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Stephen King's response to Rowling on sex and gender discussions

257 replies

ThisWildDreamer · 03/10/2026 21:33

Stephen King was asked a simple question - are trans women women? - and when he said yes, one of the most wealthy writers in the world turned on him.

J.K. Rowling had just publicly showered him with praise. Within hours of his answer, she deleted it and, in King's words, "sorta blocked" him.

King is one of the most famous novelists alive, and he didn't walk it back or cast himself as the victim. He said plainly that nobody had cancelled Rowling - he just thought she was wrong. He turns 79 today, still saying it.

He could have kept the friend and stayed quiet. He said yes instead.

Stephen King's response to Rowling on sex and gender discussions
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Choppingwoodcarryingwater · Yesterday 08:29

BackToLurk · Yesterday 08:28

So that’ll be a “I will not be finding the post that said SK retweeted JKR saying ‘transwomen aren’t women’ because that only happened in my head”.

Thank you for the clarification. Any more six year old ‘news’ you’d like to comment on? Biden’s election? Vera Lynn dying?

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OMG…. 😂

Ereshkigalangcleg · Yesterday 08:30

I’m enjoying your work on this thread @BackToLurk

2021x · Yesterday 08:35

I always want to ask people who say “TWAW”- “In what way?

and then “Can I be TW?”

If not “Why not?”

and leave it at that.

Civility does need to be brought back in somewhere.

Choppingwoodcarryingwater · Yesterday 08:36

Ereshkigalangcleg · Yesterday 08:30

I’m enjoying your work on this thread @BackToLurk

Yeah we get the enjoyment of chronic obfuscation after being backed into an illogical corner.

Ereshkigalangcleg · Yesterday 08:38

Choppingwoodcarryingwater · Yesterday 08:36

Yeah we get the enjoyment of chronic obfuscation after being backed into an illogical corner.

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We do indeed.

nutmeg7 · Yesterday 08:40

Choppingwoodcarryingwater · 03/10/2026 23:49

Gender identification is primarily experienced as an internal psychological & personal sense of self but the conceptual models defining it & the counter arguments against them operate as philosophical and metaphysical positions.

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Yep. It’s a psychological issue.
No one can change sex.

NotBadConsidering · Yesterday 08:43

Vera Lynn dying?

We’ll tweet again, don’t know where, don’t know when. But I know we’ll tweet again some sunny day.

nutmeg7 · Yesterday 08:44

solerolover · 03/10/2026 23:25

I swear ChoppingGoodGretelNorthernBaileyHowseIcelandicnights has been making the same argument for the better part of a year now and it's still as nonsensical and incoherent as ever.

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Absolutely right.
We’re back to all the nonsense about “social roles and other people’s perception” are what define sex. It’s the wishful thinking of people who are desperate to be the opposite sex. Sad really.

nutmeg7 · Yesterday 08:49

Choppingwoodcarryingwater · Yesterday 00:11

Like people who obsess all day about 0.5% of the population & their genitals?
yeah I hear you.

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That’s a bit of a non-sequitur

Ereshkigalangcleg · Yesterday 08:53

nutmeg7 · Yesterday 08:49

That’s a bit of a non-sequitur

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Got in a reference to “genitals” though.

nutmeg7 · Yesterday 08:55

Daygloboo · Yesterday 00:38

I want to ask something. It's a genuine question. Why does a transgender woman want to claim female space. Some transgender eomen I presume have nice lives and and are living the life they want, so why is there the need to claim female space. I'm not being facetious. Why not have spaces for them.i cant see why there wouldnt be enough power in claiming a space for themselves. Why dont they want to be accepted as themselves and equal in their own space. Why isnt it enough to be who they actually are.

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I think because many of them are unhappy with who they really are, and want to be really female. There would be a lot less effort at appropriation of female spaces if they could accept themselves for who they are. It is a psychological condition.

nutmeg7 · Yesterday 08:55

Ereshkigalangcleg · Yesterday 08:53

Got in a reference to “genitals” though.

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Of course! It’s a win 🤣

Myalternate · Yesterday 08:56

That Sky article is 6, almost 7 years old. 😳

4 years ago, SK praised JKR… King took to Twitter/X to praise The Running Grave, the latest novel in Rowling’s Cormoran Strike detective series, which she writes under her crime fiction pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

“This is JK Rowling at her best, recalling the sheer readability of the Harry Potter books, but much darker,” King wrote. “This got me through a difficult time.”
In the replies, fans expressed their confusion *over the review, as King has previously disagreed with Rowling over her views on transgender people.

