- J.K. Rowling published a 3,600-word essay on June 10. In the essay, she said she was a survivor of
domestic violence andsexual assault . - The essay came after Rowling received backlash for recent and previous transphobic comments she made.
- She said the backlash triggered memories of being sexually assaulted.
- Rowling said she wasn't looking for sympathy in sharing her experience, and that she stands by her stances on biological sex.
J.K. Rowling, author of the best-selling "Harry Potter" series, revealed in a new essay that she is a survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault, and said that the memories of those events have been replaying in her head since she received backlash for comments she's made about transgender people.
In the essay, which was originally published on her website on June 10, Rowling said she has been vocal about her beliefs on
She said that goal stemmed from her personal experiences of feeling unsafe in her previous marriage.
"I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I'm now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be," Rowling wrote. "However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault don't disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you've made."
This is the first time Rowling has publicly shared her experiences with sexual assault and abuse.
Rowling said social media backlash over her transphobic comments 'triggered' her memories of being sexually assaulted
When social media users critiqued Rowling's past and recent comments about biological sex and called her transphobic, Rowling said she felt "ground down."
The "Harry Potter" author said her emotions surrounding the incidents came to a head on Saturday when she saw the Scottish government was supporting a gender-recognition bill, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which, Rowling wrote, "will in effect mean that all a man needs to 'become a woman' is to say he's one."
She continued: "To use a very contemporary word, I was 'triggered'. Ground down by the relentless attacks from trans activists on social media, when I was only there to give children feedback about pictures they'd drawn for my book under lockdown, I spent much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my head, as memories of a serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties recurred on a loop."
The years-long online argument over gender politics that led to Rowling's essay
In December 2019, Rowling received backlash after she defended a UK-based tax expert who made transphobic comments and was terminated from her job due to her statements.
Rowling came to Forstater's defense with a tweet saying: "Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who'll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill"
Soon after Rowling published her tweet in support of Forstater, people began criticizing the author, calling her a "TERF" (trans-exclusionary radical feminist).
She had received the same accusation before: in 2017, Rowling liked a tweet that promoted a transphobic Medium article. And, in 2018, she was criticized for liking a tweet that referred to trans women as "men in dress." In her new essay, Rowling said she accidentally liked the 2017 tweet, rather than taking a screenshot of it, while doing research for a project.
GLAAD, the world's largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, tweeted a response to Rowling's new essay, saying her comments deny "the basic humanity of people who are transgender. Trans and non-binary people are not a threat to women, and to imply otherwise puts trans people at risk."
Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ civil rights organization, also published a tweet in response to Rowling's.
—Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) December 19, 2019
Many experts recognize transgender identities as scientifically valid
The same day, HRC employee Charlotte Clymer posted a Twitter thread to explain that many scientific experts and organizations recognize transgender people as valid in the sex with which they identify and that science doesn't support a biological sex binary, or the idea that just "male" and "female" sexes exist.
Clymer's post was in response to those who defended Rowling for her stance, saying it aligned with science and that there are only two biological sexes.
—Charlotte Clymer ️ (@cmclymer) December 19, 2019
"If you truly respect science, you respect trans people," Clymer wrote.
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