After months of public criticism for sharing her transphobic opinions, author JK Rowling has reinforced her stance with the announcement of her latest novel.
The Harry Potter author ignited controversy earlier this year with a barrage of public anti-trans statements, including an essay titled TERF Wars, outlining her trans-exclusive ideas of feminism and arguing against treatment for young trans and gender diverse people.
Criticism was renewed today when Rowling announced the premise of her latest work, Troubled Blood, which focuses on a male serial killer who dresses as a woman. The novel will be the fifth entry in Rowling’s Cormoran Strike series, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
The announcement has sent the hashtag #RIPJKRowling trending on Twitter, with many arguing the trope of a ‘cross-dressing killer’ should be left in the past with Silence of the Lambs and Psycho.
JK Rowling would be the most beloved children’s author of all time if she just tweeted like “Hagrid hopes all the little wizards out there are having a good summer!” every once in a while
— nuanced opinion guy (@charles_kinbote) September 15, 2020
RIP JK Rowling 😞
she’s not dead, we just don’t acknowledge transphobes in this house
— Kira Kosarin 🕊 Songbird (@kirakosarin) September 14, 2020
don’t order the new JK Rowling from us.
— Third House Books (@ThirdHouseBooks) September 14, 2020
So is JK Rowling finally admitting to being a full-blown transphobe or nah
— Meena Harris (@meenaharris) September 15, 2020
…I have to say, the irony here is rich: Basically JK Rowling is posing as a man (Robert Galbraith) to write a novel about a man who poses as a woman to kill people. PROJECTING MUCH?!?!
— Julia Serano (@JuliaSerano) September 14, 2020
JK Rowling: “If you don’t believe that men dressing as women in order to hurt them is a huge problem you leave me no choice but to prove my theory by making up a whole book about it.”
— Paul F. Tompkins (@PFTompkins) September 14, 2020
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