JK Rowling victim of death threats because of his opinions on transsexuality

The criticisms, the disavowals and now the threats to attempt his life. This Monday, November 22, JK Rowling, the creator of the Harry Potter saga explained, in a long thread (thread) on Twitter, that she received many death threats in recent days. To the point that she could even "line the house with it", she quips. According to her, three transgender rights activists, Holly Stars, Georgia Frost and Richard Energy "photographed themselves outside (her) house" in Edinburgh, Scotland, the previous week. On the photo, widely distributed on social networks, we can see his address.

Activists are reportedly seeking to 'intimidate her and prevent her from advocating for women's rights based on biological sex', she claims, thanking Police Scotland who are currently carrying out the investigation and internet users who reported the photo on Twitter.

This staging and this photograph constitute yet another twist in a long battle. For years, the writer has been vilified because of his positions on transsexuality, which has become a sensitive subject in Anglo-Saxon countries. Back to the chronology of events.

2018: the “accidental” like on a tweet

JK Rowling began to become the target of activists in March 2018, because of a simple like, a "like", under the tweet of a woman named Rachel. The latter spoke of the difficulties endured by women in the British Parliament. In her post, she claimed that she had never really been supported as a woman, unlike "men in dresses", in other words transgender women. At the time, the writer's spokesperson tried to make up for it by pleading for the "accidental like." In vain.

Internet users are starting to complain about JK Rowling. On Twitter, there are also old tweets such as: "Knowing that you do not consider trans women as women is not only discouraging, but it ruins one of the few series in which I was really into when I was a child. »

2019: support for researcher Maya Forstater

JK Rowling does not intend to be impressed. She continues to recall the existence of the binary of the sexes as well as the biological specificities of women, whom she considers invisible. In 2019, the fifty-year-old is attacked again, because of her support for Maya Forstater. The latter previously worked as a researcher for the Research Center for Global Development, an organization fighting against precariousness. That year, she lost her job because, according to her, of her positions on transidentity.

The former employee notably refused to use the impersonal first names desired by transgender people. She also believed that “trans women are men”. JK Rowling then split a supportive tweet: “Dress as you see fit. Call yourself what you want. Sleep with any consenting adult who has you. Live your best life in peace and security. But forcing women out of their jobs for saying sex is real? ". This had earned him, again, severe criticism.

2020: women, not menstruating people

In June 2020, again. The expression "menstruating people", which we sometimes see dawning in the militant universe to designate cisgender women - whose gender corresponds to the gender assigned at birth - appears in an article by Devex, a media platform intended for the community. development world. “I'm sure we had to have a word for these people. Someone help me. Women? Do we? Fimmes? asks, in a falsely ingenuous tone, JK Rowling. She immediately publishes a long post on her blog where she specifies that “if sex is not a reality, then what women around the world really experience is erased”.

For their part, some Harry Potter actors dissociate themselves from the author, starting with Daniel Radcliffe, who played the hero of the saga. "To anyone whose experience of the books has been tarnished, I'm sorry for the pain these words have caused you," he said, following the infamous June 2020 tweet. Emma Watson, who played the character of Hermione Granger, judges that "transgender people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or being told that they are not who they say they are".

On the other hand, Robbie Coltrane, interpreter of the role of Hagrid, defended the writer on September 15, 2020 on Radio Times: “I don't think what she said was really offensive. I don't know why, but there's a whole generation of people on Twitter who are just waiting to be offended. That same day, JK Rowling's new book, Troubled Blood, about a transvestite killer, earned her another round of green wood.

2022: excluded from a special program on Harry Potter?

The author could even end up excluded from projects concerning her famous series of books on the little wizard. On January 1, 2022, a special program will be released to celebrate the twenty years of the film Harry Potter at the Sorcerer's Stone. The actors must, on this occasion, share their memories and their anecdotes.

But JK Rowling is missing in the casting of the personalities supposed to intervene. However, according to the Daily Mail, the accusations of transphobia that continue to rain down on the writer are not unrelated to this absence…

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