Rowling’s tormentors haven’t a scintilla of her courage
HaRRy PoTTeR has spread magic all over the world for two decades, but i never fell under his spell. i haven’t finished even one of JK Rowling’s books, haven’t been able to get past the first ten minutes of any of her movies, nor do i share any of her leftist political views. and yet, her latest courageous intervention in the transgender debate this week has me rooting for her body and soul.
it started when JK took issue with an online article which talked of ‘people who menstruate’, so as not to offend men who identify as women.
‘i’m sure there used to be a word for those people. someone help me out,’ she said. ‘Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?’.
a clumsy response, perhaps, but one that millions will identify with — and yet it provoked such a backlash that she felt the need to respond to her critics with a nuanced essay setting out her concerns about the aggression of transgender activists.
she’s worried about men being able to self-identify as women, then use spaces women regard as safe, such as female changing rooms and toilets.
she’s worried about the soaring number of young women wishing to transition. To back her arguments, she delved deep into her personal life, revealing how she had been sexually assaulted in her 20s, and telling of her violent first marriage.
she did this for no reason other than her passion about the issue. With her £750 million fortune, she certainly didn’t need the publicity. With 14.5 million Twitter followers, she knew that vile abuse and death threats would rain down on her.
and, yet, she still went ahead because she wanted to make a stand. and that is why i so admire her.
of course, we should all respect transgender rights and recognise that some people are deeply unhappy with their birth sex, and i am sure she would agree. But wherever you stand on the transgender debate, JK has every right to express her views.
By doing so she has shown far more courage than those quisling ingrates, the Potter child stars emma Watson (Hermione), daniel Radcliffe (Harry) and Bonnie Wright (ginny), all of whom condemned the woman who made them multi-millionaires.
even worse is the school in West sussex which decided that JK — who has given hundreds of millions of pounds to charity — is ‘no longer an appropriate role model’ and dropped its plan to name one of its houses after her.
For that pusillanimous decision, The Weald school deserves the curse of voldemort — for eternity.