J.K Rowling: The One-Hit Wonder Gone Under

J.K Rowling is no stranger to controversy. At fifty-seven years of age, both her work and online persona have been the subject of aggressive public scrutiny. For good reason.

Rowling first came under fire for transphobic comments in 2020. Accused of being anti-feminist with a trans-exclusive agenda, Twitter users have taken upon themselves the task of correcting these opinions and providing what is deemed as necessary reform. Now, with the release of her sixth instalment in her Cormoran Strike crime series, The Ink Black Heart, political decorum has taken this controversy to new heights.

Released on the 30th of August 2022 under the pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, the book was met with immediate criticism rooted in political backlash. Rowling’ former statements on Twitter have fuelled public opinion to the extent that any novel released thereafter is immediately in correlation to this dispute. Upon the book’s release, critics were quick to point out the similarities between the storyline and Rowling’s online confrontations.

The past two years have seen Rowling like tweets which described transgender women as “men in dresses”, ridiculed an opinion piece that employed the phrase “people who menstruate”, supported researcher Maya Forstater after she was fired for public transphobic tweets, and composed an elaborate opinion piece in June 2020 which provided misguided context into her concern for “new trans activism”.

As reported by Variety, Rowling continues to argue that “discussing gender identity negates biological sex”. The author claims to be an activist of women’s rights, yet her previous online statements are evidence of the contrary; feminism is only for those born female in a female body and therefore transgender women are excluded from this activism.

Rowling’s new book introduces readers to Edie Ledwell, the creator of a popular YouTube animation, whose world takes a turn for the worse when her work is criticised for being both racist and ableist. The scene about a hermaphrodite worm and “taking the piss out of non-binary kids” doesn’t help the work’s accusations of transphobia.

In spite of the growing backlash, and Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson condemning the author’s remarks, Rowling has only doubled-down on her perspective, most recently opposing Scotland’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill: “Scotland will harm the most vulnerable women in society: those seeking help after male violence/rape and incarcerated women.”

Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, counters that the bill will not alter safe spaces for women. Instead, it is designed to make gender recognition certificates more accessible so one may receive a new birth certificate with their correct gender.

At surface value, The Ink Black Heart appears to target social justice advocators. Ledwell is subjected to anonymous rape and death threats after publicising her opinion, as well as having her private information doxed. The book’s mocking tone implies that Ledwell is the victim of a masterful scheme designed to create waves of aggressive backlash against her.

It appears as though Rowling has taken to defence tactics by fictionalising her perceived status as a victim of cyberbullying. But while she has made comments online claiming to support transgender identities, her ideologies are questionable when the inspiration for her pen name is a renowned supporter of gay conversion therapy.

But despite the similarities, Rowling tells Graham Norton that she’d “written the book before certain things happened to me online” and thinks “everyone’s going to see this as a response to what happened to me but it genuinely wasn’t.”

In the Q&A section of Galbraith’s website, Rowling further contends, “this book certainly isn’t created from my own experience” and that “sometimes life imitates art more than one would like.”

With the abundance of information publicised by Rowling, one need only peruse the blogosphere to see that critics aren’t buying her explanation.