JK Rowling doesn’t consider herself ‘cancelled’ over views on trans people: ‘My book sales went up’
JK Rowling’s comments about trans people has led to much online backlash over the last year. (Getty Images/Stuart C. Wilson)
JK Rowling does not consider herself “cancelled” over her controversial views on trans people which, she insists, are not due to “irrational fear or hatred”.
The author has been vocal in recent years about transgender people and what she considers to be women’s rights.
In an interview with anti-trans journalist Suzanne Moore for her blog Letters to Suzanne, the pair laugh at the idea of being cancelled.
“The only time I’ve ever made reference to being cancelled, my book sales went up,” Rowling said to Moore.
JK Rowling goes on to question what a ‘safe space’ is.
“For me, a safe space is not somewhere where I have to only use the ‘correct terms’.”
She goes on to say that a space where she is “not allowed to profess a belief in biology” is not a safe space for her or “many, many women”.
Earlier in their conversation, Rowling said she has “no irrational fear or hatred towards trans people in the slightest”, followed by “but if you’re going to say it’s ‘hate’ not to believe in a gendered soul, then we cannot have a discussion”.
The second part of the blog is about a rape and sexual assault crisis centre Rowling has launched in Edinburgh that excludes trans women as both employees and service users.
While JK Rowling might not consider herself ‘cancelled’, she has engaged in conversations around others, and their views on “cancel culture”.
Earlier in 2022, musician and activist Billy Bragg asked her to apologise over a “blatantly inflammatory accusation” after he backed Graham Norton on cancel culture.
Norton, speaking at the Cheltenham Literary Festival in October, had batted away questions about Rowling and instead urged people to “talk to trans people, talk to the parents of trans kids, talk to doctors, talk to psychiatrists, to someone who can illuminate this in some way“.
Bragg’s request for an apology was because Rowling conflated his “view with support for rape and death threats”.