  • I’d love to have read those. I could almost guarantee they weren’t very polite.
nutmeg7 · Yesterday 08:57

Choppingwoodcarryingwater · Yesterday 00:59

Funny question to ask on a predominately GC forum. It's as though you don't want to know why or want to be told all the reasons why they shouldn't. Why not do the research yourself or just ask trans people?

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Surely you can answer this one?

GreyskySexRealistsky · Yesterday 08:57

Ereshkigalangcleg · Yesterday 08:53

Got in a reference to “genitals” though.

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Mmm, their little frisson of excitement when typing the word "genitals"

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · Yesterday 08:59

Choppingwoodcarryingwater · Yesterday 08:22

For gods sake did you even read the thread?. This poster claimed King 'caved to the mob' by initially retweeting the quote JKR posted & then agreeing trans women were women as if the initial quote had anything to do with trans women being women when it didn't;

TheywontletmehavethenameIwant · Today 07:26
Did you read the post I was responding to, it seems SK put out a post, from nowhere, supporting JKR's stand, he then suffered the same pile on she has had to endure, but he, craven coward that he is, changed his stand immediately.
It's not about No Debate, it's about the Utter Contempt she clearly has for him for giving in to the mob. I share her opinion of him, and many other things.
It happened years ago, it's being dragging it up now in some pathetic attempt to demonise her, again.
Epic Fail.

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Yeah I have no idea what you're waffling on about now!

All I can say is, 'I said what I said' 🫵

nutmeg7 · Yesterday 09:01

Choppingwoodcarryingwater · Yesterday 01:37

Don't shoot the messenger. I'm simply querying why you would expect to to get an answer that accurately reflected the truth from a bias source. That you would consider such a neutral question offensive perhaps is more a reflection of your fragility than anything else.

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Seems like you don’t have an answer to why transwomen don’t campaign for their own spaces but push to be included in female spaces. Hence all the deflection and sniping.

ChapmanFarm · Yesterday 09:05

All these celebrity men who think TWAW.

And all these many 'most marginalised, stunning and brave' transwomen about who are so significant we should change societal rules which have served our safety for decades.

And yet none of them ever date a trans women. Funny that, especially given the over representation in celeb circles.

TheKeatingFive · Yesterday 09:08

ChapmanFarm · Yesterday 09:05

All these celebrity men who think TWAW.

And all these many 'most marginalised, stunning and brave' transwomen about who are so significant we should change societal rules which have served our safety for decades.

And yet none of them ever date a trans women. Funny that, especially given the over representation in celeb circles.

Well this is the thing isn’t it. No one actually believes TWAW (no, not even Howse), these men certainly don’t. They draw the line when it affects them (dating).

But when a woman draws the line when it affects her (single sex provision) they call her a bigot.

Absolute arseholes these men.

Quicknamechange2025 · Yesterday 09:09

Theeyeballsinthesky · 03/10/2026 21:49

Oh lord that was fucking years ago

god you ppl are tedious

he's a coward

men are still not women

HTH

Lol exactly!!

Myalternate · Yesterday 09:13

ChapmanFarm · Yesterday 09:05

All these celebrity men who think TWAW.

And all these many 'most marginalised, stunning and brave' transwomen about who are so significant we should change societal rules which have served our safety for decades.

And yet none of them ever date a trans women. Funny that, especially given the over representation in celeb circles.

I’ve found two! 😳

Comedian Jim Norton is married to a transgender woman, and reality star Francesca Farago was engaged to transgender activist and content creator Jesse Sullivan

RufustheFestiveReindeer · Yesterday 09:13

theilltemperedmonster · Yesterday 00:09

King retweeted one of Rowling's TERFy tweets, and she thanked him fulsomely. Then he backpedalled, so she unthanked him.

Seems like a pretty low stakes exchange, particularly as they still appear to be on perfectly cordial terms. Why is someone going on about it six years later?

Was that it????

well obviously you’d delete the praise…you’d look fucking stupid otherwise

thank you so much for supporting me…oh wait you aren’t

BackToLurk · Yesterday 09:13

NotBadConsidering · Yesterday 08:43

Vera Lynn dying?

We’ll tweet again, don’t know where, don’t know when. But I know we’ll tweet again some sunny day.

Well now I’ll be singing that all day.

Rollingpinofdoom · Yesterday 09:21

BackToLurk · Yesterday 08:02

I’d spend less time trying to think up new usernames and more time learning to read if I were you.

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boom