JK Rowling has once again prompted outrage with her commentary on transgender people, this time attacking a new Scottish policy that will see rapists recorded as women if they identify as female, even if they have male genitalia.
The Harry Potter author tweeted an article from The Times titled "'Absurdity' of police logging rapists as women'.
"War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman," Rowling wrote alongside the piece.
The writer's comments were immediately met with backlash, with many fans of the Harry Potter franchise lamenting her ongoing history of sharing "transphobic" and "anti-trans" sentiments online.
"You literally have a castle and you spend your time doing this," one Twitter user replied.
"Why is this how you want to be remembered? Why is this the hill you've chosen? What do you stand to gain from this?" asked another.
A third, who thanked Rowling for writing stories that were the only thing that made them happy as a child, said their "soul had been hurt" by the writer's tweets.
"I really hope you see the wrongness of your ways and will choose kindness someday," the former fan wrote, signing off: "Someone who loves the world you gave us, and feels heavily betrayed by what you have become."
"You created an entire universe filled with wonderful characters, fantastical beasts, magic and wonder, but can't fathom that trans people exist?" one Twitter user asked.
"Why do you insist on erasing and hurting people, seemingly for sport? Grow up already!" said another.
Meanwhile, some supporters of Rowling thanked her for her "courage" and dubbed her tweet "brave".
Rowling previously caused controversy on the subject of transgender rights and inclusivity in 2020 when she shared an article from global health website Devex called 'Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate'.
Rowling tweeted: "'People who menstruate'. I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?"
That comment, and others like it, prompted the stars of Harry Potter to condemn Rowling's views publicly, aligning themselves with the concept that trans women are women.
Rowling later doubled down on some of her ideas in an essay explaining why she was "deeply concerned about trans activism".
Among her reasons: That the cause is pushing to "erode the legal definition of sex", that the trans rights movement has a negative effect on the education and safeguarding of children, and that the concept of freedom of speech is being impacted by the movement.
"When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman… then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth," she wrote at the time.
That same year, Rowling released a crime novel under the pseudonym Robert Gailbraith called Troubled Blood featuring a plotline about a male serial killer who dresses up in womens clothing to commit murders.
