The Day JK Rowling Changed Everything

In this video we go back in time and look at the tweet from JK Rowling that redefined the trans identity debate and introduced many new people to it.

Playlist mentioned in this video:

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00:00 Changing Everything
03:33 Jo's Journey
06:26 Great (Wo)Man Theory
12:25 Moving Forward
17:30 Conclusion

[ponny]

When Rowling put out that tweet it felt like a light in the darkness. Finally, someone mainstream, well-known, and not conservative was speaking about the issue trans ideology. I think eventually truth will win out even if JKR had not taken her public stance, but it would have been a much slower journey there. It’s crazy it’s been 5 years since then.

[soulfoodie]

Thank you for mentioning Magdalen Berns and her impact on Rowling 's awakening on this issue.

[udonge]

even when i was a TRA i thought the JKR shit was so overblown and that she didn’t say anything that bad. i was like why is vaush even making a 2 hour video on this.

[NotOrdinaryInGames]

I remember when the Harry Potter books taught me how
>sometimes conspiracy nuts are correct
>your family and friends come first
>your government can be corrupt, and often is

[richalderson]

Rowling used to be the ultimate total lefty who stood for all the "right" things. So this tweet said volumes about the where the left really stood about women's rights.

[rm]

I myself am surprised the "normies" let the activists do this to Rowling. The average person most likely would align with J.K.'s views, and the Gen X/Millennials driving a lot of the cultural pressure most likely read and loved her work. I'm late Gen X and almost everyone in my closer circle, back when the books were releasing, loved them. So why did most of us stayed essentially silent as one of the greatest writers of our era got cancelled for having an opinion?
Those people who are yelling @ J.K. are a small, loud and angry minority. We vastly outnumber them. Call out people trying to cancel others for exercing their free speech. Let everyone know you don't stand with this censor bullshit. This has already gone way beyond the limit of acceptable.

[KaiDecadence]

JK Rowling's tweet was a big part of why I came out vocally about my gender critical views. I was already supporting Maya Forstater but I was still hesitant on whether I should come out with my views publicly and then JK Rowling released that tweet and I saw the overwhelming backlash she received, I just couldn't take it anymore and I had to come out and try to speak sense to those I personally knew who were demonizing her & Maya Forstater. In the end, I did lose all my friends and got banned from groups I was really active in which has definitely affected my personal life (It's a lot quieter now and has been for 4-5 years) but I have no regrets and I appreciate that JK Rowling did not fold or roll over for the TRAs who antagonized her and continue to still drag her name through the mud today. The essay she did was amazing and not hateful at all, and I agree with you that it's nice to see how much she has stood her ground because it really would've sucked if she kowtowed. Someone like her, a very prominent and influential person in the modern day is just so helpful to have on the side of reality because she's untouchable.

I was not a huge fan of Harry Potter neither, I liked the first 3 movies (and only read the first book as a kid lol)so I was not some big JK Rowling fan at all but despite that, that doesn't mean I can't give credit where credit is due and salute her courage. Makes me all the more annoyed at Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint for antagonizing her when they would know her more than anyone else as they worked with her and saw that she really was not hateful, bunch of ungrateful ignoramuses and when they hit peak trans (if ever), they will owe her a huge apology. I know we don't know JK Rowling but if she really was awful, we would've heard something by now.

And this is not to say that all the other brave women who have spoken out against trans ideology don't matter, they absolutely do but it's also nice to have a revolutionary woman of the 21st century who is world renown on our side as well in this push back for societal sanity.

[AVRGWIBWTHACN]

JKR was correct and I stand on that ten toes down

[HarriedPedestrian]

I’ve said before and I’ll say again that JKR predicted her future when she wrote HP OotP - Harry spends the entire book doubling down (increasingly angrily) on the fact that Voldy was back. Very few actually believed him, and he was called all sorts of horrid names, and the media and government were firmly against him, which persuaded most people to be against him too. The beloved boy who lived became one of the most despised people for a while. But eventually, everyone found out that he was right. Anyways, I love OotP, and I love JKR.

[twocanplay]

I will forever be thankful to JKR for opening my eyes to this issue. It started my journey of being a more informed person all around.

[pinxelated]

I think you could say similar things about the first detransitioners talking about this issue. I was forced to actually take a stance on this once I read their stories, which shattered the narrative of transition so thoroughly that I had to change my views.

The fact that Rowling helps put their stories out there would no doubt help this reach so many more people like me. (Also, detransitioning as a subject could make for an interesting video)

[pathacker]

With Harry Potter people actually read the books and love them. That’s huge. You have to think for yourself to be able to read.

Totally agree with her. You have to speak the truth, not be the next “good German”.

[grayrim]

I think we’re making great progress but it almost feels like it would take an act of God to expunge this nonsense from the government and institutions

[grace-xbve]

My favourite history teacher used to have as her motto for her classes, "History is the story of people who made decisions who could have chosen otherwise." I honestly don't think that the GC movement would be where it is today, at least in the UK, if not for Rowling. Maybe eventually something else could have brought people around, but I don't think we'd be sitting here in late 2024 with the momentum turning in our direction if not for her truly heroic actions here. Thanks for making this retrospective. I almost forgot we were coming up on 5 years.

[WiktoriaMartaKrawczyk]

I personally hate how binary this debate has become: you have to be either a TRA supporter, or a GC person. It reinforces the view that you have to accept certain beliefs as a package so whenever some of them seem great to you, the others must quickly follow. It is like Richard Dawkins insisting that accepting the truth of evolution inherently leads people to atheism. This position does NOT encourage Protestant and Catholic evolution deniers to embrace evolution. It actually DISCOURAGES them from sciency stuff ALTOGETHER since losing their faith in God is presented as an obvious and inevitable part of that. I object to steri****ng kids in the name of TRA and unfairness being allowed in female-only sports but I am not GC myself. I am still a supporter of my male-to-female friend who is an adult transitioner (as long as she doesn't cheat in sports, ofc, but it is not something she - and most trans people - considers). I believe that making this 'debate' binary discourages people who support their ADULT friends and family members who happen to be transitioners from accepting that putting kids on a path to ste****ty etc. is wrong. You are basically presenting them two 'packages': 1. You have to embrace TRA entirely. 2. You have to embrace GC entirely. If they have strong reasons to support at least some parts of the TRA position, like having a trans person they care about, they won't abanadon them and telling them that it's inevitable if they want to object to problems caused by TRA will likely just discourage them from noticing these issues. We need more centrist voices, such as those of Blaire White, Buck Angel etc. to 'peak' normies.

[littlemissprickles]

Wow so it's already been 4 years since i lost my old friends from high school for supporting JKR's freedom of speech and independent thought. I don't miss them.

[tylerfortniteninjablevins]

i thinnk people should just stop looking at what they believe as left or right but just i believe this because i believe it not because im politically this way
you feel me?

[jamessorrel]

I'm progressive and gender critical

[LinDrake-lx]

I've met people who openly criticized JK Rowling for virtue signalling and they were all awful people.

[Toastie]

Thank you! I hate the “why does she care??? She’s a billionaire and should be enjoying life!!!” argument when they don’t realise how unbelievably selfish that sounds. They could use that argument about any cause any rich person cares about. Or even a cause they care about. A lot of them care about Palestine when that’s not personally effecting them in the slightest.