Males are males, and females are females. Their birth-assigned gender is what defines them for the rest of their lives.
But in the modern world society, people in some parts of the world are given the freedom to choose who they want to become, and what they want others to address them.
This time, J.K. Rowling, the famed author of the Harry Potter fantasy series and Cormoran Strike crime fiction series, has reignited her beef with Harry Potter stars Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson over the issue of transgender identity and rights.
The woman, whose real name is Joanne Rowling, is a regular user of the X platform, and that she often use it to express her transphobic views.
She took it to X to comment on a new review of gender identity services for children by Britain’s National Health Service, that claimed that there is "no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress."
The writer described it as a "a watershed moment" that "lays bare the tragedy" of allowing children to transition.
Speaking on X, she condemned the way young people had been encouraged to undergo drastic treatment on the weakest of evidence.
"My anger’s been mounting all day. Kids have been irreversibly harmed, and thousands are complicit, not just medics, but the celebrity mouthpieces, unquestioning media and cynical corporations."
Rowling then went a step further, when she replied to a user on X, who wrote that they were "waiting for Dan and Emma to give you a very public apology."
Referencing to both Radcliffe and Watson, neither of the two superstars have spoken out about their views on medical transitioning of children.
However, the two have long support transgender movements, and have been denouncing Rowling's anti-transgender rants.
The user added that they were "safe in the knowledge that you will forgive them."
Rowling responded that forgiving them is probably the last thing in her mind.
"Not safe, I’m afraid," Rowling wrote back.
"Celebs who cozied up to a movement intent on eroding women’s hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatized detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces."
Not safe, I'm afraid. Celebs who cosied up to a movement intent on eroding women's hard-won rights and who used their platforms to cheer on the transitioning of minors can save their apologies for traumatised detransitioners and vulnerable women reliant on single sex spaces.
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 10, 2024
Daniel Radcliffe, who played the young wizard Harry Potter in the Harry Potter films, had once responded to Rowling's original posts in 2020 by saying that "It's clear that we need to do more to support transgender and nonbinary people, not invalidate their identities."
He added that he hoped the author's comments would not "taint" the movie series for fans.
As for Emma Watson, who portrayed Hermione Granger in the films, said that "Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren't who they say they are."
Rupert Grint, who rounds out the trio of Harry Potter leads with his role as Ron Weasley, has also spoken out in support of trans people.
"I firmly stand with the trans community and echo the sentiments expressed by many of my peers," he once said. "Trans women are women. Trans men are men."
In 2021, Grint expressed his support for the transgender community, right after Rowling voiced her opinions in multiple online posts that conflated sex with gender and defended ideas suggesting that changing one's biological sex threatens her own gender identity.
Grint explained that he is "hugely grateful" for the acclaimed author, though he can still disagree with her views.
"I am hugely grateful (for) everything that she's done. I think that she's extremely talented, and I mean, clearly, her works are genius," he said. "But yeah, I think also you can have huge respect for someone and still disagree with things like that."
Speaking about the feud, Grint likens Rowling to his own auntie.
"I liken J. K. Rowling to an auntie. I don’t agree with everything my auntie says," he reportedly said.
Rowling has been accused of being transphobic, and for her views on gender identity.
To her, people who are males are males, and females are females. Men are men, and women are women. She also made statement that said transgender women, which were male at birth before changing their gender to female, shouldn't be allowed into female-only spaces.
She also challenged police in Scotland, where she lives, to arrest her under a new Hate Crime and Public Order Act, which is making it illegal to "stir up hatred" against people based on their age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or other protected characteristics.
Police Scotland however, decided not to take any action.
It's worth noting though, Rowling never call herself a transphobic, and denied being one.
She said that she respects "every trans person's right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them," and that she wants trans people to be free from discrimination and abuse.