On J.K. Rowling
I have today removed from my website my essay “On the Use of Characteronyms in the Works of J.K. Rowling.”
I couldn’t condone any of her recent words regarding the lives of trans people and it has become increasingly uncomfortable for me to hear her double down on the issue and use what I see as increasingly weaselly-worded language to justify her stance.
I loved Harry Potter (as the essay suggested) and I have always supported the quality of her writing in the face of the very severe – and in my opinion – snobbish criticism she’s received, but I cannot continue to do so any more. In my opinion she’s adopted some hateful (not to mention bafflingly wrong-minded) beliefs and I will not support them and – as a result – her.
This will doubtless not matter a jot to her as I’m a writer of very little import in the world, but it matters to me to take a stand.