JK in storm over killer character who dressed as a woman
HER recent comments on gender prompted an almighty backlash and divided opinion.
And now JK Rowling has sparked a fresh row due to the inclusion in her latest book of a murderous character who once dressed in women’s clothing to catch a victim.
The Harry Potter author, 55, found herself on the receiving end of more social media threats on Monday, before Troubled Blood had even hit the shelves.
Most of her detractors seemingly had not read the book and were basing their outrage on a Sunday Telegraph review.
The review described the ‘meat of the book’ as the investigation into ‘Dennis Creed, a transvestite serial killer’.
‘One wonders what critics of Rowling’s stance on trans issues will make of a book whose moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress,’ the review added.
Critics lambasted the novel’s content as ‘pathetic’ and adhering to ‘deeply harmful tropes’ about the transgender community.
The character in the book, which was written under the pen name Robert Galbraith, does not identify as transgender and is a male who ‘fetishises’ women’s clothes.
In one instance, a character recalls a time in which the killer dresses as a woman in order to ensnare a victim.
Others defended the novel, however. ‘No honest person who takes the trouble to read it can see the novel as transphobic,’ Nick Cohn wrote in the Spectator.
‘But then honest people are hard to find in a culture war.’ He added: ‘The men and women pouring out their loathing of Rowling online could not have read the unreleased book: not that their ignorance bothered them in the slightest, as no mob on the rampage in history has ever stopped to read a novel.’ Miss Rowling was strongly criticised and received death threats for questioning the use of the term ‘people who menstruate’ instead of ‘women’ in an article back in June. Robbie Coltrane has become one of the only Harry Potter stars to speak out in defence of the author after she was condemned by Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Eddie Redmayne. After Edinburgh-based Miss Rowling’s initial tweets, Miss Watson, 30, who played Hermione in the Harry Potter franchise, wrote on Twitter: ‘Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being questioned.’ However, Lanarkshire-born Coltrane, 70, who starred in all eight Harry Potter films as Hagrid, told the Radio Times this week: ‘I don’t think what she said was offensive, really. ‘I don’t know why but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended. ‘They wouldn’t have won the war, would they? That’s me talking like a grumpy old man, but you just think, “Oh, get over yourself. Wise up’’.’ Last month, Scots presenter Kirsty Wark hit out at the growing cancel culture that has seen the author come under fire – warning of an ‘incredibly dangerous mob mentality’. BBC Newsnight presenter Miss Wark, 65, told the Sunday Times Magazine: ‘Obviously there are lots of people who feel very hurt by what JK Rowling wrote. But not publishing her? Locking away? That’s not the way to deal with it. You have to engage.’ Miss Rowling has declined to comment.
‘No mob has stopped to read a novel’