Further proving his woke bona fides, author Stephen King took a swipe at “Harry Potter” creator J.K. Rowling for believing that men cannot be women.
Over the weekend, Stephen King faced blowback when he retweeted a message from J.K. Rowling in which she said “it isn’t hateful for women to speak about their own experiences, nor do they deserve shaming for doing so.”
In response, Rowling publicly thanked King for showing support.
“I’ve always revered [Stephen King], but today my love reached — maybe not Annie Wilkes levels — but new heights,” she said in a now-deleted tweet. “It’s so much easier for men to ignore women’s concerns, or to belittle them, but I won’t ever forget the men who stood up when they didn’t need to. Thank you, Stephen,” she tweeted.
Several Twitter users then began scolding King for not addressing Rowling’s “transphobia,” prompting him to say definitively that “trans women are women.”
“Yes. Trans women are women,” King tweeted on Sunday in response to a follower that said, “You should address the TERF tweet. By telling us constant readers if you believe trans women are women.”
TERF means, “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist,” a pejorative term used largely in the United Kingdom to refer to feminists who fight the concept of “gender fluidity.”
Yes. Trans women are women.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 28, 2020
Rowling sparked controversy earlier this month when she said that the concept of transgenderism erases the struggles of women across the world.
“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction,” Rowling tweeted, as reported by Fox News. “If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”
“The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women – ie, to male violence – ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences – is a nonsense,” she continued.
Following her post, Rowling faced a severe social media backlash, prompting “Harry Potter” star Daniel Radcliffe and “Fantastic Beasts” star Eddie Redmayne to publicly declare their support for trans people.
“Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I,” Radcliffe said in an essay published on The Trevor Project.
Speaking with Variety, Eddie Redmayne, who played a transgender character in “The Danish Girl,” said he firmly disagrees with Rowling’s stance.
“Respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative, and over the years I have been trying to constantly educate myself,” Redmayne said. “This is an ongoing process. As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo’s comments.”
As criticism mounted, Rowling penned an essay about her experiences as a survivor of both sexual assault and domestic violence and argued that the concept of men becoming women erases womanhood entirely.
“It isn’t enough for women to be trans allies,” she wrote. “Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves. But, as many women have said before me, ‘woman’ is not a costume. ‘Woman’ is not an idea in a man’s head. ‘Woman’ is not a pink brain, a liking for Jimmy Choos, or any of the other sexist ideas now somehow touted as progressive.”
Though the publishing company producing Rowling’s new book, The Ickabog, has been pressured by LGBTQ activists to censure the author, the company has stood by her right to express her opinion.
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