JK Rowling says her family have received ‘threats’ because of her outspoken views on gender issues – but the Harry Potter author says ‘I still don’t regret standing up’
- Rowling said she was disappointed at the lack of support from the literary world
- She hit out at trans rights activists who stopped a women’s rights campaign rally
JK Rowling has said her stance on women’s rights has led people who disagree with her to threaten her family.
The Harry Potter author, who has been outspoken in her views on gender and single-sex spaces, said she doesn’t regret vocalising her position despite the abuse she’s received.
However, she added she was disappointed at the lack of support from the literary world including publishers who ‘should stand for the plurality of views’.
Earlier this week Rowling hit out at ‘repellent’ trans rights activists after Let Women Speak organiser Kellie-Jay Keen was hit with tomato sauce, branding them a ‘mob’.
And on Tuesday she warned new SNP leader he would ‘disappear through the ice’ behind his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon if he continued her battle to push through gender reforms.
JK Rowling, pictured here wearing a shirt that reads ‘Nicola Sturgeon – destroyer of women’s rights’, says she has received threats against her family after speaking out on gender issues
Earlier this week Rowling hit out at a ‘mob’ of trans rights activists who stopped a speech by Let Women Speak organiser Kellie-Jay Keen in Auckland, New Zealand
The 57-year-old told the pre-recorded The Witch Trials of JK Rowling podcast that she would continue to speak out and be vocal in her opinions, even if that brought abuse her way.
She said: ‘Although I don’t regret anything, I’ve had concerns for my family’s safety, and some of the threats haven’t been too amusing to me.
‘There has been fall-out in my life, inevitably, but I still don’t regret standing up.’
She added she had ‘lost a degree of faith’ in the publishing industry, which is ‘the industry I know best’.
She said: ‘I’ve been shocked by the positions publishing has taken. I think if publishers don’t stand for anything else they should stand for the plurality of views.
‘If I think about the people I most admire, the writers I admire, when it mattered, they stood up.
‘They didn’t sit at home and worry about their royalties or worry about their public image greatly.
‘I have never wanted to be famous, so if you’re very invested in that, then of course this is going to destroy you.
‘I don’t say this in any self-aggrandising way but, I think it could have destroyed some people if that’s where you’re very invested, what has happened to me in the last few years.
‘I think there’s no hope that you will come out with your mental health intact or that you wouldn’t be offering false apologies.’
Rowling, pictured here with Harry Potter stars Rupert Grint, Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe at a film premiere in 2009, said she was disappointed with the lack of support she had received from the literary world
Campaigner Posie Parker was covered in tomato sauce by trans rights activists at a rally in Auckland, New Zealand
READ MORE HERE: JK Rowling warns new SNP leader he will ‘disappear through the ice’ behind Nicola Sturgeon if he continues her gender rights battle
Rowling has been outspoken on gender issues in recent years and has received abuse from trans rights activists in response to her opinions.
The author has been campaigning for women’s rights and female-only spaces amid safety fears predatory men could poses as trans women to use them.
In recent days she has hit out at activists who stopped women’s rights’ campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen – who also goes by the name Posie Parker – from speaking at a rally in Auckland, New Zealand.
Parker was doused with tomato juice at the rally on Saturday, forcing her to leave the protest early in the back of a police car.
The same day in London, trans activists gathered outside an event held by The Lesbian Project – it’s first workshop which it says aims to put ‘lesbians back in focus’.
Harry Potter author Rowling shared a tweet from one of the workshop’s attendees, which claimed that activists outside were aiming to disrupt the meeting and ‘protesting that lesbians are meeting without men present’.
Rowling responded to the tweet claiming that those attending the meeting in Euston were ‘being intimidated and threatened.’
Rowling went on to say in her tweet that those gathering in New Zealand at Parker’s rally were equivalent to a ‘mob’ and that they had ‘assaulted women speaking up for their rights’.
Rowling previously wore a t-shirt designed by Posie Parker. It reads ‘Nicola Sturgeon, destroyer of women’s rights’ after a Holyrood inquiry approved plans to allow Scots to self-identify their legal gender without medical proof.
And yesterday she responded to an Australian trans rights activist who posted a video of one of her Harry Potter books being burned.
Footage shared online on Monday by an Australian trans rights activist showed one of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books being burned
In the video Hall complained about ‘hate’ being directed to the trans community while the book burned
Rowling responded by sarcastically writing: ‘I love that you added “all rights reserved”, just in case people try to submit to the Academy Awards without your approval
The disturbing footage from Tess Hall was posted on a public Twitter feed and showed a fire pit before the novel was added in.
Over video of the fourth book in the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, being torched, Ms Hall bemoans the ‘hate we’ve been seeing of late’ without a hint of irony.
She uploaded the video with the caption ‘a fireside reflection on fanning the flames of hate’, adding: ‘Tess Hall 2023 – All Rights Reserved’.
But her pyrotechnic stunt drew the attention the best-selling author behind the magical character, who shared it with her 14 million followers and roundly mocked Ms Hall.
‘I love that you added ‘all rights reserved’, just in case people try and submit to the Academy Awards without your approval,’ she told Ms Hall.
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