come from? Peel back the bullshit layers of waffle about feeling silenced and threatened, which you know you are directing at the wrong group of people, and admit it’s for less noble reasons. Taking the time to unlearn the instinct embedded into your generation to see people according to the cultural status quo of biological determinism is effort, I know-but you wrote a 700+ page book. I’m sure you can manage it. Or is it an ego thing? You don’t want to admit that you may have been uneducated on gender and sex in the past, and now have to stick by your reductive position so your image as an “intellectual” isn’t compromised. I don’t know. Only you do. But your position is irresponsible and dangerous either way. You can make up bullshit reasons as to why the link between trans individuals and the incidence of suicide attempts and completions isn’t relevant or representative of the struggle that trans people face due to the hatred that people like you propagate but it is there, and you J.K Rowling, someone who has spoken in the past about the horror of depression, should know better. You should know better than to CLAIM you know better than the experienced researchers who have found the same pattern time and time again-that the likelihood of trans individuals committing suicide is significantly higher than that of cis people. 

No, Rowling’s transphobia has never been as upfront as saying “I don’t believe transgender people exist” but she continues to imply that when she makes claims such as womanhood being defined by whether or not one experiences menstruation, and the completely subjective concept of whether an individual has faced sex-based violence from cisgender men. I’m sure she’d be out here taking chromosome proof cards like Oysters if it wasn’t for intersex individuals throwing her whole binary jam into a tailspin. Yep, there’s even suggestions that the binary biological model might not be so binary these days-just because two people have, say, XY chromosomes, does not mean that these chromosomes are genetically identical between individuals-the genes they carry can, and do, vary and so their actions and expressions of sex vary. 

Ideally, what TERFs want to do with their language of “real womanhood” is create an exclusive club that trans women are left out of when they too suffer under the same patriarchal society that those who are born female do. Yes, they might not experience ALL the issues a person born with female genitalia do, but no two women’s life experiences are the same anyway. Trans women also have their own horrible experiences with the patriarchy, and are often victims of a specific kind of gendered violence that is purported by the idea of “real womanhood”. Don’t throw trans sisters under the bus because you’re angry about your experience as a woman on this planet-direct your anger at the fucking bus. Don’t claim that “many trans people regret their decision to transition” when the statistics overwhelmingly show that this is the EXACT FUCKING OPPOSITE of the truth (according to British charity organisation Mermaids, surgical regret is proportionately very low amongst gender affirmation outpatients and research suggesting otherwise has been broadly disproven) because you’ve spoken to a selective group of trans individuals probably handpicked by the TERFS you associate with to confirm their biases, and then have the nerve to claim that trans-activists live in echo chambers on top of that. Don’t use anecdotes and one-off incidences where “trans women” (I say trans women in quotation marks because we’re pretty much talking about a completely statistically insignificant group of perverted cis men who have, according to TERFs, somehow come to the conclusion that going through transition will make their already easy-to-get-away-with hobby of assaulting women even...easier to get away with?) have committed sexual crimes to demonise and paint as predatory group who are largely at risk and in 99.9% of situations, the ones being preyed on. It’s a point so disgusting that trans activists shouldn’t even have to respond to it, but the idea that an individual would go to the pains of legally changing their gender and potentially the hell of the harassment that trans people face, the multiple year long NHS waiting lists to see specialist doctors,  just so that they can gain access to women only spaces is ridiculous. It’s worth noting here just how sinister you repeatedly bringing up this phantom threat of cis men becoming trans women in order to assault women in “women only” spaces is. The implication here is that they should use the toilet corresponding to the sex they were born as, right? Because it’s all about safety? Well, statistically speaking, far more trans women are abused whilst having to use men’s toilets than when they use women’s ones and the same goes for trans men, and yet you don’t mention it once. Your suggestion also puts people born female who identify as women but maybe do not dress or present in a typically feminine way at risk of being ostracised when THEY need to use the women’s bathroom. The idea that by ceasing to uphold values like yours we are putting women at risk is quite simply, unsubstantiated; the legislation to allow individuals to use the bathroom corresponding to whichever gender they legally identify as has been around since 2010 in the UK and yet we’ve yet to see the sudden spike in the number of women being assaulted in bathrooms you imply will exist if we create looser rules around gender identity and let people use whichever toilet they feel the need to. Similarly, in a study of US school districts, Media Matters found that 17 around the country with protections for trans people, which collectively cover more than 600,000 students, had no problems with harassment in bathrooms or locker rooms after implementing their policies. If cis men want to assault women, they will. They don’t need to pretend to be trans to do so. Don’t pretend to be speaking as a concerned ally of LGBTQ+ individuals when you’re ignoring the thoughts of the majority of individuals who come under that category.

