JK Rowling Defends Transgender Tweets; Says She Survived Sexual Assault

Author J K Rowling’s recent tweets about transgender people angered a lot of people. Many mainstream actors have also criticized her for her remark. This is not the first time she has expressed controversial views on transgender people. She had previously been criticised for liking a tweet that referred to trans women as “men in dresses.”

Now, in the lengthy and personal post, Rowling shared about her traumatic experience and revealed that she was in a “violent marriage” first and that she is “a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor.” Reportedly, this is the first time that the author has come out and spoken about this.

“I’m mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces,” Rowling writes.

What You Should Know

• The Harry Potter author said that she is domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor.
• The lengthy post was shared after a growing protest over Rowling’s recent tweets about transgender people.
• She posted a 3,600 word essay and defended her stance.
• Actors, including Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Redmayne and Emma Watson have spoken out in support of transgender rights.

"I’ve been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor," Rowling wrote.

Also Read: J K Rowling Stirs Up Tweet Storm Against Online Misogyny

Rowling is not ashamed

“I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm,” the bestselling author expressed.

"This isn’t because I’m ashamed those things happened to me, but because they’re traumatic to revisit and remember. I also feel protective of my daughter from my first marriage ... I’m mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces,” she claimed.

Escaping a violent marriage

Rowling also confirmed that her first marriage was violent and she somehow managed to escape it with some difficulty, “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. My perennial jumpiness is a family joke – and even I know it’s funny – but I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I haven’t heard them approaching…”

Further defending her remarks, she added, “... If you could come inside my head and understand what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, you’d find solidarity and kinship. I have a visceral sense of the terror in which those trans women will have spent their last seconds on earth, because I too have known moments of blind fear when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the shaky self-restraint of my attacker."

In 2000, Rowling’s first husband reportedly told London’s Daily Express about throwing Rowling out of their apartment, dragging her out of the apartment, and engaging in a “violent struggle” in which he “slapped her very hard in the street.”

Also Read: Depression in Teenage Girls Rising: Study

Feature Image Credit: BBC

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