JK Rowling: ‘I could paper the house with death threats’

JK Rowling has revealed that she has “received so many death threats I could paper the house with them” after trans activists protested outside her house and disclosed her address online.

The three activists were pictured holding pro-trans placards outside her home, with her address visible in the background. The photo was shared widely online before they removed it after receiving an “overwhelming” level of opposition.

Rowling tweeted that the activists believed they “would intimidate me out of speaking up for women’s sex-based rights”, when in fact “I haven’t stopped speaking out”.

‘Hounded’

The Harry Potter author said she has watched appalled over the last few years as many women “have been subject to campaigns of intimidation which range from being hounded on social media, the targeting of their employers, all the way up to doxxing and direct threats of violence, including rape.

“None of these women are protected in the way I am. They and their families have been put into a state of fear and distress for no other reason than that they refuse to uncritically accept that the socio-political concept of gender identity should replace that of sex.”

‘Doxxing’ is a term used to describe maliciously revealing private information about someone on the internet.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister backed Rowling, stating: “I don’t think any individual should be targeted in that way. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect and that people are able to share their views, as long as it is done in that fashion.”

Intimidation

Writing in The Telegraph, Dr Joanna Williams said: “Activists may have failed to intimidate Rowling and Stock, but they have been successful in chilling public debate.”

She said that such actions “send a message to all women tempted to speak out: you could be next”, and “you too could lose your job, have your privacy invaded and be subjected to abuse”.

Dr Williams added that “it is hardly surprising that, in the face of such intimidation, many women choose to remain silent even when their rights are being eroded and the safety of vulnerable women may be at risk. As silence is, by definition, unquantifiable, we simply do not know how many people feel unable to speak freely about sex and gender”.

Woman

Earlier this year, leading author Margaret Atwood was branded ‘transphobic’ by trans activists for sharing an article which warned that gender-neutral language is leading to the “erasure of women”.

On her Twitter page, the author retweeted the article “Why can’t we say ‘woman’ anymore?” by columnist Rosie DiManno without making any comment of her own.