So, here’s why #RIPJKRowling is trending
No, J.K. Rowling is not dead. This is something Twitter felt the need to clarify on this, the 14th of September, as #RIPJKROWLING started trending.
As anyone who saw that clarification and has been following the news of her many, many recent transphobic statements might guess, her “death” is actually the result of what could charitably be called “some real bullshit”: Turns out her latest book, written under her frequent pseudonym Robert Galibraith, is about a man who dresses up like a woman to kill other women. You know, a totally normal, not-at-all bigoted story to write.
Here’s Uproxx on the book, Troubled Blood, and the inevitable response:
Word spread over the weekend that Rowling’s latest book—notably published under her male pseudonym Robert Galibraith—has a notably anti-trans plotline, in which a murderous, cisgendered man dresses up like a woman to kill other women.
The Telegraph published a tepid review of the 900-page novel, Troubled Blood. The review notes both the plotline and that it is likely to further anger those already aware of Rowling’s concern trolling about similar issues regarding trans rights. As many pointed out online, one common trope of anti-trans logic is that men will pretend to be women to gain access to spaces like women’s restrooms in order to commit violent crimes. As word spread about the review, many people expressed their outrage online that Rowling had included these tropes in her work.