JK Rowling condemns ‘activists’ for leaking home address on Twitter

JK Rowling has said that “three activists” have leaked her address online in a photo posted on Twitter.

The Harry Potter author said that, on Friday (19 November), the “activist actors... took pictures of themselves in front of our house, carefully positioning themselves to ensure” that the address could be seen.

Rowling, who in recent years has made headlines for sharing her views on transgender rights, claimed the photos were posted after she “spoke up for women’s sex-based rights”.

She urged anybody who shared the images to delete them, and thanked police for their “support and assistance” in relation to the doxing, a term used for when private information is published online with malicious intent.

A Police Scotland spokesperson told The Independent: “We are aware of this incident and police enquiries are ongoing.”

Speaking about the case, Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson also told The Independent: “We don’t think that any individual should be targeted in that way.

“We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect, and people are able to share their views as long as it’s done in that fashion.”

In her tweets posted on Monday (22 November), Rowling said that she has “now received so many death threats I could paper the house with them”, and added that she will not “stop speaking out”.

Rowling was met with a backlash in June 2020 after calling out an article’s use of the phrase “people who menstruate”.

“I’m sure there used to be a word for those people,” she wrote, adding: “Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

While there was a contingent of Twitter users who supported Rowling for her tweet, there were plenty – including numerous celebrities – who criticised her comment as “anti-trans” and “transphobic”, arguing that transgender, non-binary and non-gender conforming people can also menstruate.

Rowling later added that she supports transgender rights and took issue with being labelled a “TERF”, a trans-exclusionary radical feminist.

In an essay, the author addressed the backlash and revealed her experiences of surviving alleged domestic abuse and sexual assault.

However, the essay sparked further criticism and many actors from the Harry Potter franchise, including Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson, have since voiced their support for trans women.

The charity Mermaids then wrote an open letter addressed to Rowling outlining why the organisation believes the author’s comments are damaging to the trans community.

“We would like to begin by offering our solidarity with you as a survivor of domestic and sexual abuse,” the letter began, before going on to address Rowling’s views.

“To address the core of your point, trans rights do not come at the expense of women’s rights,” it read.

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