J.K. Rowling

In 2006, Rowling posted a short essay titled “For Girls Only, Probably” on her personal website. In the piece, which has since been removed, Rowling expressed concern over her daughters living in a world obsessed with weight loss, saying she didn't want them to be "empty-headed, self-obsessed, emaciated clones.” 

A re-posting of the essay on Facebook went viral with 212,000 reactions, 157,000 shares and close to 9,000 comments. Many fans thanked and praised Rowling for her words while others took issue with the piece, accusing Rowling of fat-shaming in the “Harry Potter” books.

In response to Rowling’s “For Girls Only, Probably” essay, journalist Simon Walters of The Mail on Sunday accused Rowling of hypocrisy and fat-shaming in the “Harry Potter” books, alleging that Rowling describes bully Dudley Dursley as “disgustingly fat" while her hero Harry Potter is "slim and attractive.” 

Rowling reacted to this criticism by posting a response on her website that "several of my most important, admirable and loveable characters" are "on the plumper side." 

In a January 2015 post from the fat-acceptance blog Dances With Fat, writer Ragen Chastain critiqued Rowling’s 2006 essay, asserting that Rowling supports the assumption that fatness is an inherently negative trait. 

In response to Rowling’s statement, “Is ‘fat’ really the worst thing a human being can be? Is ‘fat’ worse than ‘vindictive’, ‘jealous’, ‘shallow’, ‘vain’, ‘boring’ or ‘cruel’?” Chastain wrote: 

“I have mixed feelings about this … A lot of the people who emailed me about the quote mentioned that there was something about it that made them uncomfortable, but they couldn’t put their finger on it. For me, it’s about the fact that the quote makes it seem like being ‘fat’ is comparable to being ‘cruel.’” 

Chastain clarified: “That is not the case. Fat is a body size, and cruelty is a behavior that hurts others.”   

On June 6, 2020, Rowling criticized the framing of a Devex article on global menstrual health that included the phrase “people who menstruate” in the title. 

Rowling tweeted: “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” 

She later sent a followup tweet stating her opinion that “if sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the reality of women globally is totally erased.” 

Rowling stated that she “[knows] and [loves] trans people,” but alleged that “erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”

Twitter backlash ensued almost instantly, with many dedicated fans breaking ties with Rowling entirely. 

On June 10, 2020, Rowling followed up with a blog post on her personal website explaining the motivations behind her tweets in more detail. She provided five reasons for why she chose to publicly criticize transgender activism: 

1. Her charitable trust “supports projects for female prisoners and for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse,” and she also funds “medical research into MS, a disease that behaves very differently in men and women.” She states that “the new trans activism” is “pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender” which may impact the causes she supports.
2. As an “ex-teacher and the founder of a children’s charity” she has “an interest in both education and safeguarding” and is concerned “about the effect the trans rights movement is having on both.”
3. She’s an author that’s been banned and so is “interested in freedom of speech and [has] publicly defended it, even unto Donald Trump.”
4. She is “concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning” and wonders if she had been born 30 years later if she would have tried to transition. “The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. I struggled with severe OCD as a teenager. If I’d found community and sympathy online that I couldn’t find in my immediate environment, I believe I could have been persuaded to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he’d have preferred.”
5. Rowling shared publically for the first time that she’s a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence and worries that legislation giving trans women access to bathrooms and changing rooms will also give cis-men access to those spaces. “I’m mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces … I believe the majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to others, but are vulnerable for all the reasons I’ve outlined. Trans people need and deserve protection … I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”

Twitter users responded by labeling the essay a “transphobia manifesto,” “T*RF bingo card,” and “dangerous hogwash that will only hurt trans people and reinforce a gender binary that oppresses women.”

Actors from the “Harry Potter” film series also spoke out against Rowling’s anti-trans comments. Daniel Radcliffe, who portrayed Harry Potter, posted a blog in collaboration with The Trevor Project in which he affirmed his belief that “transgender women are women.” 

He ended the post with the hope that those affected by Rowling’s perceived transphobia “don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you … if you found anything in these stories that resonated with you and helped you at any time in your life — then that is between you and the book that you read, and it is sacred. And in my opinion nobody can touch that.”

Actress Emma Watson, who portrayed Hermione Granger, also tweeted her support of the trans community: “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”

Rupert Grint, who played Ron Weasley, told the Sunday Times, “I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers. Trans women are women. Trans men are men. We should all be entitled to live with love and without judgment.” 

Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley, tweeted that “Transwomen are Women. I see and love you.” 

Following her controversial tweets about trans identity, Rowling released a second series of tweets in July 2020 where she questioned the use of hormone therapy in transgender youth, describing it as a new type of conversion therapy: 

“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,” and “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.”

Trans advocates were quick to dispute Rowling’s claims, labeling Rowling’s statements as misinformation.

In response to Rowling’s Twitter thread comparing hormone therapy to conversion therapy, the hashtag #RIPJKRowling began trending with many fans cutting ties with the author.

In response to Rowling’s controversial tweets, Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights advocacy organization issued a statement on August 3, 2020 condemning Rowling’s stance on sex and gender, saying:

“I have spoken with J.K. Rowling to express my profound disappointment that she has chosen to use her remarkable gifts to create a narrative that diminishes the identity of trans and nonbinary people.” 

Following this statement, Rowling returned her Ripple of Hope Award that had been presented to her by the organization in December 2019. 

A day after Rowling returned her Ripple of Hope Award, actress Katherine Waterston, who plays Tina Goldstein in the “Harry Potter” spinoff “Fantastic Beasts” franchise posted an Instagram Story in support of trans women. 

Her Story showed a Guardian article by American writer Rebecca Solnit, with the headline, “Trans women pose no threat to cis women, but we pose a threat to them if we make them outcasts” with certain passages underlined and circled in red, including: “Sorry, you can’t be a feminist if you’re not for everyone’s human rights, notably other women’s human rights.”

In an interview with The Independent, Waterston said, “Because I was associated with “Fantastic Beasts,” it felt important to communicate my position. One wondered if they might be grouped in with other people’s views by association.”

In light of the public controversy around Rowling’s stance on sex and gender, many fans began reevaluting the themes in her work, accusing Rowling of fat-shaming in the “Harry Potter” series through her unflattering portrayal of overweight characters like the Dursleys.

On May 30, 2021, Fat Activist Ali Thompson published a YouTube video titled “We need to talk about Dudley Dursley- Harry Potter and Fatphobia” which explored fatphobia in the “Harry Potter” books.