JK Rowling 明らかにする／漏らすs she was sexually 強襲，強姦d in her 20s and still feels the scars of '国内の 暴力／激しさ' from her first marriage as she 攻撃する，衝突するs 支援する in 'transphobia' 列／漕ぐ／騒動 with 深く，強烈に personal 3,663-word essay

This isn't an 平易な piece to 令状, for 推論する／理由s that will すぐに become （疑いを）晴らす, but I know it's time to explain myself on an 問題／発行する surrounded by 有毒性. I 令状 this without any 願望（する） to 追加する to that 有毒性.

For people who don't know: last December I tweeted my support for Maya Forstater, a 税金 specialist who'd lost her 職業 for what were みなすd 'transphobic' tweets. She took her 事例／患者 to an 雇用 法廷, asking the 裁判官 to 支配する on whether a philosophical belief that sex is 決定するd by biology is 保護するd in 法律. 裁判官 Tayler 支配するd that it wasn't.

My 利益／興味 in trans 問題／発行するs pre-時代遅れの Maya's 事例／患者 by almost two years, during which I followed the 審議 around the 概念 of gender 身元 closely. I've met trans people, and read sundry 調書をとる／予約するs, blogs and articles by trans people, gender specialists, intersex people, psychologists, 保護（する）／緊急輸入制限ing exper ts, social 労働者s and doctors, and followed the discourse online and in 伝統的な マスコミ. On one level, my 利益／興味 in this 問題／発行する has been professional, because I'm 令状ing a 罪，犯罪 series, 始める，決める in the 現在の day, and my fictional 女性（の） 探偵，刑事 is of an age to be 利益／興味d in, and 影響する／感情d by, these 問題／発行するs herself, but on another, it's intensely personal, as I'm about to explain.

All the time I've been 研究ing and learning, 告訴，告発s and 脅しs from trans 行動主義者s have been 泡ing in my Twitter timeline. This was 最初 誘発する／引き起こすd by a 'like'. When I started taking an 利益／興味 in gender 身元 and transgender 事柄s, I began screenshotting comments that 利益／興味d me, as a way of reminding myself what I might want to 研究 later. On one occasion, I absent-mindedly 'liked' instead of screenshotting. That 選び出す／独身 'like' was みなすd 証拠 of wrongthink, and a 執拗な low level of いやがらせ began.

Months later, I 構内／化合物d my 偶発の 'like' 罪，犯罪 by に引き続いて Magdalen 燃やすs on Twitter. Magdalen was an immensely 勇敢に立ち向かう young feminist and lesbian who was dying of an 積極的な brain tumour. I followed her because I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 接触する her 直接／まっすぐに, which I 後継するd in doing. However, as Magdalen was a 広大な／多数の／重要な 信奉者 in the importance of 生物学の sex, and didn't believe lesbians should be called bigots for not dating trans women with penises, dots were joined in the 長，率いるs of twitter trans 行動主義者s, and the level of social マスコミ 乱用 増加するd.

I について言及する all this only to explain that I knew perfectly 井戸／弁護士席 what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth 取り消し by then. I 推定する／予想するd the 脅しs of 暴力／激しさ, to be told I was literally 殺人，大当り trans people with my hate, to be called cunt and bitch and, of course, for my 調書をとる／予約するs to be 燃やすd, although one 特に abusive man told me he'd composted them.

What I didn't 推定する／予想する in the 影響 of my 取り消し was the 雪崩／（抗議などの）殺到 of emails and letters that （機の）カム にわか雨ing 負かす／撃墜する upon me, the 圧倒的な 大多数 of which were 肯定的な, 感謝する and supportive. They （機の）カム from a cross-section of 肉親，親類d, empathetic and intelligent people, some of them working in fields 取引，協定ing with gender dysphoria and trans people, who're all 深く，強烈に 関心d about the way a socio-political 概念 is 影響（力）ing politics, 医療の practice and 保護（する）／緊急輸入制限ing. They're worried about the dangers to young people, gay people and about the 腐食 of women's and girl's 権利s. Above all, they're worried about a 気候 of 恐れる that serves nobody ? least of all trans 青年 ? 井戸／弁護士席.

