J.K. Rowling, from globally successful author to separatist feminist

New Muse of Some Feminists But Blamed for Transphobia for Her Comments on the “Reality of Biological Sex”: J.K. Rowling, author of The Event Saga Harry PotterOver the years, he has become a divisive personality through controversies on social media.

• Read more: Anti-trans statements: In Scotland JK Rowling was not prosecuted

• Read more: A transgender woman has filed a police complaint against JK Rowling

While he denies any transphobia, the controversies have tarnished his aura for some as a normal-looking author who has enjoyed global success with his world of school wizards — more than 600 million books sold. Like in 2023, a video game launch is so provocative that calls for boycotts arise.Harry Potter.

The latest episode comes in early April, when new legislation comes into force in Scotland to combat hate, particularly against transgender people.

The 58-year-old author, who has lived with her second husband in Edinburgh since the mid-1990s, posted a series of messages on X on April 1. He cited several transsexuals, some of whom had been convicted of sex crimes, before concluding: “The persons mentioned (…) are not women, but men”.

He also ruled that freedom of expression would be threatened if a person's “accurate description of their biological sex” became objectionable, prompting a new wave of accusations of transphobia.

His positions echo the heated and sometimes tense debate that has roiled the UK about transcendence, fueled by the conservative media, which J.K. Rowling is promoted as a “heroine,” according to a recent article in the tabloid Daily Mail.

It all started in 2018, when Writer X “liked” a post on (then Twitter) by a woman who described transgender people as “men's clothes”. Criticized by J.K. Rowling is wrong.

In 2019, she publicly supported researcher Maya Forstater, who was fired for tweets deemed transphobic. In 2020, she joked about an article that used the phrase “menstruating people”: “I believe we should have a word for these people. Someone help me. Fire? Woman? Feemm?”, a cry goes.

Actors fromHarry PotterA translator of his famous witchcraft, such as Daniel Radcliffe, also publicly dissociates himself from the author.

In 2022, he opposed a Scottish bill aimed at facilitating the recognition of gender reassignment, which was ultimately blocked by the British government.

J.K. Rowling calls herself a feminist activist, particularly against sexual and domestic violence, of which she has revealed herself to be a victim, believing that women's rights may be threatened by some of the demands of transgender rights defenders.

He is particularly concerned about allowing transgender people access to locker rooms, restrooms or prisons reserved for women.

In just a few years, she has become the bane of transgender rights activists, and her journey so far has been a fairy tale. He says he has received death threats.

Social event

Born in a modest family in Chipping Sodbury (West of England) on July 31, 1965, little Joan started writing very early and started telling stories born from her imagination.

After studying French, he became a translator at Amnesty International in London. It was during a train journey from Manchester to London that she imagined the story of Harry Potter, a young 11-year-old boy who discovers he has magical powers and attends wizarding school.

His orphaned hero's sentiments echo the untimely death of his own mother, when she was 25 years old.

She left to teach English in Portugal, where she married and had a daughter. She writes adventuresHarry Potter Every morning, before going to work, she continued when she returned to the UK in 1995, when she moved to Scotland with her daughter after her divorce.

Living on social assistance, it took him more than a year to find a publisher, Bloomsbury, ready to publish the first volume of his history. In just a few years, his books have become a real social phenomenon, selling more than 600 million copies and being translated into more than 80 languages ​​around the world.

Eight of their cinematic adaptations grossed over €8 billion, J.K. Rowling became a multi-millionaire.

Despite the controversy and calls for a boycott, the author vowed in an interview with the podcast last year that she was “not ashamed to come down from her pedestal” because of her positions on “JK Rowling's Witchcraft Trials.” .