JK Rowling reveals she is survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault

[Sheilbh]

You've really ever heard of Ed Gein?

Yeah - that's the inspiration for Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. But there's so many others - Dressed to Kill, obviously Silence of the Lambs, there's a few Giallo and video nasties with it too. It's so much a trope that I think it's actually one of the gags in Scary Movie. Obviously doesn't mean the films are bad - Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence of the Lambs are absolute classics. Edit: God I forgot The Skin I Live In - not sure if that's necessarily horror though, but probably given clear links with Eyes Without A Face...

The description of this aspect of Rowling's book is being disputed. The whole scandal comes from one review in the Telegraph and other people who've read the book are saying it's not a major plot point and it actually barely features. So we don't know yet - more shockingly this book (a detective novel) is over 900 pages which is outrageous. I mean I love detective fiction but that is excessive

Edit: Of course there's a wider and really rich queer critical theory with horror films especially (similarly feminist criticism of horror is almost always worth reading/interesting) because so much of horror rests on subversion of expectations/norms that's precisely what is used to make things unsettling. So obviously given general society queerness has been part of that. Also, in the US especially, there is typically some sort of "justice" to the horror (again - this is sent up in Scary Movie). It's a bit less common in European horror traditions. Also thre is an emphasis on physicality and the body in horror films which probably also helps explain some of the recurance.

Edit: Also - there's even an element of transvestism in Theatre of Blood (obviously Vincent Price has a queer moment as the hairdresser for the Henry VI murder) but I think there's a fair few cross-dressing moments from Dame Diana Rigg.

[garbon]

The description of this aspect of Rowling's book is being disputed. The whole scandal comes from one review in the Telegraph and other people who've read the book are saying it's not a major plot point and it actually barely features. So we don't know yet - more shockingly this book (a detective novel) is over 900 pages which is outrageous. I mean I love detective fiction but that is excessive

Guardian review suggests it is just one of the known killers that the detective considers. They also say this (in a brief pause from being outraged about how new outlets might base reporting on just one source):

Perhaps some will still consider this depiction transphobic, given Rowling's rightly widely criticised views on trans people. It is, at best, an utterly tone-deaf decision to include an evil man who cross-dresses after months of pain among trans people and their allies.

[The Brain]

What has happened that brought pain to trans people and their allies?

[garbon]

What has happened that brought pain to trans people and their allies?

[Josquius]

So her new crime book "Troubled Blood", written under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith, is about a man who dresses up as woman to kill other women. Besides the premise not being original (see: Dressed to Kill), I assume she's just trolling at this point?

So I think that ends that discussion.

Why?

Why is having a serial killer book so bad if it's a transvestite? Is it worst than having a white hetero serial killer?  A gay black serial killer would indicate homophobia and racism?  Does a book about muslim terrorists attacking the US means the author is islamophobic and want to convince you of his opinion?

Write a book with a transvestite serial killer- that's fine. No issues there.
Write a book with a transvestite serial killer at the same time as you're making headlines by insisting transexuals aren't real and general transphobic comments..... There's a pattern there.

[chipwich]

JK Rowling never said transexuals aren't real you damn lair.

[Josquius]

JK Rowling never said transexuals aren't real you damn lair.

Denying that transsexual women are women= essentially saying transsexuals aren't real.

[chipwich]

What makes vermin like Tyr think it's acceptable to brazenly lie? Did his mother raise him like that?

[garbon]

True, she said that she fears many individuals who label themselves as transgender may have felt pressured to adopt that label by current trans activism.

[Eddie Teach]

JK Rowling never said transexuals aren't real you damn lair.

Denying that transsexual women are women= essentially saying transsexuals aren't real.

Not the same thing at all.

[Valmy]

What makes vermin like Tyr think it's acceptable to brazenly lie? Did his mother raise him like that?

Have you never read a post by Tyr before? His perspective on things is rather unique, just because his views seem odd or mistaken to you doesn't mean he is "vermin" or lying. Come on man we have all been here for 14 years, no need for this posturing and pearl clutching. None of us are impressed.

[Eddie Teach]

Weird, I don't remember Valmy taking 3 years off. 

[viper37]

It is also because that particular scenario, a male predator passing as a woman in order to prey on other women with ease, is precisely one of the reasons she puts forward so bathroom laws and the like are not enacted.

we know she has issues with that, a constant fear that she will be assaulted again, and her only safe place could be compromised by an ennemy in disguise.

this her rational, not totally devoid of sence, but not exactly a realistic fear either.  But she was a victim of sexual assault, and such things can warp perspectives.

I don't see such particular novels as being transphobic, no more than gay killers in movies are homophobic.  There have been a few transgendered serial killer in the past, so it's not exactly inexistant.  No one would bat an eye if the serial killer was a white heteronormative man, even if serial killers are kinda rare compared to their appearance in novels, movies and tv shows. 

Since there are a lot more serial killers in the media than in reality, it stands to reason that there would be more transgendered or gay serial killers in medias than in reality.

A crime novel where a jealous man kills his wife and kids would be short, boring, and badly received, even though that's probably the majority of murders in our countries.
A novel picturing white police officers kiling a black man with 16 bullets in his back would equally be badly received, even if it's a very plausible thing.

[viper37]

So her new crime book "Troubled Blood", written under her pseudonym Robert Galbraith, is about a man who dresses up as woman to kill other women. Besides the premise not being original (see: Dressed to Kill), I assume she's just trolling at this point?

So I think that ends that discussion.

Why?

Why is having a serial killer book so bad if it's a transvestite? Is it worst than having a white hetero serial killer?  A gay black serial killer would indicate homophobia and racism?  Does a book about muslim terrorists attacking the US means the author is islamophobic and want to convince you of his opinion?

Write a book with a transvestite serial killer- that's fine. No issues there.
Write a book with a transvestite serial killer at the same time as you're making headlines by insisting transexuals aren't real and general transphobic comments..... There's a pattern there.

do you think she wrote the book and had it corrected in two months?

[The Minsky Moment]

Weird, I don't remember Valmy taking 3 years off. 

He was laying low during the Consulate I think.