It’s not transphobic to question though. Rowling does not have the power to make policy and she has the same right to question the status quo or to request specifics about proposed change as anyone. That’s not persecution. That is taking part in society.

I grant you, I’ve not read all her comments, but from what I’ve seen she’s not worried about Transwomen. She is worried about men using Transwomen inclusion in female spaces to harm women or escape justice from harming women.

It’s a valid question.

Personally, I find it weird that the whole thing even came up. I’ve shared public restrooms with Transwomen before. I never thought anything about it. You go in. You do your business. You wash your hands. You occasionally trade compliments or chit chat. No biggie. Frankly you can’t always tell, or maybe I just don’t pay that much attention.

On the flip side of that, I have always worried about men using chicanery to gain access. Any and all kinds. I’ve experienced that. Once, two teenage girls had ducked into a bathroom to escape some young men (young adults). They kept calling out to them, taunting. They didn’t know I was in there too. Then, they got into the janitors closet and put up the closed sign and tried to come in under the guise of maintenance. They met me, with my taser and my phone on speaker with 911. They ran. We made some calls to parents and had those underage girls escorted to safety. The police never showed. At least not within 30 minutes.

So, it’s not just about Transwomen, it’s a real thing. Rapists do this. They will use any lure. Any.

With rape and assault on the rise, it seems natural to want to discuss specifics and logistics of inclusion policy BEFORE you enact it. The discussion doesn’t mean you don’t want inclusion. It means you don’t want to be unintentionally harmed by it. That’s not phobia other than maybe rape phobia, it’s just common sense.

I’m aware of the studies citing assault by Transwomen but find them lacking, because it just wasn’t an issue until it was brought up publicly zand someone pretending may or may not be included in those statistics. Now that it may be policy, we have to acknowledge that it will become a tactic of predators. They know about it now. They’ll use it.

I gotta say too, I never really doubted the femininity of Transwomen before this either. I hate that I am, but there it is. These attacks undermine their own status as Transwomen because they’re not acting like women online. They’re acting like Incels and red pill misogynists. They’re hitting all those highlights, just like a real man. How can you really be a woman inside, with a ‘female’ brain, when your first go to when challenged is to threaten people with your dick? To silence? Hmm? How does that make sense?

I hope and pray that time will show that most of these comments are not coming from actual Transwomen, but men and trolls just pretending for political purposes. Right now? I just don’t know.