To think JK Rowling is a fabulous human being

[TheAdventuresoftheWishingChair]

I just came across her book, 'Very Good Lives' which is all about overcoming adversity. I think it's so important that successful women talk about the times they've failed and how success is about pushing past that. I'm reading it just at a time I need to hear that message. I can definitely recommend buying a copy if you are in need of a boost or have some pennies to spend on something nourishing.

I was also looking into her charity, Lumos, and I had no idea just how much she was trying to help disadvantaged children. I love that she's putting her money and position to good use.

The term 'national treasure' generally makes me want to poke my own eyeballs out with a rusty kitchen utensil but AIBU to say she is an utter treasure and we are lucky to have her. She makes the world a better place.

That's all!

By the way - you are on mumsnet. It's not anti-trans to use the word 'woman' but I'm sure the word 'mum' won't be far behind. They'll need to rename the site.

She’s absolutely amazing and I have huge respect for everything she has done.

She has donated millions to medical research too.

I greatly admire her. She will have enriched the lives of a generation through her writing and improved the lives of many through Lumos. The impact of the medical research done with her money will no doubt improve or even save lives for generations.

She cares about women and children and speaks out for those who are not in a position to do so.

@Wildlingyoumakemyheartsing

By the way - you are on mumsnet. It's not anti-trans to use the word 'woman' but I'm sure the word 'mum' won't be far behind. They'll need to rename the site.

It should be renamed “parentsnet” anyway as lots of dads use it too.

I think there are things she does that are fabulous and things she does that I disagree with and like all human beings, she is neither one nor the other.

Please post verbatim the things she said that were ‘abhorent’

We’d all be interested.

JK Rowling is not 'anti-trans' and the claim that she is 'using her huge platform of followers to promote ideas which endanger the lives and wellbeing of trans people' is defamatory.

She is amazing and I was overjoyed to hear her standing up for women. We need so much more people like her in this world.

It should be renamed "parentsnet" anyway as lots of dads use it too
It can be named whatever the owners want it to be named. There's no 'should' about it.

@OnlyJudyCanJudgeMe

Fair enough. However J K was objecting to being called 'people who menstruate'. You can't call it 'parentsnet', it would rule out carers.

We can't have 'people who give birth' as a descriptor.

'People who care for small humans'?

Sorry - I get that it's pedantic. But that is the point. I'm NOT just a 'person who menstruates'. And that was JK's point.

@peachgreen

This transparent attempt to get people to unknowingly or knowingly praise someone who has just now openly stated her anti-trans stance is really gross.

JKR's commitment to paying taxes and her charity work is very admirable and as someone personally affected by MS I am extremely grateful to her for her work in that area (and have even told her so in person). Nothing can take away from that. But like all people she is multi-faceted and using her huge platform of followers to promote ideas which endanger the lives and wellbeing of trans people is pretty disgusting. And her timing in doing so was staggeringly wrong.

Stating biological fact is emphatically not anti-trans.

Only women and girls menstruate, no matter how they identify.

I’ve never been so let down by anyone in my life. Ten years ago I thought she was wonderful. I still think she has done many wonderful things. But between the transphobia, the antisemitism, the subliminal racism and the attempts to gain credit for retconning into her novels diversity that was never there when she wrote them, she has single handedly dismantled her own legacy in my opinion.

Well yes, it's rather up to Justine and Rowan what their site is called, and which discussions they choose to host.

She's intelligent, talented, principled, and refuses to be bullied into submission.

She's magnificent.

I agree with JKR about transwomen, and am glad she is using her high profile to speak out about this, but otherwise find her annoying. I think it's the lefty politics. I suppose she's a mixed bag, like all of us.

I’m a huge fan of hers. I don’t agree with some of her recent comments but on the whole I think she is a force for good.

@LaureBerthaud

openly stated her anti-trans stance is really gross

Give over. She's "openly stated" that there's already a good word for "people who menstruate". That doesn't make her anti trans - just factual.

P.S. the word is woman/women.

I agree.

If you set up a mathematical model using the terms 'people who (can) menstruate' , 'biological men' , and ' biological women 'then it would be clear to see that the term 'people who (can) menstruate' only applies to biological women.

It's called biology.

I have put the can in there because some women choose not to menstruate.

What I really enjoy is how she doesn't feel the need to appease anyone. She's in a privileged position where she can say what she likes and she isn't going to be fired or end up skint, and she's using that position well.

I think she's an admirable person all round, for both her literary and charity work.

This whole 'outrage' about her supposedly being 'anti trans' is ridiculous. All she did was point out that there was a word for 'people who menstruate', and that word is woman. And before anyone gets all het up about that, it is a fact that whilst not all women do menstruate, only women can menstruate. Men cannot.

Stating otherwise is a biological lie, and quite frankly I'm glad she's vocally supportive of women's rights which seem to be getting eroded before our very eyes. It's now classed as 'transphobic' to say that only women can menstruate? What utter nonsense.

Jk Rowling is a voice for women.
It’s not okay to have the word woman replaced by menstruator and be labelled a ciswoman as a biological woman.
I am a woman. I don’t want my sex renamed to suit men. Any men.

I’ve just looked on Twitter and in among the other stuff is this “I respect every trans persons right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”

I might not have much of a clue re trans women and men but her actual verbatim words don’t seem hate-filled at all.

JKR isn’t anti-trans. She is pro-woman and state’s biological fact. That isn’t anti-trans.

The abuse she has received from transactivists is utterly abhorrent.

She’s a fantastic woman, and a great role model for young women.

JK Rowling is fab, I like her very much.

And I find having my status as a human being with thoughts and feelings reduced to a 'person who menstruates' massively offensive.

What she actually said was ‘there used to be a word for people who menstruate’.

The words ‘women’ and ‘people who menstruate’ are not, and never have been, synonymous.