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JK Rowling sparks another transgender rights row with her new book whose character is supposedly a cross-dressing serial killer
September 18, 2020 Comments 8 1457 Views

JK Rowling sparks another transgender rights row with her new book whose character is supposedly a cross-dressing serial killer

JK Rowling has once again come under fire from transgender rights activists, this time for her new crime novel, which features a cross-dressing serial killer.

Published Tuesday, Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith – Rowling’s crime writer pseudonym – is the fifth installment in the Cormoran Strike series.

A review of the novel in Britain’s Daily Telegraph on Sunday described the “meat of the book” as an investigation into the cold case of a missing doctor who is believed to have fallen victim to a murderous cross-dresser.

“One wonders what critics of Rowling’s stance on trans issues will make of a book whose moral seems to be: never trust a man in a dress,” reviewer Jake Kerridge wrote.

Mermaids, a UK-based charity which supports transgender children and their families, said it was “concerned” by reports that the book features a character presenting as another gender in order to carry out attacks.

“This is a long-standing and somewhat tired trope, responsible for the demonization of a small group of people, simply hoping to live their lives with dignity,” a spokesperson said in a statement to CNN.

The spokesperson cited an example from Rowling’s second book in the “Strike” series from 2014, The Silkworm, which featured a transgender character as a suspect.

“We are disappointed to hear that the author might be propagating the same, long-standing and hurtful presentation of trans women as a threat. As a children’s charity, we are bearing witness to the very real hurt felt by young people who once saw Ms. Rowling’s fiction as a place of comfort, friendship and escape. The author recently expressed support for trans people’s right to live free from persecution. Her latest book might cause those still enjoying her books to question that sentiment,” the Mermaids statement added.

Rowling’s management told CNN that it would not be commenting on the latest controversy.

Paris Lees, a transgender rights activist and British Vogue columnist, tweeted: “JK Rowling’s new book’s about a ‘transvestite serial killer’. Meanwhile over in the real world the number of trans people killed in Brazil has risen by 70% this past year, young trans women are left to burn in cars and men who kill us (for being trans) are pardoned and sent home.”

Likening Rowling to her own creation of the much-disliked Harry Potter character Dolores Umbridge, trans actress and writer Jen Richards said on Twitter that the author has become so “obsessed with her deeply prejudiced perspective that she’ll go to any length to remain convinced of her own righteousness, no matter what harm it causes.”

This recent row has also led to the trending on Twitter of the hashtag, #RIPJKRowling with users divided between those condemning Rowling…

 

And fans supporting her.

Rowling’s comments and views on gender have made headlines several times this year.

Last month, the author said she would be handing back a prestigious human rights award after Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization, said Rowling’s viewpoint “diminishes the identity” of transgender people.

In June, Rowling sparked controversy after mocking a headline about “people who menstruate.”

“‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people,” she tweeted. “Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

Her comments led to a fiery backlash, and saw actors who starred in film adaptations of her books come out to publicly disagree with her. Following the reaction, Rowling published an essay about gender identity on her website and explained why she chose to share her views.

“All I’m asking – all I want – is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse,” Rowling said.

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Tags JK RowlingTransphobiaTransvestiteTroubled Blood
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8 Comments

  1. Delle
    Delle
    September 18, 09:07 Reply

    Can people rest already? If trans folk will go on to perpetuate the idea that they should be, then why so bothered that you’re being represented as such? Are serial killers not human beings? What you present as has nothing to do with your personality which could be good, bad, ugly or twisted. So rest.

    Rowling, much love.

  2. Uzor
    Uzor
    September 18, 15:08 Reply

    😂 To liken a man who cross dresses to ease the perpetuation of his crime (and for this purpose exclusively) to a trans person is absolute bonkers! (This is the kind of ignorance you expect from the average Joe not from members of the movement, smh). For a movement that says “there’s more to us than the clothes” they’re putting so much work into antagonizing their own headline theme with this who fiasco. Hope they’re also planning to cancel drag race for “setting impossible standards for trans women to meet” 🤡

  3. Mitch
    Mitch
    September 18, 16:00 Reply

    TRAs = 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

  4. The T in LGBT no be for fancy.
    The T in LGBT no be for fancy.
    September 18, 16:53 Reply

    Indeed, privilege blinds. Cos I know Delle would have charged at a homophobe if homophobia was the scenario.

    So a homophobe (or someone who claims to not be a homophobe) – also happens to be a famous writer – has consistently said things that the gay community considered hurtful/homophobic. This person claims they support the right of gay ppl to exist but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t check how detrimental being gay is to society. Says gays would easily have access to raping their roommates after gaining their roommate’s trust by being buddies. Don’t allow gays get married and have families, cos that would mean that 2 gay men could have a son and may “initiate” him by defiling him.

    Then months later, this same famous writer writes a book about a gay man that actually rapes his roommates after gaining their trust or a gay father that defiles his son. Hell, the gay community would be outraged. I definitely know the side you will be on and it wouldn’t be on the side of the homophobe. You’d definitely understand why the writer is trying to propel that narrative. You’d know that it’s meant to create fear on the hearts of the populace, especially the ones she has made more homophobic. You’d sure as hell write Op-eds for Kitodiaries.

    But then, privilege blinds, cos it is the nature of privilege to blind. So yayy!!! No transphobia here, just a novelist writing a book as usual.

    • Uzor
      Uzor
      September 19, 10:48 Reply

      But wait a sec, are cross dressers trans? I know most people haven’t read the book and are trolling her for hearsay but the character is actually a cis male who disguises to murk his tracks and evade law enforcement. Said disguise comes via cross dressing so……again, does cross dressing make an individual trans?

      • Leave trans women alone
        Leave trans women alone
        September 19, 22:40 Reply

        She’s clearly stated trans women are men who cloak themselves in womanhood to harm women hence the pushback on this narrative in her book,if she were punching down on gay men the reaction here would be wildly different

        • Mandy
          Mandy
          September 19, 23:33 Reply

          She clearly stated this???
          Really?
          Where please?
          If you can’t provide a link to where she “clearly stated” this, maybe copy and paste so we can see.

    • Flexsterous
      Flexsterous
      September 19, 23:48 Reply

      exactly, thank you, privilege does blind. The same people who claim to be woke and enlightened about LGBT issues, who went after Simi for her comment, think it’s ok what this woman is peddling. It’s really something.

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