Overview

#IStandWithMaya is a hashtag campaign in support Maya Forstater, a woman who was fired from her job after she tweeted "Smart people I admire… are tying themselves in knots to avoid saying the truth that men cannot change into women (because that might hurt mens feelings).’ The campaign drew widespread attention after Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling tweeted in support of Forstater, writing, "Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill." The tweet led many of her followers to express their disappointment that Rowling had apparently aligned herself with Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF) ideology.

Background

On December 19th, 2019, the Central London Employment Tribunal upheld the firing of Maya Forstater,^[1] who was let go from her position as a visiting fellow to the Centre for Global Development for tweeting anti-trans sentiments. These included, "What I am so surprised at is that smart people I admire, who are absolutely pro-science in other areas, and champion human rights & womens rights are tying themselves in knots to avoid saying the truth that men cannot change into women (because that might hurt mens feelings)."^[2]

Commenting on the case, Judge James Tayler stated Forstater's view was "incompatible with human dignity and fundamental rights of others… Even paying due regard to the qualified right to freedom of expression, people cannot expect to be protected if their core belief involves violating others’ dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for them.”

Developments

In response to the firing, Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling Rowling tweeted,^[3] "Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill."

Immediately after, the tweet was met with criticism by those who accused Rowling of supporting TERF ideology. Twitter^[4] user @notafootstool sent a series of tweets about her disappointment to read Rowling's statements as a trans person considering how important the Harry Potter books were to her as a child (shown below, left). User @MavenofMahem tweeted,^[5] "My daughter, who is trans, is a big fan of yours. It breaks my heart to see you post something indicating that discrimination against her is perfectly fine behaviour for an employee. The world’s most credible medical orgs affirm trans people. Please catch up."

Others made jokes about Rowling's behavior. User @_LJWR posted a joke saying Rowling was like noble Harry Potter character Professor McGonagall at the beginning of the decade, but is more like villainous character Professor Umbridge at the end of the decade,^[6] gaining over 640 retweets and 2,500 likes (shown below, left). User @gracepetrie posted a joke about Rowling using a picture of Baby Yoda, gaining over 480 retweets and 2,400 likes (shown below, right).

Search Interest

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External References