Wow, I’ve gotten pretty much unprecedented feedback about my latest comic, so I thought I’d take a pretty much unprecedented step and share some commentary that was exclusive to the Inner Hive.
A link to the comic, “The New Epic Tale of Fantasy from the Mind of J.K. Rowling,” is here.
Before the comic was published, when I sent it out to members of the Inner Hive, who get each week’s comic a day early, I wrote the below among the other commentary and extra comics, etc.. This is before literally anyone had seen the comic, except for my editor at Andrews McMeel.
Well, I have to admit I have mixed feelings about this week’s comic.
I do like it, but when I thought of it, I kind of felt bad going after J.K. Rowling. I’ve had enormous admiration for her accomplishment, and before she became outspoken about trans issues, I had great respect for her personally.
Also, I’m not really sure about her full views on trans rights. She’s said contradictory things, and from what I’ve seen, she’s mostly attacked straw-man positions. And then she pays lip service to supporting trans people.
So I’ve sat on this comic since February. And I never sit on comics. What you see each week is what I wrote the previous week. Or, rarely, the week before that.
But I decided to go with it because I do think that overall, it is fair. Her position on outsiders and outcasts in the case of trans people is in contradiction of the position she (mostly) takes allegorically in the Harry Potter books. …
I guess I just feel a lot more comfortable satirically taking on politicians than artists.
First of all, I’ve gotten feedback both that has agreed with my take and disagreed with my take. But everyone (so far!) who has disagreed has done so politely and respectfully, and I really appreciate that.
I don’t particularly like writing about my comics, and I hate defending them, but when good people, and devoted readers, express misgivings, I feel that I should honor that by explaining my perspective.
Some people have said I got the facts wrong. But when you look at the comic, I don’t see how that’s even possible. I barely even cite any facts. I satirically imply that her position is that if some trans people act in certain, unspecified ways (part of “becoming their true and very best selves”), that harms biological women.
I won’t go into all the things she’s said and written and liked on Twitter, etc. etc. Full rundowns are here and here. But it’s clear she’s taken a position that at least some trans rights are contrary to biological women’s rights and can be harmful to biological women. She’s also a skeptic about some uses of hormone therapy and surgery for trans people.
She’s very deliberately become an outspoken public figure on this issue, and so I believe she fair game for satire.
So she said how she feels, and I took the opportunity to parody her famous books to make a philosophical juxtaposition to her stance. That’s how discourse is supposed to go.
I don’t present her side of the story in the comic, and explain all the nuances of the debate. I don’t even present my full views on all these issues (as if I even know them). Satire is a blunt instrument.
I didn’t say she hates trans people. I didn’t say I think she wants them all to disappear (just have less rights than some would say, thus metaphorically go “back in the closet”). I didn’t cancel her. I didn’t harm her. She’s a very rich and very powerful woman. In fact, I think one of the worst things I’ve read that she’s done in this whole affair was threaten to sue or sue someone on Twitter who criticized her (as having views that aligned with Nazis) to get them to capitulate to her.
Nevertheless, my admiration for what she did with Harry Potter knows no bounds. I regard the books and the sensation they created as one of the great achievements in art of all time. And there’s no way she could have written those stories if she didn’t have a good heart.
But trans rights is a difficult and emotional issue, one I find myself grappling with myself. I understand the great differences of opinion good people can have on the issue, and try to recognize and respect that. There’s certainly a generational divide.
On this issue, young people seem to sympathize with and stand up for the group that has been most outcast, misunderstood, and even reviled by mainstream, “normal” society. Maybe they were partially taught to do so by some books about wizards they read when they were growing up…