Harry Potter writer JK Rowling (55) is again under fire for transphobia. In the book Troubled blood, which Rowling wrote under her pen name Robert Galbraith, the villain on duty is a man who dresses up as a woman while committing crimes.
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The book in question is about two private investigators who reopen a 1974 case. They turn out to be a serial killer on the trail. The fact that the killer feels the urge to put on women’s clothes while committing his crimes is infuriating to many readers. The character can be harmful to the transgender community, which in real life is often itself a victim of violence.
To the reviewer of the Daily Telegraph the conclusion was ‘that you should never trust a man in women’s clothes’. The Guardian wrote that women’s clothes were just a lure, The Telegraph used the word transvestite, JK Rowling himself never wrote that word.
Still, Rowling receives a lot of criticism. That is not the first time. The accusation that the writer is transphobic is partly a result of a tweet she wrote in June. Then she lashed out at an article that wrote about ‘people who menstruate’. She thought that people should write about women, while there are also trans men who menstruate. She then received a lot of criticism and published an essay in which she explains that she was a victim of sexual and domestic violence.
Rowling herself strongly denies that she hates transgender people, but she sticks to her position.
‘If you erase the concept of biological sex determination, it means that many people can no longer discuss part of their lives. It’s not hate to tell the truth, ‘JK Rowling wrote on Twitter.
Still, her statements and lyrics are under scrutiny, and the hashtag #RIPJKRowling is trending on Twitter. The fans of the writer, who grew up with Harry Potter, no longer understand her and no longer want to support the author. Rowling herself has not yet commented on the controversy.
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