J.K. Rowling recently elaborated on her viewpoints that are critical of the transgender movement, claiming she felt it was important to speak up and that many of her fans are grateful to her for doing so.
In the latest episode of “The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling” podcast, the author said she has listened to the transgender movement and attempted to understand its viewpoint, but still felt it was important to speak her thoughts on the matter.
The “Harry Potter” author has received substantial backlash over the past few years due her decision to share opinions that have rankled many pro-transgender activists. In 2019 Rowling tweeted support for Maya Forstater, a woman who was fired from her job because she criticized policy which would have allowed people to identify as any gender they wish. In 2020, Rowling also tweeted criticism of the idea that the sex binary “isn’t real” and slammed an op-ed for using the term “people who menstruate” in lieu of “women.”
“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,” Rowling said on the podcast Tuesday. “And I believe, absolutely, that there is something dangerous about this movement, and it must be challenged.”
“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. I believe absolutely that there is something dangerous about this movement and it must be challenged.” – J.K. Rowling. pic.twitter.com/Ay86Hnf78f
— Written by J.K. Rowling (@rowlingmore) March 14, 2023
She added that her decision to speak out against transgender activism reinforces the same values she pushed for in the “Harry Potter” series.
“I’m constantly told that I have betrayed my own books, but my position is that I’m absolutely upholding the positions that I took in ‘Potter,’” Rowling said. “My position is that this activist movement in the form that it’s currently taking, echoes the very thing that I was warning against in ‘Harry Potter.’”
“I am fighting what I see as a powerful, insidious misogynistic movement that I think has gained huge purchase in very influential areas of society. I do not see this particular movement as either benign or powerless,” she continued.
Despite the backlash, Rowling said a “ton” of “Harry Potter” fans have not abandoned her, and that they support her for comments about the transgender movement.