The author of Harry Potter and recently released, The Ickabog, JK Rowling, is under fire. The 54-year-old who has always identified herself as a feminist is under fire on Twitter over a series of tweets that netizens find anti-trans and transphobic. Her stance on how transgender women fit into her feminism beliefs has not been received well by netizens. In the viral tweets, the Harry Potter author has proclaimed that transgender activism is “erasing the concept of sex,” which she argued is harmful to women and lesbians. The tweets also caused ‘JK Rowling’ to trend on Twitter along with ‘JK Rowling is a TERF.’ In this article, we bring you down how Rowling’s tweets caused a stir on Twitter. J.K. Rowling Unveils ‘The Ickabog,’ Publishes First Two Chapters of Her New Book and Twitterati Can’t Keep Calm!

Rowling’s controversy began when she commented on an article from Devex—a platform for the worldwide development community, titled: “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.” The author shared the article link with caption, “’People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?

Here's the Tweet:

The tweet immediately went viral on social media. People are calling Rowling’s comment ‘anti-trans’ and ‘transphobic’ as they pointed out that transgender people, non-binary people and gender-nonconforming people can also menstruate. In the follow-up tweets, Rowling criticised the idea that someone’s biological sense is not real. She hinted that trans people are ‘erasing the concept of sex’ attempting to justify her stance by using it to support ‘same-sex attraction.’

Here's the Tweet:

Another Tweet by Rowling!

Her tweets seemingly ignore the difference between gender and sex, a difference that is backed by science and the existence of intersex individuals, who are born with reproductive or sexual anatomy, but does not fit the typical definitions of the female and male sex. Rowling added that she respects trans people’s right to live comfortably, but struck out at people calling her a TERF—Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist.

Her Tweets/ Opinions Are Not Well Received!

Rowling, A Transphobic?

Netizens Are Angry!

GLAAD, an organisation for LGBTQ+ rights, stated that Rowling’s comments targeted trans people and the author aligned herself with an ideology which ‘distorted’ facts about gender identity and trans people.

Here's the Tweet:

Her series of tweets have come amid the June Pride Month 2020 celebration, which is significantly celebrated in the United States and by LGBTQ+ community across the world. This is not the first time that Rowling has drawn criticism on social media on her opinions on gender and sex. According to reports, last year in December, she faced backlash while supporting author, Maya Forstater, who was fired from a think tank for saying that men could not change into women.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 07, 2020 11:13 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).