JK Rowling counters Shitstorm with murder

J.K. Rowling once enchanted generations around the world with her story about the young wizard Harry Potter. Studies even attested to the work that the moral guidelines it contained made its readers better people. Tolerance, courage, openness, moral courage and a great desire to read and learn characterize the Potterheads – as Potter fans call themselves. So a seal of quality.

Then Rowling declared that the wise headmaster Albus Dumbledore was gay – and the fan community cheered even more. It seemed like the British author couldn’t go wrong with her opinion. But appearances were deceptive.

«Wumben? wimpund? Woomud?»

It all began in the Corona summer of 2020. Rowling, who publishes a successful crime series under the male pseudonym Robert Galbraith, had just finished volume five about the detective Cormoran Strike and with the first draft for volume six, which nobody knew would come one day «The Ink Black Heart» would be called.

On the short message service Twitter, she shared an opinion piece that called for more justice for “people who menstruate” for the time after Corona. «People who menstruate? I’m sure there used to be a word for these people,” Rowling typed. In addition, based on the English «women»: «Wumben? wimpund? Woomud?»

Now the fan community was no longer cheering. The LGBT community, many of whom are fans of Rowling’s fantastic world who grew up with Harry and friends on their minds, felt offended. Because trans men can also menstruate, and trans women don’t experience monthly bleeding because they don’t have a uterus. That’s the argument.

Rowling, instead of apologizing, backed off. Explained that she has no problem with trans people, but with the fact that biological sex is played down, even questioned. Because that would take away from women, among other things, their political clout as an interest group “woman”. As a feminist, Rowling said, she couldn’t accept that. Twitter and the rest of the social networks were fuming.

Rowling’s opinion is likely to be so bitter for many fans because the magical world she created explicitly included minorities and gave a home to many children and teenagers who in reality didn’t know where they belonged. Now this nest was soiled.

False friends

Rowling’s statements were joined by their new friendships. For example, those with Baroness Emma Nicholson, with whom Rowling founded the Lumos charity, which supports orphans worldwide. Nicholson, Member of Parliament and Honorary Vice-President of the Booker Foundation, had publicly spoken out against abortion and same-sex relationships. The same year that Rowling wondered if there was another word for “menstruating people,” Nicholson was stripped of her honorary vice presidency at Booker because of her homophobic statements. With Lumos, however, the baroness remains part of the game.

There is also the friendship, or at least sympathy, for Catholic activist Caroline Farrow, who publicly stated: “My children will learn that homosexual acts are sinful because they separate us from God. Share it if you like, and we’ll see if the Stasi comes knocking soon.” When Farrow was attacked on and off social media for this and similar statements, Rowling – now used to being a target himself, especially online – sent a compassionate tweet to Farrow with the words “Lots of love to you”.

Anger and incomprehension in Rowling’s fan base grew. Air was made especially on Twitter. And Rowling has experienced what can be summarized as a “gigantic shitstorm” in the past two years. She had been uninvited from events, she explained. And the creator wasn’t part of the big Harry Potter anniversary reunion either. However, not because she was not invited, but because it was about the films, not the books, the British later announced.

Does art imitate reality?

How exactly a shitstorm can look like on the Internet can be seen on the one hand on Twitter. On the other hand, you can read about it in Rowling’s latest Cormoran Strike thriller.

The book, which was published in English at the end of August, tells the story of the extremely successful cartoonist Edie. Edie’s fan base accuses her of racism and transphobia after a publication. Men in particular, who do not begrudge her success, hunt her down online and offline. Criticisms of Edie are presented by author Rowling as unfounded, at times ridiculous, and always malicious. And it ends where a crime novel has to go sooner rather than later in order to maintain its raison d’être.

The British press now agrees that the thriller is Rowling’s reckoning with her critics and haters. It was also clear to Rowling that the fiction seemed to be tailored to reality. She told talk show host Graham Norton: “I said to my husband, ‘I think everyone will see that as a reaction to what happened to me’, but it really wasn’t. The first draft of the book was already done by the time certain things happened.”

On September 1st, while nostalgic Potterheads – and mostly disguised as witches and wizards – gathered at King’s Cross station to celebrate the fictional start of school at Hogwarts, online critics rallied under the hashtag #icantstandher.

The remaining fans countered with #istandwithher and defended their heroine’s latest litter. The dispute over Rowling’s possible revenge shouldn’t do any harm, at least in terms of sales figures: At Orell Füssli alone, the English crime thriller landed in the top 5 on the first day of sales.