JK Rowling has hit back at a presenter calling him a “misogynist” after he challenged her views on gender-identity. Albie Amankona – a presenter on GB News – shared a post on social media platform X explaining how he felt “sympathetic” of the author’s views.
But he went on to share a picture of transgender model Munroe Bergdorf, saying: “I suspect like me, most Brits would find calling a trans woman who looks like @munroebergdorf1 ‘him’ to be obtuse & mean-spirited, though not a criminal offence.”
The model faced backlash in January after being given the role of “UK Champion” by UN Women UK. Responding to Albie, the Harry Potter author said: “So if trans-identified men are pretty enough (as judged by you, a man) women ought to agree they’re women?
“Femaleness has no relation whatsoever to how well an individual – man or woman – performs femininity to male standards. This is the very definition of misogyny.”
The presenter has been a member of the LGBT+ Conservatives for several years and joined the Executive in 2023.
The row came after JK Rowling shared a picture of Ms Bergdorf alongside nine other notable transgender women as part of a campaign against the new Scottish hate legislation.
She wrote on X: “Munroe Bergdorf isn’t just a pretty face! Public campaigner for a children’s charity until safeguarding concerns were raised, she was appointed UN Women’s first ever UK champion. ‘What makes a woman a woman has no definitive answer,’ says Munroe. Great choice, UN Women!”
Ms Bergdorf was dropped from the NSPCC days after being selected as Childline’s first LGBT+ campaigner. The safeguarding concerns, as cited by the charity were from statements the model had posted on Twitter which “breached its safeguarding rules.”
The new Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 creates a new crime of “stirring up hatred” relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex. The maximum penalty is a prison sentence of seven years.
A person commits an offence if they communicate material, or behave in a manner, “that a reasonable person would consider to be threatening or abusive,” with the intention of stirring up hatred based on the protected characteristics.
JK Rowling – who lives in Edinburgh – has openly condemned the new legislation, saying it gives women “no additional protections, of course”.
She went on to list 10 high profile trans-women, referring to them as “women” before posting: “April Fools! Only kidding. Obviously, the people mentioned in the above tweets aren’t women at all, but men, every last one of them.”
