Prolific author JK Rowling is opening up about how she was sexually assaulted and abused a few years ago. The author spoke out in a lengthy statement after she tried to clarify comments she has made about transgender people, which have been widely criticized.
The author called out an article’s use of the phrase “people who menstruate”. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people,” “Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” While many Twitter users supported Rowling for her tweet, some people, celebrities included, criticised her comment as anti-trans and transphobic, arguing that transgender, non-binary and non-gender conforming people can also menstruate
She took to her website on Wednesday to explain her reasons for speaking out on sex and gender issues. “This isn’t an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear, but I know it’s time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity. I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity.”  “I’ve been in the public eye now for over 20 years and have never talked publicly [about being a survivor]. “This isn’t because I’m ashamed those things happened to me, but because they’re traumatic to revisit and remember.”
JK Rowling said she decided to share her experiences out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces. The author insisted she feels solidarity and kinship when reading about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, and that she has a visceral sense of the terror these women experience.
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