J.K. Rowling sparks controversy once again following several transphobic comments referring to trans women as men, including convicted prisoners, trans activists, and other public figures. Additionally, she challenged Scotland’s new hate crime law and challenged the police to arrest her if she was causing any offense through her social media posts.
The author asserts that “freedom of speech and belief” will come to an end if the accurate expression and description of biological sex are prohibited. Rowling argues that some cases of violence cannot be addressed properly unless men are referred to as men and that violence against women cannot be accurately identified and addressed without specifying the actions of the perpetrators through the two accepted biological genders: men and women.
Scotland’s First Minister, Humza Yousaf, commented that this new law will have to contend with much-growing hatred. Additionally, it has been mentioned that the Hate Crime and Public Order Act 2021 creates a new offense of “stirring up hatred” related to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity, or being intersex. However, the law does not consider or protect women as a vulnerable group to hatred, according to the BBC. The Scottish government is expected to include this later in a separate misogyny law.
For some time, the Harry Potter author has been criticized for her transphobic comments, and even several original cast members of the movies have completely distanced themselves from this behavior to the extent that Rowling was not invited to the HBO reunion. On the day the new law was passed in Scotland, J.K. made several questionable posts on her X account.
She wrote: “Scottish lawmakers seem to have placed higher value on the feelings of men performing their idea of femaleness, however misogynistically or opportunistically, than on the rights and freedoms of actual women and girls.”
“It is impossible to accurately describe or tackle the reality of violence and sexual violence committed against women and girls, or address the current assault on women’s and girls’ rights, unless we are allowed to call a man a man.
“Freedom of speech and belief are at an end in Scotland if the accurate description of biological sex is deemed criminal.”
J.K. Rowling highlighted in her words cases of assault on girls (biological women) who had been assaulted in the past, such as the case of the rapist, including transgender rapist Isla Bryson and Andrew Miller, who abducted and assaulted a girl in the Scottish Borders.
J.K. Rowling Challenged the Police to Arrest Her
“I’m currently out of the country, but if what I’ve written here qualifies as an offense under the terms of the new act, I look forward to being arrested when I return to the birthplace of the Scottish Enlightenment.”
However, the Scottish police said they had received no complaints about the author’s posts. The new law in Scotland stipulates that if a person commits acts or shares speeches “that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive,” the maximum penalty they will be sentenced to is seven years in prison.
