JK Rowling, the well-known author who penned the globally successful Harry Potter series, called a ‘trans’ TV presenter in the UK, India Willoughby a “male narcissist”. Offended over Rowling’s remarks, Willoughby accused the author of ‘misgendering’ and ‘hate crime’. In response to an X user asking if India Willoughby is a misogynist then why did she become a woman, Rowling said that the ‘trans’ activist “India didn’t become a woman. India is cosplaying a misogynistic male fantasy of what a woman is.”
Responding to another X user’s video post featuring Willoughby dancing, Rowling wrote on 4th March, “You’ve sent me the wrong video. There isn’t a lady in this one, just a man revelling in his misogynistic performance of what he thinks ‘woman’ means: narcissistic, shallow and exhibitionist.”
JK Rowling refuses to bow down to trans politics, stands for women’s rights
This, however, riled up India Willoughby who accused Rowling of ‘misgendering’ and “grotesque transphobia”. “Genuinely disgusted by this. Grotesque transphobia, which is upsetting. I am every bit as much a woman as JK Rowling. Recognised in law, and by everyone I interact with every day. The debate about whether JK Rowling is a transphobe is over,” the trans activist wrote on X.
The Harry Potter author, slammed the ‘trans activist’ calling Willoughby a “trans-identified man” adding that “there is no human right to universal validation.
“Accurately sexing trans-identified men who send misogynistic abuse to women is not discrimination. ‘Man’ is not a slur. I know a lot of you think the UN should intervene whenever women bruise your egos, but there is no human right to universal validation,” Rowling wrote on X.
On Thursday (7th March) it was reported that India Willoughby had called the police and reported against JK Rowling “for an alleged hate crime for misgendering her.”
“JK Rowling has definitely committed a crime. I am legally a woman and she knows I am a woman and she calls me a man. It is a protective characteristic and that is a breach of the Equalities Act and the Gender Recognition Act. She tweeted that out to her 14 million followers. I have been to the police and I have reported it as an issue,” Willoughby said while asserting that Rowling’s remarks against her amount to ‘hate crime’…” Willoughby said.
Willoughby had wanted to ‘kidnap’ Rowling, author says his acts can be legally called harassment
Responding to this, JK Rowling posted a thread on X and said that India Willoughby’s “obsessive targeting” of her may “may meet the legal threshold for harassment.”
“Some time ago, lawyers advised me that not only did I have a clearly winnable case against India Willoughby for defamation, but that India’s obsessive targeting of me over the past few years may meet the legal threshold for harassment,” she posted.
In her next post, Rowling shared screenshots of Willoughby’s X posts exposing the trans activist’s “homophobia” and “racism”. “I ignored this advice because I couldn’t be bothered giving India the publicity he so clearly craves. Nevertheless, we must all do our bit to combat hate, so India will be glad to know I’ve taken note of his homophobia, racism, and humane stance on immigration,” Rowling added.
The renowned author further stated that gender-critical opinions can be protected in as “philosophical belief”. “Surprisingly for such an eminent legal authority, he appears to have forgotten that the Forstater ruling established that gender critical views can be protected in law as a philosophical belief. No law compels anyone to pretend to believe that India is a woman,” she wrote.
Concluding the thread, Rowling accused Willoughby of lying to law enforcement. Moreover, she called Willoughby a “male narcissist” who wants women to agree to his fantasies and beliefs. “Aware as I am that it’s an offence to lie to law enforcement, I’ll simply have to explain to the police that, in my view, India is a classic example of the male narcissist who lives in a state of perpetual rage that he can’t compel women to take him at his own valuation.”
She shared an earlier post of Willoughby where he had expressed the desire to kidnap women, including Rowling herself and Maya Forstater, a woman who was sacked for saying that biological sex is real and men should not be allowed into women-only spaces.
Rowling has been vocal against trans identity politics, supports women-only spaces for women’s safety and rights
For the unversed, back in 2019, Rowling had published an X post with the hashtag “StandWithMaya” expressing solidarity with researcher Maya Forstater. The British woman had claimed online that there are only two biological sexes, for which she was fired by the U.K. poverty think tank that employed her for questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as another gender.
“Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill”, Rowling wrote on X on 19th December 2019.
In 2021, Rowling had received online hatred, and abuse for questioning Scotland Police’s stand that they would be recording rapes committed by offenders with male genitalia as being “committed by a woman” if the rapist just says he is a woman.
In July 2021, JK Rowling received death threats from LGBTQ activists for flagging the dangers women face in public toilets by men identifying themselves as women. Rowling shared a screenshot of a tweet posted by one of the nasty internet trolls, who apparently wished her “a very nice pipebomb in the mailbox”.
“Allowing trans-identified males poses danger to women’s safety”: JK Rowling on allowing trans persons in women’s changing rooms
It all started with one of JK Rowling’s X posts on 4th March 2024 in which she complained about trans persons being allowed in women’s changing/locker rooms. “When men – all men, however they identify – are banned from women’s spaces, those who disregard the ban can be challenged, inside the space and out.”
Rowling emphasised in her post that allowing males into female-only spaces merely because they claim to be women makes the law banning men in women’s spaces as ineffective since the “obstacle” that increased women’s safety has been removed.
“Nobody claims the rule has successfully kept out every single man who wants to commit voyeurism or sexual assault. What we’re saying is that allowing males into female-only spaces on the basis of their claim to be a woman removes an obstacle that has hitherto been *proven* to increase women and girls’ safety,” Rowling wrote.
‘Women being coerced to surrender their rights to those posing a danger to them‘: JK Rowling
In a separate thread posted on 2nd March, JK Rowling outlined the risks of eradicating single-sex spaces adding that though not all, but several trans-identified males have sexually assaulted women and girls. She stressed that women are being pressured to surrender their hard-won rights.
“It is possible to want trans people to be safe and happy while recognising that there are risks to women and girls in eradicating single sex spaces. Women and girls are being pressured to surrender their hard-won rights to a group that poses a proven danger to them. The statistics don’t lie. Some – not all – trans-identified males have committed sexual and violent offences against women and girls. Some male predators have capitalised on gender identity activism to claim a trans identity they never espoused pre-conviction or assault, “Rowling stated.
“Telling women and girls they must accept increased risk to themselves to appease male feelings is the very definition of the patriarchy you claim to stand against. Vulnerable women are paying the price for a fashionable fallacy that has serious, real-world consequences, “ she added.
Notably, JK Rowling has always been unapologetic in voicing her opinions against gender identity politics which is rapidly becoming mainstream in the Western world. In some countries, biological male sex offenders are being sent to women’s prisons, only on the basis of self-identification where a male just needs to ‘claim’ to be a woman and then he gets ‘identified’ as a woman.
Back in 2022, Rowling drew the ire of ‘gender-identity’ fanatics for wishing “merry terfmas”. Notably, TERF is an acronym that stands for a “trans-exclusionary radical feminist”.
Recently, she launched an X trend “#NotOurCrimes” slamming the media reports calling a transgender cat killer and convicted murderer “a woman”.
“I’m so sick of this shit. This is not a woman. These are #NotOurCrimes,” the Harry Potter author wrote.
Coming back to India Willoughby, this is not the first time that Rowling and Willoughby have been at loggerheads over their views on gender identity. In January last year, Willoughby claimed that she is “more a woman” than JK Rowling. “I’m more of a woman than JK Rowling will ever be,” Willoughby wrote.
Hitting back at the ‘trans activist’, Rowling simply wrote, “Citation needed.”
When JK Rowling preferred to go to jail than accept trans persons as women
Interestingly, Rowling has received immense support as well as criticism for her unapologetic opinions on gender identity politics. The author had once said that she would rather “happily” go to jail than refer to a trans person as a woman.
“I’ll happily do two years if the alternative is compelled speech and forced denial of the reality and importance of sex. Bring on the court case, I say. It’ll be more fun than I’ve ever had on a red carpet,” she stated.