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JK Rowling sparks controversy over comments about age and gender transition

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JK Rowling

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JK Rowling has stated that 14 years old is too young to make a decision about gender transition as she has described how she questioned her sexuality as an adolescent. Harry Potter author Rowling believes young people are incapable of understanding what loss of fertility is since they are too young to understand it. She also said that friends ‘begged’ her not to speak out about transgender issues and warned her against getting involved in the controversy because of the backlash she might face. Despite this, she said that she felt women were being ‘shut down’ and couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t speak out.

During an interview for The Witch Trials of JK Rowling, the Edinburgh-based writer shared her experience as an adolescent… Considering my friends as pretty, I questioned my sexuality. Are you saying I’m gay? Despite growing up as a straight woman, she never forgot the anxiety she felt regarding her appearance. As Ms Rowling told the Times, at the age of 14, she would not have thought she wanted babies, but motherhood has been ‘the most joyful, wonderful experience of my life’ and she could not have comprehended what she was giving up.

The Author of Harry Potter JK Rowling Maintains That People Are Too Young To Decide To Change Their Gender At The Age Of 14
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Adolescence is too early for people to decide to change their gender, according to JK Rowling, who questioned her own sexual identity while an adolescent. It is unlikely that people that young could truly comprehend what fertility loss is, according to the multimillionaire Harry Potter author. Moreover, Rowling said her friends warned her to stay out of the controversy due to the backlash she might face if she spoke out on transgender issues. As reported by the Times, Ms Rowling said that at the age of 14, she said she would not want children, but becoming a mother has been ‘the most joyful and fulfilling thing in my life’. She said she could not have comprehended what she was giving up at the time. Being raised in a misogynistic home, she said she did not feel at home. When she was 11 or 12 years old, the writer described her as looking ‘very androgenous’ and having short hair. The change in my body triggered acute anxiety in me and caused me to become aware that it was attracting unwanted attention, particularly from boys at school. Rowling has received backlash for voicing concerns that women’s rights would be violated if biological sex were abolished in favor of gender identity.

The first time she voiced her views was in 2019 when she backed Maya Forstater, a tax expert who was suspended for tweeting that ‘men cannot become women’. Later she explained her position in an essay in which she also disclosed that she had been abused and domestically abused during her first marriage. Ms Rowling joined the conversation because she was witnessing women being silenced. Speaking up is a very difficult thing for people, so I really started feeling this moral obligation to speak up. As I watched, I knew what would happen. If I’m being honest, other people probably could speak but do not want to. Although they will not lose their livelihoods, a lot of women won’t be able to speak since they will not be able to pay their rent. In retrospect, I should have spoken up earlier and joined the discussion. Despite people who were close to me begging me not to do it, I did not hold back. They were worried about what that would mean, they had watched what had happened to other public figures and there was certainly a feeling that it wasn’t wise. Rowling, 57, said she didn’t care if a boycott of her books happened because she was speaking out on behalf of other women who felt too scared to do the same.

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