JK Rowling's tweets sparked an instant backlash. Photo / AP
JK Rowling's tweets sparked an instant backlash. Photo / AP
JK Rowling is facing a widespread backlash once again after posting a series of tweets about sex and gender.
The criticism started after the Harry Potter author called out the use of the phrase "people who menstruate" by sharing an op-ed article with that wording on Twitter.
‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA
If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.
She added: "I respect every trans person's right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I'd march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it's hateful to say so."
Rowling also noted she had spent the last three years "reading books, blogs and scientific papers by trans people, medics and gender specialists".
"Never assume that because someone thinks differently, they have no knowledge," she wrote.
Within an hour of publishing those tweets she was trending on Twitter and had received thousands of responses.
Im ashamed as a transwonan who grew up on your books to have ever called myself a fan, this tweet spits on all the trans kids who escaped into your books
Charlotte Clymer from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) also condemned her tweets.
"The vast consensus of medical and other scientific experts validate trans people and urge affirmation of us. Your own country's medical organisations have said as much," Clymer wrote.
"You don't love trans people, and certainly don't care about us.
"BOTTOM LINE: if you respect science and you respect women's rights, you respect the rights of trans people to be validated and affirmed in our authenticity."
US musician Brad Walsh said Rowling's comments were "incredibly disappointing".
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Photo / Supplied
"You're a smart person. How do you not yet understand the difference between sex and gender? The only way I can possibly explain your ignorance at this point is wilfulness. It's incredibly disappointing," he wrote on Twitter.
You are embarrassing. The world is reckoning with white supremacy and police brutality and you’ve decided to use your massive platform to gender police? (Btw, gender and sex aren’t the same thing. Look it up.)Your books meant so much to me but you are disgraceful. Shame on you.
This isn't the first time Rowling has faced accusations of transphobia.
In December last year the Harry Potter author responded to a ruling which said workforce employees could be sacked if they say that biological sex cannot be changed.