I'd stepped 支援する from Twitter for many months both before and after tweeting support for Maya, because I knew it was doing nothing good for my mental health. I only returned because I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 株 a 解放する／自由な children's 調書をとる／予約する during the pandemic. すぐに, 行動主義者s who 明確に believe themselves to be good, 肉親，親類d and 進歩／革新的な people 群れているd 支援する into my timeline, assuming a 権利 to police my speech, 告発する／非難する me of 憎悪, call me misogynistic 中傷するs and, above all ? as every woman 伴う／関わるd in this 審議 will know ? TERF.

If you didn't already know ? and why should you? ? 'TERF' is an acronym coined by trans 行動主義者s, which stands for Trans-排除 過激な Feminist. In practice, a 抱擁する and diverse cross-section of women are 現在／一般に 存在 called TERFs and the 広大な 大多数 have never been 過激な feminists. Examples of いわゆる TERFs 範囲 from the mother of a gay child who was afraid their child 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 移行 to escape homophobic いじめ（る）ing, to a hitherto 全く unfeminist older lady who's 公約するd never to visit 示すs & Spencer again because they're 許すing any man who says they identify as a woman into the women's changing rooms. Ironically, 過激な feminists aren't even trans-排除 ? they 含む trans men in their feminism, because they w ere born women.

But 告訴，告発s of TERFery have been 十分な to 脅迫してさせる many people, 会・原則s and organisations I once admired, who're cowering before the 策略 of the playground. 'They'll call us transphobic!' 'They'll say I hate trans people!' What next, they'll say you've got fleas? Speaking as a 生物学の woman, a lot of people in positions of 力／強力にする really need to grow a pair (which is doubtless literally possible, によれば the 肉親，親類d of people who argue that clownfish 証明する humans aren't a dimorphic 種類).

So why am I doing this? Why speak up? Why not 静かに do my 研究 and keep my 長，率いる 負かす／撃墜する?

井戸／弁護士席, I've got five 推論する／理由s for 存在 worried about the new trans activism, and deciding I need to speak up.

Firstly, I have a charitable 信用 that 焦点（を合わせる）s on 緩和するing social deprivation in Scotland, with a particular 強調 on women and children. の中で other things, my 信用 supports 事業／計画（する）s for 女性（の） 囚人s and for 生存者s of 国内の and 性の 乱用. I also 基金 医療の 研究 into MS, a 病気 that behaves very 異なって in men and women. It's been （疑いを）晴らす to me for a while that the new trans activism is having (or is likely to have, if all its 需要・要求するs are met) a 重要な 衝撃 on many of the 原因（となる）s I support, because it's 押し進めるing to erode the 合法的な 鮮明度／定義 of sex and 取って代わる it with gender.

The second 推論する／理由 is that I'm an ex-teacher and the 創立者 of a children's charity, which gives me an 利益／興味 in both education and 保護（する）／緊急輸入制限ing. Like many others, I have 深い 関心s about the 影響 the trans 権利s movement is having on both.

The third is that, as a much-banned author, I'm 利益／興味d in freedom of speech and have 公然と defended it, even unto Donald Trump.

The fourth is where things start to get truly personal. I'm 関心d about the 抱擁する 爆発 in young women wishing to 移行 and also about the 増加するing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their 初めの sex), because they 悔いる taking steps that have, in some 事例／患者s, altered their 団体／死体s irrevocably, and taken away their fertility. Some say they decided to 移行 after realising they were same-sex attracted, and that 移行ing was partly driven by homophobia, either in society or in their families.

Most people probably aren't aware ? I certainly wasn't, until I started 研究ing this 問題／発行する 適切に ? that ten years ago, the 大多数 of people wanting to 移行 to the opposite sex were male. That 割合 has now 逆転するd. The UK has experienced a 4400% 増加する in girls 存在 referred for 移行ing 治療. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.

The same 現象 has been seen in the US. In 2018, American 内科医 and 研究員 Lisa Littman 始める，決める out to 調査する it. In an interview, she said:

'Parents online were 述べるing a very unusual pattern of transgender-身元確認，身分証明 where 多重の friends and even entire friend groups became transgender-identified at the same time. I would have been remiss had I not considered social contagion and peer 影響（力）s as 可能性のある factors.'

Littman について言及するd Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram and YouTube as 与える／捧げるing factors to 早い Onset Gender Dysphoria, where she believes that in the realm of transgender 身元確認，身分証明 '青年 have created 特に insular echo 議会s.'

