Rowling suffered serious sexual assault in the past
JK ROWLING revealed last night she suffered a serious sexual assault as a young woman.
The Harry Potter author spoke out as she launched a blistering crusade against the dangers of transgender activism. She also told of suffering “domestic abuse” during her first marriage.
She opened up about the scars of her past as she declared “deep concerns” about the pressures young people face to transition to another gender. Rowling, 54, suggested she might have become a man “to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he’d have preferred” if subjected to similar pressures.
In an extraordinary and brave 3 669-word essay posted on her website, the author wrote about why she has become embroiled in a bitter row – on Twitter and elsewhere – with campaigners who seek greater rights for men and women who change gender.
Rowling railed against the harm she said was being done to society by activists from the “trans rights movement”. She said: “Huge numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans activists.”
She cited five reasons for speaking out, including revealing that in her twenties she was the victim of a sexual assault. And spoke of her “violent marriage” to Portuguese TV journalist Jorge Arantes.
Rowling, whose Potter books are the biggest-selling in history, said she had received countless death threats for talking about transgender issues, but vowed: “Endlessly unpleasant as its constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm.”
She did not identify the person responsible for the sex attack, but told her fans: “I too have known moments of blind fear when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the shaky self-restraint of my attacker.”
Rowling became embroiled in her spat with transgender activists on Saturday. Referring to an online article mentioning “people who menstruate”, she suggested this meant “women”, tweeting to her 14.5 million followers: “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” Her remarks led to a backlash from stars including Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter in the films, and Eddie Redmayne, who stars in Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts movies.
She answered critics in a detailed essay headed “JK Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues”.
It included the revelations about her past, which she said she had never talked about: “This isn’t because I’m ashamed those things happened to me, but because they’re traumatic to revisit and remember.”
She said she had not disclosed details before because she felt protective of her daughter Jessica, 17. “A short while ago, I asked her how she’d feel if I were publicly honest about that part of my life, and she encouraged me to go ahead.
“I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I’m now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be. The scars left by violence and sexual assault don’t disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you’ve made.”
She said the sexual assault from her twenties had returned to haunt her as the Twitter spat unfolded, saying: “I spent much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my head.”
Online trolls had abused her with hideous language. But she stressed: “I haven’t written this essay in the hope anybody will get out a violin for me. I’m concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition. The UK has experienced a 4400% increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment.”
Arantes was quoted in the past as saying they had split up after an argument when Jessica was a baby: “She refused to go without Jessica... there was a struggle. I had to drag her out of the house at five in the morning, and I slapped her very hard.” He could not be contacted for comment. | Daily Mail