Did you know that JK Rowling’s and Harry Potter’s birthdays are coming up soon?
Many of us have felt heartened and grateful for JK Rowling’s recent contributions to the discussion around gender ideology. Rowling shares a birthday with her beloved literary progeny – July 31. Harry Potter fans will recall that the boy wizard receives his first Hogwarts’ acceptance letter a week before his 11th birthday. When his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon refuse to let him see the letter, more and more “letters from no one” begin to arrive, finally inundating his aunt and uncle.
The Hogwarts’ motto is Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus (Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon), but sometimes sleeping dragons do indeed need to be tickled. We thought we would show our support for Joanne on her birthday by sending “letters from no one” to The Guardian, the BBC, and The New York Times. All we are asking for is constructive dialogue in the mainstream media. Please download the letter, print it three times, and send it to the New York Times, the BBC, and the Guardian in time for it to arrive around July 31. Alternatively, you may copy the text (printed below) and paste it into an email. Or better yet, do both! You may feel free to sign it and give a brief description of yourself, or you may simply send without signing.
Once you’ve printed your letter, please take a picture of it and post the photo on social media using the hashtags #ItsNotHateToWantDebate and #HappyBirthdayJKR. Tag in the journalists and the outlets. And please help spread the word!
Let’s send as many letters to each of these media outlets as Hogwarts sent to Harry at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia’s house.
Looking forward to seeing you at Hogwarts!
For a downloadable PDF of the letter, click here.
To copy and paste the letter into an email, see the text of the letter below.
To the BBC, The Guardian and The New York Times:
We are writing to request that you widen your scope when reporting on gender diversity. A progressive society is characterised by a respect for thoughtful discussion and we hope that journalistic outlets of your stature could explore multiple perspectives on these important questions rather than stifling debate by covering only one side.
In her recent personal essay, J.K. Rowling outlined her concerns that extremist ideology was negatively impacting vulnerable groups. She highlighted several pressing aspects of this issue that have received scant coverage in the liberal media. The international reaction to Rowling’s essay demonstrated both the lack of public awareness about these issues and the urgent need for honest and respectful dialogue.
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry begins to receive numerous copies of his Hogwarts’ acceptance letter a week before his birthday on July 31 – which is also Rowling’s birthday. These letters marked a new beginning for the fictional boy wizard. We hope these letters that you are receiving will signal to you that there are many from across the political spectrum who wish to have a good-faith discussion about gender ideology and its impact on women, children, adolescents, and also on lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.
It is our hope that together we can help to usher in a new beginning where we can have important conversations that until now have been substantially ignored by the liberal mainstream media. Given our mutual desire to support gender non-conforming individuals, we believe that it is vitally important for leading media to cover these crucial and under-reported stories.
- The extraordinary growth in the number of adolescents with gender dysphoria
- The link between increasingly rigid gendered expectations and gender dysphoria in childhood
- The social pressures on lesbian, gay and bisexual youth to conform to sex role stereotypes and/or change their bodies
- The complex issues facing the growing number of detransitioners
- The potential impact the enshrinement of gender identity has upon sex-based rights, single-sex spaces, and sports for women and girls
After receiving his letters, Harry travelled to Hogwarts on September 1. We would like to follow up with you in early September to see how we might bring more nuance and depth to the current coverage about gender issues.
Hope to see you at Hogwarts!
#ItsNotHateToWantDebate #HappyBirthdayJKR
The Guardian
The Guardian
Kings Place
90 York Way
London, N1 9GU,
United Kingdom.
guardian.letters@theguardian.com
Twitter
@guardian
The New York Times
620 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10018
USA
letters@nytimes.com
Twitter
@NYTimes
BBC
BBC Broadcasting House
Portland Place
London, W1A 1AA
United Kingdom
haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
Twitter
@BBCNews
Thank you so much for providing this opportunity to appeal in a unified way to these major media outlets. I’m so grateful to JK Rowling for having the courage to speak out on the many ways that gender ideology negatively impacts society, particularly young people who don’t conform to gender stereotypes.
This letter campaign is an excellent way to get the attention of the outlets that studiously ignore these legitimate concerns. If enough of us participate in this campaign, it will become even harder for these outlets to dismiss us. I’ve got my letters printed out and ready to drop in the mail. Let’s inundate the mail rooms of the New York Times, the Guardian, and the BBC on July 31!
On this note (and I don’t mean to use this site for self-promotion, but rather to inform the radfem community of new work, b/c god knows there’s too little of it and it gets shut down so quickly), I’ll send review copies (you’re obligated merely to CONSIDER writing a review) of my new novel Gender Fraud: a fiction to anyone who sends me a request (ptittle7@gmail.com) (please specify epub, mobi, or pdf) (it’ll be available in print too, but probably not until later in the summers).
Here’s the blurb: I hope that ‘gender recognition’ legislation, which reveals a failure to differentiate between sex and gender and, with respect to sex, a denial of the definitive role of chromosomes, will soon be repealed. I fear that this horror story will take its place.
Thank you for telling me about this new work. I will write to you directly about this as I do want a copy, please.
In the USA, consider adding the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.
Also send one to the Associated Press:
The Associated Press
c/o Ron Nixon, Global Investigations Editor
1100 13th Street NW
Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005
I was just thinking the same thing about the Washington Post.
Do you have an e-mail address for Associated Press or Ron Nixon at AP? Thank you.
I can’t find an email but here is Ron Nixon’s Twitter (at least it looks like it’s his!) @ nixonron
For comments to the AP, there is this option…
https://www.ap.org/contact-us/contact-newsroom
Hope folks are still looking at this threat, and perhaps the moderators might find a way to boost this topic: The BBC has dropped Mermaids from its information and support pages, essentially withdrawing its endorsement of this group as a.trusted advisor on transgender identity issues for its viewers. Trans activists are bombarding the network with complaints in an effort to reverse the decision. It’s important for parents and others to apply counter- pressure. We know the catastrophic damage that Mermaids has done and continues to do to children. Whether you live in the UK or not, please. consider sending a. comment to the BBC. thanking them for. this thoughtful and correct decision. Link and further information below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/contact/comments-feedback
Topic: Transgender — thanks for dropping Mermaids
Here’s the.comment I sent:
Thank you for dropping Mermaids as a trusted advisor and information source on children and trans.issues I’ve looked into this group and believe they are a danger to children’s health and well being. Transgender Trend offers a balanced approach and centers child safeguarding good practice in their advice. 4th Wave Now is a wonderful support resource for parents. I would recommend listing these sites in place of Mermaids. For balanced, thoughtful expert commentary on this topic on your airwaves, I highly recommend Abigail Schrier and Sasha Ayad.
Another novel that might interest people is The ReGender App, by Jass Richards. Here’s the blurb from her website: “What if there was an app that could cloak you in a cross-gendered hologram? And it had a voice modulation module? Women could present as men and get better-paying jobs. Men could present as women and get groped in the subway. Cool.” Site says review copies available …
Is this site still active? Or is there another forum/site similar to this? A very concerned parent that just heard about this website from an article written last year. Hoping to get a response!
Thank you so much!
yes, we’re still here.
If anyone is active here I would like to ask a question.