Her paper 原因（となる）d a 熱狂的興奮状態. She was （刑事）被告 of bias and of spreading misinformation about transgender people, 支配するd to a 津波 of 乱用 and a 一致した （選挙などの）運動をする to discredit both her and her work. The 定期刊行物 took the paper offline and re-reviewed it before republishing it. However, her career took a 類似の 攻撃する，衝突する to that 苦しむd by Maya Forstater. Lisa Littman had dared challenge one of the central tenets of trans activism, which is that a person's gender 身元 is innate, like 性の orientation. Nobody, the 行動主義者s 主張するd, could ever be 説得するd into 存在 trans.

The argument of many 現在の trans 行動主義者s is that if you don't let a gender dysphoric 十代の少年少女 移行, they will kill themselves. In an article explaining why he 辞職するd from the Tavistock (an NHS gender clinic in England) psychiatrist Marcus Evans 明言する／公表するd that （人命などを）奪う，主張するs that children will kill themselves if not permitted to 移行 do not '提携させる 大幅に with any 強健な data or 熟考する／考慮するs in this area. Nor do they 提携させる with the 事例／患者s I have 遭遇（する）d over １０年間s as a psychotherapist.'

The writings of young trans men 明らかにする／漏らす a group of 顕著に 極度の慎重さを要する and clever people. The more of their accounts of gender dysphoria I've read, with their insightful descriptions of 苦悩, dissociation, eating disorders, self-害（を与える） and self-憎悪, the more I've wondered whether, if I'd been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to 移行. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been 抱擁する. I struggled with 厳しい OCD as a 十代の少年少女. If I'd 設立する community and sympathy online that I couldn't find in my 即座の 環境, I believe I could have been 説得するd to turn myself into the son my father had 率直に said he'd have preferred.

When I read about the theory of gender 身元, I remember how mentally sexless I felt in 青年. I remember Colette's description of herself as a 'mental hermaphrodite' and Simone de Beauvoir's words: 'It is perfectly natural for the 未来 woman to feel indignant at the 制限s 提起する／ポーズをとるd upon her by her sex. The real question is not why she should 拒絶する them: the problem is rather to understand why she 受託するs them.'

As I didn't have a 現実主義の 可能性 of becoming a man 支援する in the 1980s, it had to be 調書をとる／予約するs and music that got me through both my mental health 問題／発行するs and the sexualised scrutiny and 裁判／判断 that 始める，決めるs so many girls to war against their 団体／死体s in their teens. Fortunately for me, I 設立する my own sense of otherness, and my ambivalence about 存在 a woman, 反映するd in the work of 女性（の） writers and musicians who 安心させるd me that, in spite of everything a sexist world tries to throw at the 女性（の）-団体／死体d, it's 罰金 not to feel pink, frilly and compliant inside your own 長，率いる; it's 承認する to feel 混乱させるd, dark, both 性の and 非，不，無-性の, 自信のない of what or who you are.

I want to be very （疑いを）晴らす here: I know 移行 will be a 解答 for some gender dysphoric people, although I'm also aware through 広範囲にわたる 研究 that 熟考する／考慮するs have 終始一貫して shown that between 60-90% of gender dysphoric teens will grow out of their dysphoria. Again and again I've been told to 'just 会合，会う some trans people.' I have: in 新規加入 to a few younger people, who were all adorable, I happen to know a self-述べるd transsexual woman who's older than I am and wonderful. Although she's open about her past as a gay man, I've always 設立する it hard to think of her as anything other than a woman, and I believe (and certainly hope) she's 完全に happy to have 移行d. 存在 older, though, she went through a long and rigorous 過程 of evaluation, psychotherapy and 行う／開催する／段階d 変形. The 現在の 爆発 of trans activism is 勧めるing a 除去 of almost all the 強健な systems through which 候補者s for sex reassignment were once 要求するd to pass. A man who ーするつもりであるs to have no 外科 and take no hormones may now 安全な・保証する himself a Gender 承認 証明書 and be a woman in the sight of the 法律. Many people aren't aware of this.

