JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series and notorious TERF, has found herself in hot water with the people of Taiwan when she slung misinformed transphobic comments about the Olympic Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting after her performance.
Rowling has been making a series of similar comments about the gender identity of various Olympians as conservative conspiracy theorists have been hyper-focused on whatever advantage could come from presumedly trans athletes competing at the Games.
Lin Yu-ting, along with Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, are both under fire from conservatives for their “biological” gender identity. Although both boxers were disqualified from last year’s World Championships by the International Boxing Association for failing to meet their gender criteria, they’ve both been cleared to compete in the Olympic Games under the same criteria.
It’s worth noting that Russian officials lead the IBA. The organization has been stripped of its authority in the Games over concerns about integrity in their choices by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The IOC also determined that both boxers, who have identified as women since birth, are allowed to continue competing in the women’s division.
Rowling, who is no stranger to being blatantly transphobic online, wrote on July 30, “What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?” This sparked a wildfire of anti-Rowling sentiment across Taiwanese news sources. These sources are not necessarily pro-trans in their rhetoric, as they’re upset that Rowling accused their fighter of being trans. Earlier this year, Rowling donated to an anti-trans organization and has been so openly transphobic that even actors from the Harry Potter movies have distanced themselves from her.
Many are citing the identity card numbers that Taiwanese nationals receive at birth, similar to an American Social Security Number. Assigned male numbers begin with a one, and assigned female numbers begin with a two. Keelung City Councillor Jiho Tiun wrote on Facebook, “If she was biologically male and went to change her gender to get better results in competition, then her identity card would have begun with one instead of two. Because no baby at birth would have schemed this way just to take part in the Olympics 28 years later.”
Despite the controversy, Lin Yu-ting was not discouraged. She won the gold medal in women’s featherweight boxing.
Photo courtesy of social media
