Transphobic Trolls Claim Daniel Radcliffe’s Girlfriend Is Trans… Even Though She’s Pregnant
Transphobic social media users have posted hundreds of comments suggesting that Daniel Radcliffe’s girlfriend is a trans woman… even though she is pregnant with the couple’s first child. The Marvellous Mrs Maisel actor, Erin Darke, became the subject of an online attack after trans-exclusionary trolling falsely insinuated that she is a closeted transgender woman.
“Gender-critical” author Suzanne Seddon posted a photo of Erin with Daniel with the caption: “This is Daniel Radcliffe’s (Harry Potter) Girlfriend. Now what do you see?” followed by the woozy face emoji. Activists have argued that her tweet seems to suggest that, due to Erin’s height and her facial features, she is a transgender woman.
The trans-exclusionary comments inflamed the issue, with anti-trans users writing that “it’s a bloke” and others saying she “definitely leaves the toilet seat up”. “At least he won’t have to worry about his ‘girlfriend’ getting pregnant,” another wrote.
In fact, not only is Erin cisgender, but she and the Harry Potter star announced in an interview with People Magazine in March that she is currently pregnant with their first child.
Pro-trans individuals responded by criticising those pushing the theory for essentially welcoming patriarchal beauty standards for women while adding that, even if Erin was transgender, there is no issue with their relationship. Unless, of course, you’re transphobic.
Gender equality campaigner Gina Martin said that it “brilliantly demonstrates” that transphobia is as misogynistic as it is discriminatory. “It’s all about unattainable and oppressive standards and actually has nothing to do with trans women at all,” she wrote on Twitter. Others agreed, with one user saying that “the best thing [I’ve] ever heard about this is ‘TERFs define women the way men define women’. I’ve never been able to see it differently since,” they continued.
Daniel Radcliffe has been a vocal advocate for trans rights and has received praise for a recent video series he produced with LGBTQIA+ suicide prevention charity, The Trevor Project, called Sharing Space. In the first episode, Radcliffe hosted a discussion panel with trans young people in an attempt to prove they aren’t confused or pressured into their identities.
“We listen to so many people talk about trans youth and hear them talked about so often in the news,” Radcliffe said. “Very rarely do we actually hear from these youth directly.”
