https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8500911/JK-Rowling-joins-150-authors-academics-calling-end-cancel-culture.htmlJK Rowling joins Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Noam Chomsky, and Martin Amis among 150 authors and academics in a call to defend free speech after Harry Potter creator suffered a barrage of abuse for voicing views on trans issues
Authors and academics from left and right unite over cause of free speech
Margaret Atwood signed letter despite opposing JK Rowling's trans views
Open letter warns the 'lifeblood of society' is 'daily becoming more constricted'
Writers ask for leeway for 'experimentation, risk-taking, and even mistakes'
The letter goes on to warn Donald Trump represents a 'real threat to democracy'
Ms. Rowling has been slammed by Harry Potter stars and many trans activists
By Luke May and Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 07:40, 8 July 2020 | Updated: 12:29, 8 July 2020
150 celebrated authors, academics, and journalists including Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis, and Noam Chomsky have signed a letter slamming 'cancel culture' after JK Rowling was attacked for speaking out about trans women. Ms. Rowling has also backed the movement spearheaded by Pulitzer-prize winning writer Anne Applebaum who warned that 'Twitter mobs' including Donald Trump were placing 'very important restraints on freedom of speech'. She told the BBC today: 'There are a lot of writers, artists, and journalists who are afraid of approaching certain subjects, afraid of crossing lines or even lacking sufficient zeal for particular subjects because they're afraid of their peers.'
Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid's Tale, has also added her name despite publicly disagreeing with the Harry Potter author, and the letter is signed by household names from the left and right-wings of the political spectrum who have united around the cause. The letter, published in Harper's calls for: 'The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted' and demands that they want to 'uphold the value of robust and even caustic counter speech from all quarters.' It later adds: 'It is now all too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to perceived transgressions of speech and thought.'
Ms. Rowling has seen Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and Bonnie Wright have all publicly criticised the author who was accused of transphobia. Four writers then resigned from The Blair Partnership, which has long represented the Harry Potter author, who has been criticised for defending a Scottish researcher who was fired for claiming that ‘men cannot change into women’.
Ms. Rowling said online trolls had abused her with hideous language, calling her 'transphobic, a c***, a b***' and saying she 'deserved punching and death'. Critics slammed the timing of their social media posts declaring their 'love' for trans women hours after the author spoke about escaping her 'violent marriage' to Portuguese TV journalist Jorge Arantes and also revealed she was seriously sexually assaulted as a young woman. Anne Applebaum has also signed the letter, she told BBC Radio Four today: 'We're worried about pressures that come at the moment from both the right and the left. In the United States, we have a President who denounces by names the owners of newspapers and seeks to restrain them and seeks to actually use tools of government to stop them. At the same time, we have the phenomenon of social media panics and Twitter mobs that seek to silence people who veer from one orthodoxy or another. These are both very important restraints on freedoms of speech and also on people's sense of risk aversion'.
The journalist says the letter's purpose is to 'put some spine' into universities and other institutions who 'have become afraid of Twitter mobs'.
She added: 'It wouldn't hurt younger people to go back and listen to arguments that were made 20 and 30 years ago in order to understand some of the context and some of the discomfort that people feel now.'
Ms. Rowling, 54, had first clashed with gender activists after appearing to ‘like’ a post on Twitter saying that trans women are ‘men in dresses’, which she said was an accident. Then last year she faced the biggest backlash of her career after defending a female researcher who was fired for claiming that ‘men cannot change into women’.
This month, she made a jibe at an article titled ‘Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate’.
She tweeted: ‘I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?’
Miss Rowling, 54, even suggested she might have become a man herself 'to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he'd have preferred' if she had been subjected to similar pressures when she was a girl.
In an extraordinary and brave 3,669-word essay posted on her personal website, the author wrote a detailed explanation about why she has become embroiled in a bitter row played out on Twitter and elsewhere with campaigners who seek greater rights for men and women changing their gender. Miss Rowling railed against the harm she said was being done to society by activists from the 'trans rights movement'. She said: 'Huge numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans activists.'
