Topics: JK Rowling, Harry Potter, LGBTQ, News
JK Rowling believes there are loads of Harry Potter fans who support her anti-transgender comments.
The revered author has grabbed headlines for several years now after posting on Twitter about her problem with terms like 'people who menstruate'.
She responded to an article with that phrase in the headline and went in on the concept.
“‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” she tweeted.
‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020
Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA
It kicked off a huge debate around language and inclusivity. Rowling lost a lot of supporters but gained others who agreed with her line of thinking.
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In the latest episode of The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling podcast, the author explained that she was aware that her comments would be controversial.
“I absolutely knew that if I spoke out many people who would love my books would be deeply unhappy with me,” she said.
“Personally, it has not been fun and I have been scared at times for my own safety and, overwhelmingly, for my family’s safety.
"Time will tell whether I’ve got this wrong.
"I can only say that I’ve thought about it deeply and hard and long and I’ve listened, I promise, to the other side.”
After she posted her controversial tweets, big-name Harry Potter stars like Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson spoke out against her.
Harry Potter fans took to Twitter to say their love of the magical world had been shattered.
However, Rowling believes there are some diehard Hogwarts supporters who get where she's coming from.
"I have to tell you, a ton of Potter fans were still with me," she said on the podcast.
"And in fact, a ton of Potter fans were grateful that I’d said what I said.”
She added: “I stand by every word that I wrote there, but the question is, What is the truth? And I’m arguing against people who are literally saying sex is a construct, [that] it’s not real.”
Rowling believes the transgender movement is 'dangerous' (which it's not) and is worried 'in the form that it’s currently taking, echoes the very thing that I was warning against in Harry Potter'.
In a previous episode of the podcast, she said she never 'set out' to upset anyone with her beliefs.
But, she still felt it was necessary to speak out against what she was worried about, which is the erasure of the female identity.
