I Listened to “The Witch Trials of J. K. Rowling” So You Don’t Have To
The first two episodes of Megan Phelps-Roper’s podcast series on Rowling covered Rowling’s experience with domestic violence and the conservative Christian backlash to the Harry Potter books.
by Evan Urquhart
The first two episodes of “The Witch Trials of J. K. Rowling,” a podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper, saw their release today. The first focused on Rowling’s life leading up to the release of the first Harry Potter novel, particularly her experience with domestic violence at the hands of her first husband. The second episode focused on the original backlash to the Potter series, before the current controversy, which was by evangelical Christians who believed the books were demonic, and promoted witchcraft.
Phelps-Roper starts the interview by asking Rowling why people, especially children, are drawn to stories about magic and witches. Rowling says she believes it comes from human nature. “Magic gives a person agency they might not otherwise have. And I think that’s particularly appealing to a child, because children, inevitably, are quite powerless,” she says.
This insight feels true, and perhaps even more true for the series’ young transgender fans than any one else. While there’s a bit more awareness of transness now, meaning some young trans people can openly confide in their parents and be supported at a young age, many trans youth grow up wishing for magic that could change their sex. Parental rejection of trans identities, a common and devastating result these youth, sometimes even leads to abuse. Trans children therefore grow up frightened, unable to share their true selves, longing for magic and escape. Harry Potter speaks to this on such a profound level it feels inevitable that the series would have a great many young trans fans. And so it did.
Rowling goes on to speak about the death of her mother, after a long illness, when her mom was just 45. She talks about fleeing to Portugal in her grief, and about her first marriage, to a man who was physically violent, and also emotionally abusive and controlling, going through her handbag every evening and not allowing her to keep a key to her own house.
Domestic violence is awful, and trans people know that more than most. A meta-analysis found that trans people were significantly more likely to experience domestic violence than cis women were, and that this was true regardless of the trans person’s assigned sex at birth. Rowling has admirably remained invested in the issue, and has said she will fund a domestic violence shelter. Less admirably, she’s said the shelter will turn trans women victims away.
Rowling’s harrowing first marriage ended in a beating after she told her then-husband that she intended to leave. Badly bruised and having been thrown out on the street, she went to the police, who helped her extract her young daughter from her then-husband’s house. Help in a time of need is wonderful, and something I would not begrudge anyone. But I’d like to gently mention that trans people often feel they have to avoid official systems of help, including domestic violence shelters and police, because we know from long experience that there will be no help for us there.
The first episode of the series ends with a teaser for the next, using audio from evangelical Christian leaders condemning the Harry Potter books for promoting witchcraft. At least one of the quotes features a pastor condemning the acceptance of gay relationships as well.
Episode 2 focuses on the backlash to Rowling among conservative Christians. It features an interview with David Hogue, a Christian lawyer who fought on behalf of a school board that sought to restrict access to Harry Potter novels by placing the books in their school library behind a counter. Parental permission was required before children could check them out, and the school was subject to a lawsuit to put the books back in circulation for children to read. Although Hogue once believed in the case, his views have mellowed. He no longer believes the series promotes witchcraft, and he now thinks it’s a good thing his side of the case didn’t win.
There are also excerpts from a phone call between Phelps-Roper and the other lawyer in the case, Brian Medders. He explains that children have a right to read age-appropriate material in their school libraries, regardless of what their parents think. At one point, Phelps-Roper asks if his success in protecting access to Harry Potter will help protect access to books with LGBTQ+ themes today. Medders agrees, saying, "Part of the legacy of Harry Potter is that it's going to protect a lot of the LGBTQ books, that's right.”
Episode 2 ends with angry quotes from trans rights supporters, discussing the harm they believe Rowling has done. One in particular seems to be from someone who burned one of Rowling’s books, perhaps as a participant in a 2020 TikTok trend. As an ending, it runs parallel to the ending of episode one, which as you’ll remember featured angry quotes from conservative Christians. While we’ll have to wait for the episode to be sure, it’s hard to avoid the implication that the supporters of trans rights and the evangelical Christians are the same.
A few brief quotes from Rowling, near the end of episode 2, lend weight to this interpretation. She says, “You know, most of the people in movements that we consider hugely abhorrent, many, many of the people involved in those movements, understood themselves to be on the side of righteousness. I suppose for me, book burners, by definition, have placed themselves across a line. Across a line of rational debate.”
There’s a story, perhaps apocryphal, that has circulated in the trans community. It’s said that, before all the drama, before any “middle-aged moments” where Rowling liked a transphobic tweet, a trans fan (perhaps more than one) tweeted at Rowling to say how grateful they were for her work. They said they’d seen themselves, their trans experience, in the books, and wanted to tell Rowling how important her stories had been, as young trans people. The story goes that Rowling got very cold, and rebuffed them, saying, or perhaps just implying through her lack of warmth, that her stories should not be read that way.
I looked around, but I wasn’t able to nail down a source for that story. In truth, it may never have happened that neatly. But the tragedy of Rowling’s transphobia is that she attracted a young fandom who were particularly likely to be queer and trans, and they grew up absolutely idolizing a author who didn’t, perhaps couldn’t, ever love them back.