She cited five reasons for speaking out, including revealing that in her twenties she was the victim of a serious sexual assault. And she also spoke about her 'violent marriage' to Portuguese TV journalist Jorge Arantes. Miss Rowling, whose boy wizard books are the biggest-selling in history, said she had received countless death threats for talking about transgender issues, but vowed: 'Endlessly unpleasant as [the] constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm.'
She did not identify the person responsible for a 'serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties', but told her fans: 'I too have known moments of blind fear when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the shaky self-restraint of my attacker.'
Emma Watson joined Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe in his criticism of Miss Rowling, 54, who was accused of being anti-trans after implying only women can menstruate. Radcliffe apologised to those who 'feel their experience of the [Harry Potter] books has been tarnished' and said he was 'deeply sorry for the pain'.
Eddie Redmayne has become the latest actor to condemn JK Rowling's views on transgender people saying he wants to make 'absolutely clear' he does not agree with her. The actor, 38, who starred in the Harry Potter spin-off films Fantastic Beasts, said trans people should be allowed to 'live their lives peacefully'.
Redmayne, who was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of a trans woman in The Danish Girl, said in a statement: 'Respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative and over the years I have been trying to constantly educate myself. This is an ongoing process. As someone who has worked with both JK Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo's comments.'
The father-of-two added: 'Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid. I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse.'
On Sunday the author, who also goes by the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, said: 'Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function.'
Margaret Atwood voiced her support for the trans community on Monday, tweeting: 'Biology doesn't deal in sealed Either/Or compartments. We're all part of a flowing Bell curve. Respect that! Rejoice in Nature's infinite variety!'
Both authors, joined by the likes of Salman Rushdie, who was accused of blasphemy by the some members of the Muslim faith when his book The Satanic Verses was published in 1988, have supported an open letter published in Harper's Magazine.
The letter opens by praising a 'moment of trial' cultural institutions face trial' in the midst of mass protests for racial and social justice but warns open debate risks being weakened. It reads: 'As we applaud the first development, we also raise our voices against the second. The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world and have a powerful ally in Donald Trump, who represents a real threat to democracy.'
It goes on to say: 'The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted. While we have come to expect this on the radical right, censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture: an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty. The restriction of debate, whether by a repressive government or an intolerant society, invariably hurts those who lack power and makes everyone less capable of democratic participation. The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other. As writers, we need a culture that leaves us room for experimentation, risk-taking, and even mistakes.'
Transgender model and activist Munroe Bergdorf has slammed JK Rowling as 'dangerous' and a 'threat to LGBT people' in a row over the author's latest controversial tweets. The Harry Potter creator likened hormone therapy and surgery for transgender young people to 'a new kind of conversion therapy'. Her statements were backed by Baroness Emma Nicholson who is embroiled in a row with Bergdorf over allegations that the Tory peer bullied her who dubbed Rowling 'the very bravest of women'. She was also lent support from Walt Heyer, who transitioned to a woman and then back to a male who called her 'my hero'. But Bergdorf was quick to slam the author's statement and wrote: 'Mark my words. JK Rowling is dangerous and poses a threat to LGBT people. Trans healthcare is not conversion therapy. This is INSANE.'
In a separate Tweet, she added: 'JK Rowling is not a scientist. She is not a doctor. She is not an expert on gender. She is not a supporter of our community. She is a billionaire, cisgender, heterosexual, white woman who has decided that she knows what is best for us and our bodies. This is not her fight.'
She also called the author an 'enemy of progress' and branded her comments 'evil'. But there was support for the writer from Walt Heyer, 80, who transitioned to a woman and then back again to male. The American, who had 12 years of hormone therapy, backed the Harry Potter creator. He told the MailOnline: 'JK is quite correct to equate hormone therapy and surgery to "conversion therapy" very accurately put. The people are having a "row with her" because she is absolutely telling it like it is and frankly JK has become my hero for her willingness to stand up to the nonsense. JK is just getting on with the truth, bravo to her not many have such pluckiness.'
