JK Rowling has said she will be publishing a review of Nicola Sturgeon’s memoir Frankly after the former first minister named her as a driving force behind “vile” abuse amid the debate on gender reform.
In her book Frankly, which was due to be released on Thursday but went on sale in Waterstones across the country on Monday, Sturgeon said that Rowling’s decision to attack her as a “destroyer of women’s rights” was a “turning point”.
In October 2022, the Harry Potter author had posted a picture of herself on social media protesting against Scottish gender reform, which would have made it easier for trans people to self-identify as their acquired gender but has been blocked by the UK Government.
I stand in solidarity with @ForWomenScot and all women protesting and speaking outside the Scottish parliament. #NoToSelfID pic.twitter.com/5vZNaZu13H
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 6, 2022
Sturgeon said that Rowling’s “stunt” had been the point at which “rational debate became impossible and any hope of finding common ground disappeared”. She further said that she had never had experienced the “intensity of vitriol” as in the discussion around gender reform.
Sturgeon wrote: “The tactics deployed by some, however sincere their views might have been, suggested there was another agenda at work. There are many examples I could cite, but the one that attracted most attention, not surprisingly, was JK Rowling’s donning of a T-shirt bearing the slogan ‘Sturgeon, destroyer of women’s rights’ …
“As the head of the government proposing this reform, I was fair game for robust and uncomfortable challenge, but it went beyond that. It resulted in more abuse, of a much more vile nature, than I had ever encountered before.
“It made me feel less safe and more at risk of possible physical harm. And it was deeply ironic that those who subjected me to this level of hatred and misogynistic abuse often claimed to be doing so in the interests of women’s safety, to be the standard bearers of feminism. Nothing feels further from the truth than that.”
In the memoir, Sturgeon also said that while some opponents of gender reform do have legitimate concerns, others are standing alongside “racists, homophobes, and misogynists” such as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, Sturgeon said she did not think trans rights and women’s rights are “in opposition”.
“I believe that we can further both, and actually furthering one helps further the other,” she said.
“But there are also people – and I do not know how anybody can deny this – forces on the far right who have weaponised this issue, who want to, I think, use the transition to push back on rights more generally, whether those are gay rights or minority rights or women’s rights.”
Asked if she would debate Rowling, Sturgeon said: “I will debate with many people, but I do not think JK Rowling would be willing to do that. But who knows, maybe she would.”
On social media, Rowling appeared to respond by re-sharing a post from her Twitter/X account from July 20 which read: “Calling all British newspapers: I am available to review Nicola Sturgeon’s memoir. No fee required as long as you don’t edit out the swear words.”
On Tuesday, the Harry Potter writer added: “Thank you for your many kind offers, of which there were a considerable amount.
“Watch my website for my review of ‘Frankly’, the memoir of Scotland’s (checks notes) most persecuted, misunderstood, self-critical, open-to-debate, feminist-to-her-fingertips ex-First Minister.”
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Sturgeon told BBC Radio Scotland that she might leave Scotland for a “wee while” to live somewhere else.
The former first minister said: “I didn’t live outside of Scotland or the UK for any period when I was younger, I think it is healthy to shift your perspective, to see life from a different angle.
“So, maybe for a wee while I will take myself outside of Scotland, give myself that perspective shift, but I am never going to be away for very long.”
