Harry Potter author JK Rowling has revealed that she is a survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
The 54-year-old made the disclosure in a 3,700-word essay titled 'TERF Wars', posted in the aftermath of a series of controversial tweets at the weekend which led to allegations of transphobia against her.
In the piece, Rowling explains her long-standing interest in trans issues and specifically how they interact with feminism and goes on to make a candid revelation about her private life.
"I've been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor," she wrote. "This isn't because I'm ashamed those things happened to me, but because they're traumatic to revisit and remember.
"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 managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I'm now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be. However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault don't disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you've made.
"If you could come inside my head and understand what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, you'd find solidarity and kinship. I have a visceral sense of the terror in which those trans women will have spent their last seconds on earth, because 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.
"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. Like women, they're most likely to be killed by sexual partners. Trans women who work in the sex industry, particularly trans women of colour, are at particular risk. Like every other domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor I know, I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who've been abused by men.
"So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal 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 – and, as I've said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones – then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth."
The essay can be read in full on Rowling's website.
Neil Wilkes
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