J.K. Rowling on Trans Critics: ‘You Have to Mock Them’
JK Rowling #JKRowling
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling has once again attracted attention for her controversial stance on transgender women, this time saying she likes to “mock” her critics.
Rowling dismissed claims she had been canceled over her many public comments about trans issues while speaking to author Suzanne Moore in an interview on her blog, Letters from Suzanne.
She said that she could “take the hit,” given her high profile status, and gave it as the reason why she has spoken up on these matters
Moore said to Rowling in the interview: “That’s why it’s important that women like us stand up—people who can afford to take the hit. And yeah, that comes at a cost. We’ve both paid that cost, and we will both be told that we have been canceled. But you haven’t stopped speaking…”
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Rowling laughed and responded: “The only time I’ve ever made reference to being canceled, my book sales went up. Why am I even laughing? I can’t believe I’m saying these words. But you have to mock them. I do not consider myself canceled.”
One of Rowling’s first major controversies came in 2019 when she publicly supported Maya Forstater, a tax specialist in the United Kingdom who had been fired for tweets that were seen as transphobic.
The following year, Rowling was once again accused of transphobia when she criticized an op-ed piece over its use of the term “people who menstruate” rather than “women.” The term is used to refer to people from different gender identities who menstruate, including non-binary, trans men, and intersex people.
In the same year, she published a lengthy blog post on “Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues.”
Rowling has also been an outspoken opponent of Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill, which would simplify the process for people applying for legal gender recognition.
Some of the changes suggested in the bill include streamlining the process for legal gender recognition by changing the current evidence requirements “which can be barriers for trans people,” according to the Scottish government.
Another recommended change would give more power to the Registrar General for Scotland to assess applications rather than the U.K. tribunal known as the Gender Recognition Panel.
Rowling recently tweeted the internet “canceled” her when she showed support for singer Macy Gray, who made several controversial comments on the definition of a woman in July.
Rowling tweeted: “Endless death and rape threats, threats of loss of livelihood, employers targeted, physical harassment, family address posted online with picture of bomb-making manual aren’t ‘mean comments.'” She continued, “If you don’t yet understand what happens to women who stand up on this issue, back off.”
The Moore interview was not the first time Rowling addressed her critics.
Her new book, The Ink Black Heart, which was released in August featured a character who has been persecuted over their transphobic beliefs.
It was the sixth book in her crime thriller series Cormoran Strike, which she writes under the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith.
The story was about a YouTuber cartoon creator, Edie Ledwell, who was persecuted online after the cartoon is criticized for being racist, ableist and transphobic. After Ledwell is later found dead, private detective Cormoran Strike and his partner, Robin Ellacott attempt to track down the anonymous online persecutor.
But after many said the book drew comparisons with Rowling’s real life, the author said it had nothing to do with her own story.
“I should make it really clear after some of the things that have happened the last year that this is not depicting [that],” she told late-night host Graham Norton in August.
“I had written the book before certain things happened to me online,” she continued. “I said to my husband, ‘I think everyone is going to see this as a response to what happened to me,’ but it genuinely wasn’t. The first draft of the book was finished at the point certain things happened.”
The Ink Black Heart was officially released on Tuesday, August 30.
Update 12/12/22, 10:18 a.m. ET: This article was updated with more information and background.
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