J.K. Rowling raised controversy and allegations of transphobia on social media upon the release of her new novel’s serial-killer character, a man who dresses as a woman to stalk his victims, The Hill reported.
The criticism follows the “Harry Potter” author’s earlier remarks about the transgender community.
“Troubled Blood,” is to be published Tuesday as the fifth installment in the “Cormoran Strike” detective series, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, the soon to be released book prompted a backlash on social media, with the hashtag #RIPJKRowling trending on Twitter.
What a great way to illustrate social media these days.
Trending topic: #RIPJKRowling
Description underneath: No, JK Rowling is not dead pic.twitter.com/I5HqcWW2jK— The Darkest Timeline Numbersmuncher (@NumbersMuncher) September 14, 2020
In Harry Potter terms, JK Rowling has become Cornelius Fudge, unwilling to believe she’s been wrong all this time and doubling down on her transphobia. pic.twitter.com/vwQohwMErD
— Washington Post Universe Guy (@davejorgenson) September 14, 2020
JK Rowling: “If you don’t believe that men dressing as women in order to hurt them is a huge problem you leave me no choice but to prove my theory by making up a whole book about it.”
— Paul F. Tompkins (@PFTompkins) September 14, 2020
Rowling, 55, referred to as a “TERF,” or a trans-exclusionary radical feminist by her critics was accused last year of making transphobic comments when she tweeted her support for a researcher who opposed government reform that would make it easier for trans people to change their legal sex. In June the author mocked an opinion piece that referred to “people who menstruate.”
“I’m concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility,” she wrote.
“All I’m asking — all I want — is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse,” Rowling said.