JK Rowling has tweeted herself into another trans rights controversy — this time involving fellow author Stephen King.
On Sunday the Harry Potter author tweeted a quote by the late feminist writer Andrea Dworkin, which King then retweeted.
“Andrea Dworkin wrote: ‘Men often react to women’s words — speaking and writing — as if they were acts of violence; sometimes men react to women’s words with violence.’ It isn’t hateful for women speak about their own experiences, nor do they deserve shaming for doing so”, Rowling posted, which the “Misery” author then shared on his own timeline.
Rowling appeared to take his retweet as an endorsement, and praised him for standing up for what she saw as women’s rights.
“I’ve always revered @StephenKing, but today my love reached — maybe not Annie Wilkes levels — but new heights. 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,” she wrote. “Thank you, Stephen.”
Less than one hour later, one of King’s followers asked him to “address the TERF tweet”; Rowling has frequently been accused of being a “TERF”, or trans-exclusionary radical feminist, by trans rights activists.
“You should address the TERF tweet. By telling us constant readers if you believe trans women are women,” the follower challenged.
“Yes,” King replied. “Trans women are women.”
Shortly afterwards, Rowling deleted her glowing appraisal of King.
For now, the two authors still follow each other on Twitter.
Rowling has been involved in several clashes with the trans community online, many of whom believe she is transphobic.
In the continuing storm of controversy, Harry Potter movie alumni including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Katie Leung, Noma Dumezweni and Evanna Lynch have all proclaimed themselves trans rights allies.