(Just Some of the Trans Women Murdered for Being Trans Over the Last Couple of Years, L-R: Serena Valzquez, Riah Milton, Bee Love Slater, Naomi Hersi, Layla Pelaez, and Dominique Fells)

Trans women are not the threat here. Bigots like you are the threat. HOW DARE you use your platform to reinforce this rhetoric that gets trans people killed when there are so many much MUCH more important things going on right now. Two black trans women had been murdered just for being black trans women in the week you wrote your essay defending those initial tweets. This is an ongoing issue. As a cis woman, my opinion should read as sacred texts to you right, Joanne? Because I’ll say with my whole chest that I feel far more threatened by bigots like you who do not care for the harmful impact of their words than I do by trans women. I do not feel threatened by trans women AT ALL. And yeah, to me, unless they tell me otherwise that they like to go out their way to affirm their trans-ness (which I completely respect-it takes a lot of courage to be proud about your past in a world that condemns you for it), they’re just WOMEN like any other. Yes their experience of “womanhood” may be different to mine but no two individuals experiences are the same anyway and our gender related suffering has the same cause. As a rich, white, cis woman, it’s wild that you are painting yourself as the victim in this debate when trans people can face life in prison and in some places a death sentence for openly identifying with a gender different to their sex in a lot of countries. Nobody is saying that you can’t talk about cis women. Nobody is saying you can’t talk about lesbian issues either, though it’s a bit of a piss-take that you like to throw that whole trans women erase lesbian existence argument out there as a kind of trump card to say “look, I can’t be a transphobe, I’m an LGBTQ+ ally!”, an argument akin to the racist’s age old “I can’t be racist, I have black friends!”. You know from the responses you get to your transphobia that majority of the LGBTQ+ community are very much adamant that trans women are “real women” and that the same goes for trans men being “real men”, so don’t claim to speak for them. You cannot simultaneously care about LGBTQ+ rights and deny trans people their right to live as who they are, however veiled your sentiments around that may be. The whole gay rights movement of the 60s and 70s exist partially BECAUSE of black trans women such as Martha P Johnson if you didn’t know, and though it’s kinda common knowledge I’m doubting that you do because very little of what you tout is backed up by any kind of research. The articles you retweet, echoing the views of lesbians who also happen to be TERFs do not count-the idea that trans people existing simultaneously erases the existence of lesbians only applies to individuals such as yourself who don’t see trans women as women in the first place. That is the problem! Most people don’t have an issue with the fact that you may have a preference for certain genitalia, but I would argue that ignoring exceptional circumstances related to trauma or some other complex issue, relationships are supposed to be with the person as a whole, not their “organic” penis or vagina and it’s kind of insulting to anyone in a same sex relationship to reduce their bond to that.

Back to my point though, of course there are issues that cis women and lesbians face that need talking about, but trans people are affected by the same patriarchal system. You don’t need to go out of your way to mention that they’re not included in whichever given specific issue when there are also cis women who may not have experienced some of the things TERFs reference. You especially don’t need to act as if trans women are the reason we need to have these discussions in the first place. As I’ve said, as MANY women have said, repeatedly-they are NOT the threat here. It is disgusting to see someone I once had so much admiration for constantly punch down at a group that is already marginalised.  It’s 2020, J.K, there’s so much info out there. YOU’RE A FULLY GROWN WOMAN. There’s no justification. We get it, you had a tomboy phase. You weren’t like “other girls”. You didn’t like living under a patriarchal system. So you think you understand the mindset of people who want to transition. You think you’re not doing anything wrong by helping to slow the advancement of trans rights because well, you turned out fine? But you clearly fundamentally misunderstand what being trans is. It’s not about your likes and dislikes and having issues with the experience of being a woman (god knows we all do but I doubt anyone truly thinks for one moment that being trans would be any easier), it’s about how you think and feel at your core. It’s such a complex issue, and all the majority of trans people are asking you to do is LISTEN to them. You may be determined to live in binaries, yet the bigger picture is always more complex and fluid and it’s ever-changing, so all we can do is keep an open mind and keep wanting to know more and gather more evidence. If you’re capable of the mental gymnastics required to retcon the piece of work you wrote in the 90s to make it seem as if you were “ahead of the diversity game”, to the extent that you are now claiming Voldermort’s snake has always actually been a Korean woman and see nothing wrong with that when paired with the fact that the only Asian character you originally included was called Cho Chang, then well…I’m sure you can put your ego aside and do the groundwork to understand what trans people are trying to tell you too. You inspired a lot of children and teenagers and even adults, and got them through some very difficult times, taught that the strength of one’s character matters far more than what anyone thinks of you. You claimed you wanted to stand up for the outcasts.

Well, stand up for the outcasts. Now’s a better time than any. And once again: TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN AND TRANS MEN ARE MEN. They shouldn’t have to hear anything else.

Lauren x

[DISCLAIMER: shitty collages are mine but the background is not, let me know if you are aware of the artist so I can credit!]