Joanne Rowling, known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and philanthropist. She wrote Harry Potter, a seven-volume fantasy series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has sold over 600 million copies, been translated into 84 languages, and spawned a global media franchise including films and video games. The Casual Vacancy (2012) was her first novel for adults. She writes Cormoran Strike, an ongoing crime fiction series, under the alias Robert Galbraith.
Transphobia consists of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger towards people who do not conform to social gender roles. Transphobia is a type of prejudice and discrimination, similar to racism, sexism, or ableism, and it is closely associated with homophobia. People of color who are transgender experience discrimination above and beyond that which can be explained as a simple combination of transphobia and racism.
Intimate partner sexual violence (IPSV) deals with sexual violence within the context of domestic violence. Intimate partner sexual violence is defined by any unwanted sexual contact or activity by an intimate partner in order to control an individual through fear, threats, or violence. Women are the primary victims of this type of violence.
A rape crisis centre, also known as a sexual assault crisis centre or sexual assault referral centre (SARC), is a specialised centre to support victims of rape or other sexual assault, both in the immediate aftermath of the assault and in the months and sometimes years following the attack. They are usually situated in a secure location and employ a multidisciplinary team of practitioners to provide medical, psychological, and practical support to the victim.
Vancouver Rape Relief & Women's Shelter is Canada's longest running rape crisis center. The shelter, located in Vancouver, British Columbia, was established in 1973 and has operated a feminist transition house since 1983, offering women shelter from men who are abusing them, including fathers, husbands, sons, pimps, johns and landlords. A member of the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres (CASAC), it is an independent, non-governmental group with no connection to the criminal justice system.
British author J. K. Rowling, writer of Harry Potter and other Wizarding World works, has garnered attention for her support of the Labour Party under Gordon Brown and her criticism of the party under Jeremy Corbyn, as well as her opposition to the American Republican Party under Donald Trump. She opposed Scottish independence in a 2014 referendum and Brexit during the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union.
Transgender rights in the United Kingdom have varied significantly over time, with transgender Britons facing many issues not experienced by non-trans individuals. These include various laws and public attitudes in regards to identity documents, as well as anti-discrimination measures used by or pertaining to transgender people, in the areas of employment, education, housing and social services, amongst others.
Sexual assault of LGBT people, also known as sexual and gender minorities (SGM), is a form of violence that occurs within the LGBT community. While sexual assault and other forms of interpersonal violence can occur in all forms of relationships, it is found that sexual minorities experience it at rates that are equal to or higher than their heterosexual counterparts. There is a lack of research on this specific problem for the LGBT population as a whole, but there does exist a substantial amount of research on college LGBT students who have experienced sexual assault and sexual harassment.
Magdalen Berns was a British YouTuber, boxer, and software developer. Berns, a lesbian radical feminist, produced a series of YouTube vlogs in the late 2010s concerning topics such as women's rights and gender identity. Berns's vlogs attracted attention from transgender rights activists, some of whom characterized her as being transphobic and a TERF. Berns co-founded the non-profit organisation For Women Scotland, which campaigns against possible changes to the Gender Recognition Act 2004, among other things.
Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) is a charity which provides a national rape crisis helpline and email support for anyone affected by sexual violence, no matter when or how it happened. There are 17 independent local centres in Scotland that are members of RCS.
Labour for Trans Rights (LTR), previously known as the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights (LCTR), is a British pressure group within the Labour Party, founded in February 2020.
For Women Scotland (FWS) is a Scottish campaign group that opposes proposed reforms allowing individuals to change their recorded sex in legal documents by means of self-declaration. The group campaigns against changes to transgender rights and has been described as anti-trans, as trans-exclusionary radical feminist, and as a "gender-critical feminist group".
The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament.
Gender-critical feminism, also known as trans-exclusionary radical feminism or TERFism, is an ideology or movement that opposes what it refers to as "gender ideology": the concept of gender identity and transgender rights, especially gender self-identification. Gender-critical feminists believe that sex is biological and immutable, while believing gender, including both gender identity and gender roles, to be inherently oppressive. They reject the concept of transgender identities.
Mridul Machindra Wadhwa is an Indian-born Scottish women's rights, trans rights and anti-domestic violence campaigner. She serves as Chief Executive Officer of Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre. She was formerly active in the Scottish National Party, a candidate for the party in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, before moving to the Scottish Green Party.
Kellie-Jay Nyishie Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, is a British gender-critical and anti–transgender rights activist and the leader of the political party, Party of Women. She is the founder of the group Standing for Women and the former special advisor to the Women's Liberation Front (WoLF). Keen-Minshull has been described as a key figure against the United Kingdom's Gender Recognition Act of 2004. She has been credited for popularising the use of the term "adult human female" to define a woman; the term later became associated with gender-critical feminism.
FiLiA is a British gender-critical feminist charity founded in 2015 that describes itself as part of the women's liberation movement. FiLiA organizes a conference, held first in 2008 as Feminism in London, in different cities, which it now describes as the "largest annual grassroots feminist conference in Europe". FiLiA is gender-critical, and states that it supports "sex-based rights" and opposes what they refer to as "gender ideology." It has lobbied against gender recognition reform and considers gender self-identification a threat to "women's protected rights." Critics describe it as anti-transgender and transphobic. FiLiA is critical of the sex industry and as a result, it considers pornography harmful. It has campaigned on behalf of women internationally, and as a result, it has held its campaigns in countries such as Iran, Cyprus, and Kenya. It has been described as one of "the most important 'gender critical' groups" alongside Women's Declaration International. FiLiA has faced protests and attempted cancellations, notably in 2023 when the venue Platform attempted to cancel the conference due to alleged transphobia. In 2024 FiLiA launched the book The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht, on what the authors describe as a campaign for "sex-based rights" by J.K. Rowling and others.
Beira's Place is a Scotland-based private support service for female victims of sexual violence. Founded in 2022 by J. K. Rowling, the organisation describes itself as a "women-only service", and does not hire or provide services to transgender women.
The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht: Voices from the front-line of Scotland's battle for women's rights is a 2024 book of gender-critical essays, edited by Susan Dalgety, a columnist for The Scotsman, and Lucy Hunter Blackburn, author and former Scottish Government civil servant. The book was published on 30 May by Constable, an imprint of the Little, Brown Book Group.
The Trans Safety Network is a transgender organisation based in the United Kingdom that aims to document and analyse information on organised anti-transgender movements.
