Did Judy Blume Just Out Herself as a TERF? It’s Complicated

They say blood is thicker than water, but what’s even thicker than blood? Apparently, being in the rare and sacred sisterhood of highly successful children’s book authors.

Yesterday, in a very surprising and heartbreaking turn, The Times published an interview with the legendary author of “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” with the leading headline: “Judy Blume: I’m Behind JK Rowling 100 Per Cent.”

Now let’s take a step back, because as damning as this quote sounds, it’s entirely possible that it was taken out of context. The UK paper has been a famous forum in recent years for TERF-y op-eds, so we wouldn’t put it past them to twist Blume’s words into something they weren’t meant to be.

That said…it’s not looking great for the children’s book author who just last year spoke out against anti-LGBTQ+ book bans in America.

Related:

Twitter is Fighting Back Against Texas’s Book Bans By Sharing Judy Blume Stories

Are you there God? Because everyone’s being real stupid down here.

The fact that the Times story is behind a paywall means that most readers won’t get the full story until it’s too late.

Having read a paywall-free version of the article, I can confirm that Blume’s words were definitely taken out of context. She doesn’t address trans rights or trans issues, and the “agreement” specified is around online harassment. Blume explains that she’s 100% against book bans and loves Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer,” also known as the most banned book in the US.

That being said, it’s still not fantastic.

And people are, quite understandably, having big feelings about it.

UPDATE: Judy Blume has responded and (thankfully!) made it known that she is 100% on our side.