Ms Rowling had written: 'Many health professionals are concerned that young people struggling with their mental health are being shunted towards hormones and surgery when this may not be in their best interests. Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function.'
She went on to cite articles discussing the long-term effects of both antidepressants and hormone therapies. She added: 'None of that may trouble you or disturb your belief in your own righteousness. But if so, I can’t pretend I care much about your bad opinion of me.'
Miss Rowling said online trolls had abused her with hideous language, calling her 'transphobic, a c***, a b***' and saying she 'deserved punching and death'.
She added that one had even cited the villain in her Harry Potter series: 'You are Voldemort, said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language I'd understand.'
The author said she was not revealing her own suffering to garner sympathy, but to make a point and stand up for freedom of speech. She said she wanted all transgender women to be safe from abuse and harm from men, but 'at the same time, I do not want to make natal [born] girls and women less safe'. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman, then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth,' she wrote.
Miss Rowling added: 'I'm concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition, and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be 'detransitioning' (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility.'
She expressed concern about the 'insular echo chamber' of online services popular with teenagers such as YouTube in which youngsters can talk about transgender identification. Miss Rowling said: 'I'm an ex-teacher and the founder of a children's charity, which gives me an interest in both education and safeguarding. Like many others, I have deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement is having on both.'
She claimed: 'The UK has experienced a 4,400 percent increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.'
The author urged politicians to be more robust, saying: 'Speaking as a biological woman, a lot of people in positions of power really need to grow a pair (which is doubtless literally possible).'
Miss Rowling said: 'I haven't written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me all I'm asking all I want is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse.'
Ms Rowling, who also writes crime novels under the pen name Robert Galbraith, also referred to the backlash she received in December last year after supporting researcher Maya Forstater, who was sacked for tweeting that transgender people cannot change their biological sex. She wrote: 'I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called c**t and b***h and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me he'd composted them.'
The author's post comes after her incendiary comments on Twitter last week. After writing her initial controversial tweet, the author continued with another thread speaking about the concept of biological sex. 'If sex isn't real, there's no same-sex attraction,' she tweeted. '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.'
Ms Rowling's tweets caused a firestorm of responses from the LGBTQ community and others who were upset with her words.
A Harry Potter fan group tweeted its disapproval of Rowling's post and encouraged followers to donate to a group that supports transgender women. LGBT rights group GLAAD issued a response on Twitter, calling Ms Rowling's tweets 'inaccurate and cruel.' The group then asked those upset by the author's comments to support organizations that help transgender people. 'JK Rowling continues to align herself with an ideology which willfully distorts facts about gender identity and people who are trans,' GLAAD tweeted. 'In 2020, there is no excuse for targeting trans people.'
In the 11 years since she completed the Harry Potter books, which have netted her £795million. She wrote four books for grown-ups; The Casual Vacancy was a look at small-town politics, while her three crime fiction novels under the pen name Robert Galbraith have all been best sellers. She's also spearheaded Lumos, her charity campaigning for orphaned children, and brought up her own family; a single mother to Jessica, now 24, when she started writing Harry Potter, she also has son David, 15, and daughter Mackenzie, 13, with her GP husband Neil Murray. But she has never been able to let go of Harry Potter entirely. Even back in 2007, she admitted she had written detailed notes about what happened next to her protagonists for her own amusement. 'I couldn't stop, I had to know what happened next,' she said of her enduring fascination with her fictional creations.
In 2011, she launched the website Pottermore, which continued with small stories about Harry's world, adding more and more layers to an already complicated tapestry. This year, all pretence about saying goodbye to Harry and his world has disappeared. Not only have we seen the opening of box-office smash play Harry Potter And The Cursed Child 'the eighth Harry Potter story' about Harry and Ginny Weasley's son Albus and his difficult relationship with his father but next month sees the release of a new film returning to the wizarding world. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is based on a textbook Harry and his friends read at their wizarding school Hogwarts. A series of five films.
