JK Rowling: “My statements about transgender people have been very misunderstood” | Celebrities

“It was never my intention to upset anyone,” says Rowling. “But, I didn’t feel uncomfortable when I stepped off my pedestal. People said ‘you ruined your legacy, you could have been loved forever but you chose to say this’. I then think: you could not have misunderstood my point of view more than that.”

Rowling caused a stir on social media on several occasions. For example, she criticized an article in which the description ‘people who menstruate’ appeared. She joked that there was a word for that after all, referring to women. Critics blamed her for that, because transgender men can also menstruate. “If gender isn’t real, then same-sex attraction doesn’t exist. If gender isn’t real, then the lived reality of many women around the world isn’t real,” she wrote in a 2020 tweet, referring to sexism, among other things. “If we say that sex isn’t real, then sexism supposedly doesn’t exist anymore,” she later clarified. “If we pretend that gender doesn’t exist, many people lose the ability to meaningfully discuss their lives. I have a lot of respect for trans people, but it’s not hate to tell the truth.”

Actors Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint, the protagonists of the Harry Potter films, distanced themselves from her statements. The global reaction to the statements was therefore very extreme. For example, book burnings were organized, and people are currently trying to boycott the new game ‘Hogwarts Legacy’.

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