For those unaware, ContraPoints is a very popular Leftist youtuber who mostly makes videos regarding trans and non-binary people and political activism more broadly (though she has made a particularly weak video about MRAs). Today she released a nearly 2 hour video titled The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling | ContraPoints. I've watched all of her videos so many times that I have them mostly memorized. I generally like Natalie (the creator), but I'm by no means politically aligned with her. She doesn't video's about feminism specifically, but often talks about feminism, and the result is that when she does talk about feminism it's in the context of supporting other arguments, and the audience often has to be assumed to agree with feminist concepts in order to follow along with the rest of her arguments.
So this new video was about JK Rowling and transphobia. I'm sure we all know how these conversations go. Almost always, men are the collateral damage as both sides take swings at each other. This video is no different. Spoiler alert, the conclusion Natalie arrives at by the end of the video is that the problem is patriarchy and violent men. If you want to watch her conclusion without sitting through 2 whole hours, skip to 1:47:20. This is where she really drives the point home, but she lays the groundwork throughout the entire video. Now the video was only released mere hours ago, not long enough to watch it more than once, so my thoughts will evolve on it as I comb through it. But I'm sharing my initial thoughts in the comments of this thread, if you haven't watched the video and can't be bothered, here's a rough summary:
She begins by talking about Anita Bryant, a woman who was an activist against gay rights. Natalie spends the first chunk of the video explaining all the terrible harm that Anita caused to gays and lesbians in the 70s, and her thesis is essentially that the gay rights movement was justified in their treatment of Anita, which involved protests, harsh language, including calling her a "bi***" and a "wh***," and even throwing a pie in her face. However, Natalie does make a point of mentioning that some lesbian feminists objected to how gay men reacted with "misogyny" by calling her such slurs as "bi***" and "wh***." Natalie also discusses how if she were to play devils advocate, Anita has a tragic backstory of having been abandoned by her father.
She then goes on to compare Anita Bryant to JK Rowling. She points to similarities in their tactics, how they claim to be motivated by "valid concerns," all while revealing that they are really motivated by bigotry. The driving argument by Natalie is that the backlash against these figures isn't a witch hunt, but a legitimate fight for human rights. Natalie argues that civil rights groups have never been successful by being peaceful, even using feminism as an example. She does talk about how many of the suffragettes were legitimate terrorists and murderers, and while Natalie doesn't condone terrorism she also doesn't bring this up to condemn feminism.
Near the end, Natalie suggests that though TERFs started as a Left wing phenomenon, it was naturally adopted by the right. She repeatedly quotes from Andrea Dworkin from her book about right wing women. The book had been about the likes of Phyllis Schlafly and Anita Bryant(?), though Natalie also uses it to analyze JK Rowling. Dworkin argues that the Right promises women security. Security against being rendered meaningless by homosexuality (which deprives women of their singular value as child bearers) and against trans people (who erase women's unique identity).
Natalie then refers to a twitter thread by Maya Forstater (a TERF friend of JK Rowling) who's "valid concerns" about trans people include an admittedly hilarious meltdown over a library adopting a genderless alien as its mascot. Maya insists that it is erasing women, who have to go through the crushing responsibility of raising children, upending their lives. At this point Natalie actually agrees that Maya does have very valid concerns, namely why her husband had no involvement in raising their newborn kids.
These women are victimized by men and manipulated by men. Back to quoting Andrea Dworkin, the right takes advantage of women's fear of male violence and promises women safety. Women fear and resent male violence, which they are most likely to experience from their male loved ones. But since women live in this male dominated world, they can't fight against men, so they redirect at trans people.
Again quoting from Dworkin, women direct their hatred and contempt to outside forces so that they will not murder their fathers, brothers, sons, and intimate partners, who actually hurt them.
In concluding, Natalie argues that movements always need a devil to unify against, and that there's a misogynistic tendency for movements, left and right, to hate female devils, including Anita Bryant, Hillary Clinton, Marie Antionette, AOC, or JK Rowling. But JK Rowling is not the ultimate transphobe, the final boss. The final boss is the Republican Party and Patriarchy. The right wing men like Trump, DeSantis, and Michael Knowles are the real threats, and JK Rowling and Anita Bryant are but useful idiots.
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