“But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?”
JK Rowling been accused of being a TERF (trans exclusionary radical feminist) after jumping to the defence of Maya Forstater.
Forstater is a researcher who lost her job after tweeting that transgender women cannot change their biological sex, in reaction to proposals of the Gender Recognition Act which would allow people to identify as the opposite sex.
Earlier today, the Harry Potter author – who hasn’t tweeted since September – wrote on her account: “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?”
Rowling then ended her post with the following hashtags: #IStandWithMaya and #ThisIsNotADrill.
Her comments were met with widespread backlash from Harry Potter fans and the trans community for using her platform and social media account, which has over 14 million followers, to voice transphobic views.
One heartbroken fan wrote: “I grew up as a trans child reading your books as an escape. I would often pick out names from characters to give to myself, before I ever felt comfortable in who I was.
“This decision, to support people that hate me, and want to do me harm. It brings me to tears… Why. Why? When I was little, my dream was to one day ask you how people like me would have been accomodated for in hogwarts.
“I’m afraid that my dreams might have been crushed if I ever got that chance.”
LGBTQ advocate and trans-inclusive feminist Amanda Jette Knox told Rowling to “catch up” with the times due to the fact that the world’s most credible medical organisations have affirmed the existence of transgender people.
“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,” she added.
Many people on Twitter called Rowling a TERF and said “she belongs with the Death Eaters”.
“Oh look, a terf. We’ve known for a while tbf but it’s nice that you’ve finally come out and said it,” said a former fan, while another wrote: “Going full TERF, I see. At least you finally took off that mask for all to see.”
Rowling’s transphobic views initially came to light last year when fans noticed that she was following a proud transphobe on Twitter. She was also criticised in 2018 when someone discovered she liked a tweet that said trans women are “men in dresses”.
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