(London) The author of the saga Harry PotterJK Rowling, said she regretted not having spoken “sooner” about transidentity, despite accusations of transphobia targeting her, in a text published in the Times Wednesday.
The 58-year-old author, who lives in Edinburgh, has taken numerous positions since 2018, believing that women’s rights can be threatened by certain demands of defenders of the rights of transgender people.
“I spoke out because otherwise I would have felt ashamed for the rest of my life. My only regret is not having spoken much sooner,” she writes in an extract from the collection of texts The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht.
She explains that she came to believe that “the sociopolitical movement insisting that ‘trans women are women’ was neither benevolent nor tolerant, but in reality deeply misogynistic, regressive, dangerous in its goals and authoritarian in its tactics. »
She says she followed this struggle from afar at the beginning, those close to her “begging her not to talk about it”, but having resolved to “speak up”.
JK Rowling is particularly concerned about allowing transgender women to access unisex changing rooms, toilets or reception centers.
If she denies any transphobia, the controversies aroused by her positions have tarnished for some her aura as a writer of modest origins who enjoyed global success –– more than 600 million books sold – with her world of school wizards.
It has been targeted by calls for a boycott, as in 2023 during the release of a video game inspired by Harry Potter. Actors who played in the adaptations of the saga have distanced themselves. This is the case of Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the young wizard, and recently said he was “saddened” by his breakup with the author.
Referring to these controversies, JK Rowling asserts that “no one who has experienced a wave of death and rape threats will tell you that this is funny”, and also criticizes the lack of “critical thinking” on the subject of transidentity.
“I believe we are witnessing the greatest attack of my lifetime on the rights of our ancestors, which they thought they had guaranteed for all women,” she said.