JK Rowling’s Loved Ones Urged Her to Keep Trans Views Private and her claims that trans women “are not women
The famous British author, best known for the Harry Potter book series, shared details of personal experience where her friends and family demanded her not to share her opinions regarding trans women. Nevertheless, they have continued appealing to her, and Rowling has been quite forthcoming in saying that the UK’s trans women are not women, indeed prompting several controversies.
Discussing her personal experience, Rowling described her early tendencies to remain silent as provided in the excerpt of the essay from the new book The Women Who Wouldn’t Say, Wheesht published in The Times.
The victims recounting their ordeal while in the hands of their perpetrators include accounts where some of the persons close to the victims, which could be friends or family members, pleaded with the survivor not to speak out about such pain. “That is why I observed as women with something to lose stood up, in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK, to fight for their rights, and my shame that I was not marching beside them settled into my bones as a constant pang somewhere between guilt and grief.
It comprises over 30 essays and pictures by Scottish women who claim to be the leaders of the battle for women’s liberation. It also contains articles from critics of the Scottish government’s plan to include RW in the gender self-identification reform, who claimed that the mentioned plans jeopardise women’s security.
In her reaction to transgender issues, Rowling came to the limelight in December 2019 when she supported researcher Maya Forstater. Forstater was a researcher for the Centre for Global Development, but she was fired after arguing against the government’s policy on transgender, which entitles citizens to choose their gender.
Rowling has continued to attract controversy up to June 2020 when she criticised the use of the phrase people who menstruate in a bid to include transgenders and non-binary individuals.
‘‘People who menstruate‘‘ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone helps me out, Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” Rowling tweeted, and this caused a lot of outrage among fans in the public that labelled Rowling as a TERF-Trans exclusionary radical feminist, although Rowling denied this.
After her first speech, Rowling published an essay titled “TERF Wars”, from which she gave five reasons why she is frightened by the new wave of trans activism. The essay gave way to more criticism from LGBT+ organisations such as GLAAD, and Rowling’s opinions are conformable with those “organisations and movements that willfully distort facts about gender identity and people who are trans. ”
In response to Rowling’s comments, other personalities in the Harry Potter series, including stars like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, recanted their views. Radcliffe said in a statement made to The Trevor Project, “Transgender women are women… Any statement to the contrary wipes out the identity and the worth of transgender people and contradicts all the advice that the professionals related to healthcare have given to Jo, me or anyone else. ”
However, Rowling has often been accused of transphobia, too, which she has vehemently dismissed claims. But she has also declared that she would instead go to jail rather than use the favoured pronouns of a trans person, making her a polarising figure on the matter even more.
Her recent public campaign on the rights of boys has remained very sensitive and unpopular to this extent; that is either highly supported or highly condemned. Due to these issues, the abuse and control of women, it is vital for more attention to be paid to the discussion of the rights of transgender in today’s society.
