>
‘The attempt to intimidate me is meant to serve as a warning to women’: JK Rowling tells ‘Witch Trials’ podcast that the backlash she has received for her trans views is being used as a threat to silence others
JK Rowling says the threats and intimidation she has faced for her stance on transgender issues have been used to scare other women into silence.
Speaking on a new podcast, The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author said: “I’ve had direct threats of violence and people coming to my house where my children live and I’ve posted my address online.”
I have received what the police consider to be credible threats. The rejection is often ”You’re rich. You can afford security. You have not been silenced.”
‘All of that is true, but you miss the point. The attempt to intimidate and silence me is meant to serve as a warning to other women. And I say this because I have seen it used in that way.
“I’ve seen other women, and other women have told me that they’ve been told ‘look what happened to JK Rowling, be careful’.”
JK Rowling tells a new podcast that the threads and bullying she has received for her views on trans issues are being used to silence other women.
Ms Rowling, 57, said she had long been aware of the rise of “a kind of puritanism” that is “very illiberal”.
Speaking to podcast host Megan Phelps-Roper, he also lamented the growing prevalence of a form of “authoritarianism” that “cuts across all political persuasions.”
The author then discussed the issue of bullying online, revealing how Harry Potter readers teased her after secretly joining a fan forum.
She said: ‘I picked a random name and went into this chat room where people were sharing some theories.
‘I gave an opinion that was very mild and was rounded up by users who told me in no uncertain terms to just walk away. I’m not familiar in that room, clearly I’m an idiot who doesn’t know anything. And I left
“I had written three and a half books at that point in which bullying is such a big topic. From the very first page, bullying and overbearing behavior are considered one of the worst human ills.
And look what just happened. And these people who call themselves fans of this franchise.
‘What if it had been a 12-year-old girl who was excited to walk into this room and is immediately caustically berated for not belonging?
Speaking on a new podcast, The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author said: “I’ve had direct threats of violence and people coming to my house where my children live and I’ve posted my address online.”
“I thought it was very interesting that you are passionate about these books and yet, in the course of your life, you behave in a way that I describe as some of the worst human behavior.”
She added: ‘There were individual trolls on the forums simply to be objectionable. It was a fringe, but it was definitely there.
“At first I thought it was kind of funny, but as time went on I started to really see it as bullying.
“There was an advantage to casting vulnerable people and I was very aware at the time that a lot of kids who felt like outsiders were finding themselves in Potter.
“I felt protective of those people, so seeing trolls operating in those spaces started to worry me.”
Ms Rowling has repeatedly insisted on the biological immutability of biological sex and has questioned whether trans women should be allowed access to some women-only spaces.
Earlier this year, Bafta-nominated songwriter Christian Henson resigned from the £55.1m company he founded after he was harassed by LGBTQI+ activists for supporting the author’s views.