We're living through the most misogynistic period I've experienced. 支援する in the 80s, I imagined that my 未来 daughters, should I have any, would have it far better than I ever did, but between the （激しい）反発 against feminism and a porn -saturated online culture, I believe things have got 意味ありげに worse for girls. Never have I seen women denigrated and dehumanised to the extent they are now. From the leader of the 解放する／自由な world's long history of 性の 強襲，強姦 告訴，告発s and his proud 誇る of 'grabbing them by the pussy', to the incel ('involuntarily celibate') movement that 激怒（する）s against women who won't give them sex, to the trans 行動主義者s who 宣言する that TERFs need punching and re-educating, men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble. Everywhere, women are 存在 told to shut up and sit 負かす／撃墜する, or else.

I've read all the arguments about femaleness not residing in the sexed 団体／死体, and the 主張s that 生物学の women don't have ありふれた experiences, and I find them, too, 深く，強烈に misogynistic and regressive. It's also （疑いを）晴らす that one of the 客観的なs of 否定するing the importance of sex is to erode what some seem to see as the cruelly segregationist idea of women having their own 生物学の realities or ? just as 脅すing ? 統一するing realities that make them a cohesive political class. The hundreds of emails I've received in the last few days 証明する this 腐食 関心s many others just as much. It isn't enough for women to be trans 同盟（する）s. Women must 受託する and 収容する／認める that there is no 構成要素 difference between trans women and themselves.

But, as many women have said before me, 'woman' is not a 衣装. 'Woman' is not an idea in a man's 長，率いる. 'Woman' is not a pink brain, a liking for Jimmy Choos or any of the other sexist ideas now somehow touted as 進歩／革新的な. Moreover, the 'inclusive' language that calls 女性（の） people 'menstruators' and 'people with vulvas' strikes many women as dehumanising and demeaning. I understand why trans 行動主義者s consider this language to be appropriate and 肉親，親類d, but for those of us who've had degrading 中傷するs spat at us by violent men, it's not 中立の, it's 敵意を持った and 疎遠にするing.

Which brings me to the fifth 推論する／理由 I'm 深く，強烈に 関心d about the consequences of the 現在の trans activism.

I've been in the public 注目する，もくろむ now for over twenty years and have never talked 公然と about 存在 a 国内の 乱用 and 性の 強襲，強姦 生存者. This isn't because I'm ashamed those things happened to me, but because they're traumatic to revisit and remember. I also feel 保護の of my daughter from my first marriage. I didn't want to （人命などを）奪う，主張する 単独の 所有権 of a story that belongs to her, too. However, a short while ago, I asked her how she'd feel if I were 公然と honest about that part of my life, and she encouraged me to go ahead.

I'm について言及するing these things now not in an 試みる／企てる to 獲得する sympathy, but out of 団結 with the 抱擁する numbers of women who have histories like 地雷, who've been slurred as bigots for having 関心s around 選び出す／独身-sex spaces.

I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I'm now married to a truly good and 原則d man, 安全な and 安全な・保証する in ways I never in a million years 推定する／予想するd to be. However, the scars left by 暴力／激しさ and 性の 強襲，強姦 don't disappear, no 事柄 how loved you are, and no 事柄 how much money you've made. My perennial jumpiness is a family joke ? and even I know it's funny ? but I pray my daughters never have the same 推論する／理由s I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I 港／避難所't heard them approaching.

If you could come inside my 長，率いる and understand what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the 手渡すs of a violent man, you'd find 団結 and kinship. I have a visceral sense of the terror in which those trans women will have spent their last seconds on earth, because I too have known moments of blind 恐れる when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the 不安定な self-抑制 of my 攻撃者.

I believe the 大多数 o f trans-identified people not only 提起する／ポーズをとる 無 脅し to others, but are 攻撃を受けやすい for all the 推論する／理由s I've 輪郭（を描く）d. Trans people need and deserve 保護. Like women, they're most likely to be killed by 性の partners. Trans women who work in the sex 産業, 特に trans women of colour, are at particular 危険. Like every other 国内の 乱用 and 性の 強襲，強姦 生存者 I know, I feel nothing but empathy and 団結 with trans women who've been 乱用d by men.

So I want trans women to be 安全な. At the same time, I do not want to make 誕生の girls and women いっそう少なく 安全な. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he's a woman ? and, as I've said, gender 確定／確認 証明書s may now be 認めるd without any need for 外科 or hormones ? then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.

