JK Rowling is currently in the middle of one of the biggest rows that the internet has ever seen, over alleged transphobia. Yesterday she tweeted:

‘Dress however you please.

Call yourself whatever you like.

Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.

Live your best life in peace and security.

But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?

#IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill’

Her comments came in response to the ruling on a case where a woman named Maya Forstater did not have her contract renewed by her employer because the employer regarded comments that Maya had made online to be transphobic. Earlier this week a judge ruled that her employer had not acted unlawfully and did have the right to terminate their working relationship.

The response to the statement from Rowling has been mixed. Some gender critical feminists such as Hadley Freeman and Julie Bindel praised Rowling, while many from the LGBTQ+ community condemned the tweet.

This isn’t the first time that Rowling has come under fire for her views on gender. Back in 2018 she liked a tweet which read, ‘I was shouted at by men at my first Labour party meeting because I asked them to remove a Page 3 calendar, I’ve been told to toughen up, be louder, stronger, independent. I’ve often not felt supported. Men in dresses get brocialist solidarity I never had. That’s misogyny!’

After an outcry about the ‘like’, Rowling’s agent made a statement saying that she had pressed the like button by accident while having a ‘senior moment’.

Rowling was also subject to much online criticism when she defended the casting of Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts following allegations of physical abuse towards his ex-wife Amber Heard.

Many of the responses to Rowling’s tweet have included a picture of Emma Watson from 2018, wearing a T-shirt that reads ‘trans rights are human rights’, clearly stating that she’s an ally to the trans community.

Rowling hasn’t made any further comments since tweeting yesterday, either on Twitter or anywhere else.