J.K. Rowling has stated that anyone who believes she is worried about how the backlash to her stance on transgender issues will affect her legacy has "profoundly" misunderstood her.
For her opinions on gender identity and the issue of allowing trans women in women-only spaces, the author of the Harry Potter series has been accused of being transphobic.
Rowling claimed in a recent podcast that she "never meant to upset anyone.".
But I didn't feel awkward about stepping down from my pedestal. ".
Rowling claimed that the critics who say she has "ruined" her legacy "could not have misunderstood me more profoundly.".
She continued, "I don't go around my house thinking about my legacy.
"What an arrogant way to live your life, wondering what my legacy will be after I'm gone. I am concerned right now. I'm concerned for the living. ".
For a number of remarks expressing her concerns about how transgender issues affect women's rights and her opposition to Scotland's gender recognition bill, Rowling has come under heavy fire.
"When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman... you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside," she wrote in an essay posted on her website in 2020. ".
Her stance has been perceived as transphobic by some, prompting calls for a boycott of the entire Harry Potter series, including the popular video game Hogwarts Legacy as well as the books and films.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson, all stars in the Harry Potter films, have criticized Rowling for her remarks.
The actor who played Lord Voldemort, Ralph Fiennes, spoke up for the author, calling the abuse she has endured "disgusting" and "appalling.".
She has stated that she is not anti-trans and that she supports trans rights and wants transgender people to be treated with respect and dignity.
The author claimed in the podcast titled The Witch Trials of JK Rowling that her stance had also resulted in "direct threats of violence.".
"People have visited the home where my kids reside, and my address has been posted online. I've received threats that the police, at least, would consider credible. ".
Later, Rowling acknowledged that not all queries have obvious solutions.
"Black and white thinking has a strong allure, and I try to depict this in the Potter books.
It's the most comfortable and secure place to be, in many ways. You will undoubtedly find allies and a community if you take an all-or-nothing stance on anything. I swore allegiance to this one straightforward concept. '.
We should mistrust ourselves the most when we are certain, I've tried to demonstrate in the Potter books and this is something I strongly believe in myself. ".
Seven-part series The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling is being presented by Megan Phelps-Roper, who spent 26 years of her upbringing in the radical Westboro Baptist Church before fleeing in 2012.
The first two episodes, which were released on Tuesday, make an effort to draw comparisons between the activists who criticize Rowling today and the Christian fundamentalists who sought to outlaw the Harry Potter books in the early 2000s.
When asked about the protesters who allegedly promoted witchcraft by burning her books in the early 2000s, Rowling responded, "Book burners, by definition, have placed themselves across a line of rational debate.
"I would not burn any book on the planet, not even those I believe to be harmful. To me, burning is the last resort of those who are unable to argue.
. "