On Saturday morning, I read that the Scottish 政府 is 訴訟／進行 with its 議論の的になる gender 承認 計画（する）s, which will in 影響 mean that all a man needs to 'become a woman' is to say he's one. To use a very 同時代の word, I was '誘発する／引き起こすd'. Ground 負かす／撃墜する by the relentless attacks from trans 行動主義者s on social マスコミ, when I was only there to give children feedback about pictures they'd drawn for my 調書をとる／予約する under lockdown, I spent much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my 長，率いる, as memories of a serious 性の 強襲，強姦 I 苦しむd in my twenties recurred on a 宙返り飛行. That 強襲，強姦 happened at a time and in a space where I was 攻撃を受けやすい, and a man capitalised on an 適切な時期. I couldn't shut out those memories and I was finding it hard to 含む／封じ込める my 怒り／怒る and 失望 about the way I believe my 政府 is playing 急速な／放蕩な and loose with womens and girls' safety.

Late on Saturday evening, scrolling through children's pictures before I went to bed, I forgot the first 支配する of Twitter ? never, ever 推定する／予想する a nuance d conversation ? and 反応するd to what I felt was degrading language about women. I spoke up about the importance of sex and have been 支払う／賃金ing the price ever since. I was transphobic, I was a cunt, a bitch, a TERF, I deserved cancelling, punching and death. You are Voldemort said one person, 明確に feeling this was the only language I'd understand.

It would be so much easier to tweet the 認可するd hashtags ? because of course trans 権利s are human 権利s and of course trans lives 事柄 ? scoop up the woke cookies and bask in a virtue-signalling afterglow. There's joy, 救済 and safety in 順応／服従. As Simone de Beauvoir also wrote, '… without a 疑問 it is more comfortable to 耐える blind bondage than to work for one's 解放; the dead, too, are better ふさわしい to the earth than the living.'

抱擁する numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans 行動主義者s; I know this because so many have got in touch with me to tell their stories. They're afraid of doxxing, of losing their 職業s or their 暮らしs, and of 暴力／激しさ.

But endlessly unpleasant as its constant 的ing of me has been, I 辞退する to 屈服する 負かす／撃墜する to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable 害（を与える） in 捜し出すing to erode 'woman' as a political and 生物学の class and 申し込む／申し出ing cover to predators like few before it. I stand と一緒に the 勇敢に立ち向かう women and men, gay, straight and trans, who're standing up for freedom of speech and thought, and for the 権利s and safety of some of the most 攻撃を受けやすい in our society: young gay kids, 壊れやすい 十代の少年少女s, and women who're reliant on and wish to 保持する their 選び出す／独身 sex spaces. 投票s show those women are in the 広大な 大多数, and 除外する only those 特権d or lucky enough never to have come up against male 暴力／激しさ or 性の 強襲，強姦, and who've never troubled to educate themselves on how 流布している it is.

The one thing that gives me hope is that the women who can 抗議する and o rganise, are doing so, and they have some truly decent men and trans people と一緒に them. 政党s 捜し出すing to appease the loudest 発言する／表明するs in this 審議 are ignoring women's 関心s at their 危険，危なくする. In the UK, women are reaching out to each other across party lines, 関心d about the 腐食 of their hard-won 権利s and 普及した 脅迫. 非，不，無 of the gender 批判的な women I've talked to hates trans people; on the contrary. Many of them became 利益／興味d in this 問題／発行する in the first place out of 関心 for trans 青年, and they're hugely 同情的な に向かって trans adults who 簡単に want to live their lives, but who're 直面するing a （激しい）反発 for a brand of activism they don't 是認する. The 最高の irony is that the 試みる／企てる to silence women with the word 'TERF' may have 押し進めるd more young women に向かって 過激な feminism than the movement's seen in １０年間s.

The last thing I want to say is this. I 港／避難所't written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me, not even a teeny-weeny one. I'm extraordinarily fortunate; I'm a 生存者, certainly not a 犠牲者. I've only について言及するd my past because, like every other human 存在 on this 惑星, I have a コンビナート／複合体 backstory, which 形態／調整s my 恐れるs, my 利益／興味s and my opinions. I never forget that inner 複雑さ when I'm creating a fictional character and I certainly never forget it when it comes to trans people.

All I'm asking ? all I want ? is for 類似の empathy, 類似の understanding, to be 延長するd to the many millions of women whose 単独の 罪，犯罪 is wanting their 関心s to be heard without receiving 脅しs and 乱用.?????