J.K. Rowling is facing new accusations of transphobia thanks to one of the characters in her upcoming book, Troubled Blood, set for release on Sept 15. The story revolves around a male cisgender serial killer who dresses up like a woman to trick his victims for the fifth installment of Rowlingās crime fiction series Cormoran Strike, which is published under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith. Given that the Harry Potter author has made statements many considered transphobic ā such as writing that she doesnāt want to āmake natal girls and women less safeā by granting access inside female bathrooms and changing rooms to āany man who believes or feels heās a womanā ā the new bookās plot line sparked controversy on Twitter.
āā¦I have to say, the irony here is rich: Basically JK Rowling is posing as a man (Robert Galbraith) to write a novel about a man who poses as a woman to kill people. PROJECTING MUCH?!?!,ā Whipping Girl author Julia Serano tweeted. Meanwhile, fellow author Paris Lees tweeted, āMaybe thereās a twist in JK Rowlingās book and the killerās really a ārealā woman or something, but itās reasonable to assume the worst when sheās spent all year being hostile to trans people and stays silent when Republican senators quote her while blocking votes on LGBTQ rights.ā
Others pointed out what they saw as an underlying transphobic message in Rowlingās new book. āJk rowlingās claims about the dangers of trans people are so far fetched that she had to write a fictional story to support them,ā one such person tweeted, which gained over 1,000 ālikes,ā and another wrote, ātw transphobia // every day is a good day to stop giving jk rowling even one precious cent of your money, but ESPECIALLY in light of her moving her violent transphobia out of the subtext of her books and into the text.ā HollywoodLife has reached out to Rowlingās rep for comment, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Rowling has faced increasing accusations of transphobia since the end of 2019. At the time, she defended Maya Forstater, a researcher in England who was fired for tweeting that it was āimpossible to change sex.ā In the wake of the controversy, Rowling infamously tweeted, āDress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult whoāll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?#IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill.ā
The backlash reached new heights in June of 2020, when Rowling responded to an article headline that read, āOpinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.ā In response, she wrote over the headline on Twitter, āPeople who menstruate.ā Iām sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?ā ā ignoring the fact that transgender men and nonbinary people menstruate as well. At the time, even Harry Potter stars like Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson ā among other celebrities ā spoke up to defend transgender women.
Rowling then defended her views with a 3,600-word essay in June of 2020, which referenced her experience with sexual assault for being the reason sheās advocating for āhaving concerns around single-sex spaces.ā Although she insisted that āthe majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to othersā and ādeserve protection,ā she argued about the dangers of letting āany and all menā into spaces for women.