https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12249925/JK-Rowling-issues-warning-sex-toilets-boy-arrested.htmlJK Rowling warns that girls' safety is being 'sacrificed to an incoherent trans ideology' after teenage boy is arrested over 'sex assaults in gender-neutral loos in Essex school'
Teenager arrested and questioned over four alleged attacks at a school in Essex
Harry Potter author, 57, claims such assaults were 'foreseeable and preventable'
By Mark Duell
Published: 09:57, 30 June 2023 | Updated: 09:57, 30 June 2023
JK Rowling has warned that gender neutral toilets are sacrificing girls' 'safety, privacy and dignity' after a schoolboy was arrested over claims of serious sexual assaults against female pupils in same-sex lavatories. The Harry Potter author spoke out after the teenager, who is under the age of 16, was detained and questioned over four alleged attacks at a school in Essex. The secondary school, which cannot be named for legal reasons, had allegedly not carried out an impact assessment on the provision of mixed-sex lavatories. It is understood that three of the attacks were claimed to have happened in unisex bathrooms. The boy has since been bailed while police continue their investigation. Now, 57-year-old author and women's rights campaigner Rowling has claimed such attacks were 'entirely foreseeable and preventable'. She tweeted: 'Girls' safety, privacy and dignity are being sacrificed to an incoherent ideology pushed by lobby groups, which gives predatory males easy access to victims.'
Meanwhile, a recent Policy Exchange report found around one in five schools did not have different changing rooms for boys and girls. An Essex Police spokesman said: 'We are currently investigating reports of serious sexual assaults, which are believed to have occurred at a school in North Essex. A boy under the age of 16 has been arrested and since been bailed with conditions. We are working closely with the school and local authorities whilst enquiries for this investigation continue.'
An Essex County Council spokesman said: 'We are working closely with Essex Police and relevant authorities regarding a safeguarding matter at a school in Essex. 2We are supporting the leadership at the school and will provide additional support to the school community if required. The school have communicated with parents and carers and have offered support. As this is an ongoing police investigation, we are not able to comment further at this time.'
Rowling has become a prominent women's rights campaigner in recent years as well as a target of trans activists over her views. Earlier this month Oxfam was forced to apologise for an LGBT video that appeared to demonise Rowling as an anti-trans villain. The charity admitted it 'made a mistake' by using the image of an older woman labelled with the derogatory term 'Terf' to illustrate transphobic hate groups. 'Terf' is a term used by trans activists to refer to 'trans exclusionary radical feminists' who oppose gender ideology. Separately, Oxfam was accused of hounding out a volunteer over her support of Rowling. The former worker told Unherd she had been found guilty of misconduct for asking on a company intranet forum why the writer was being accused of transphobia. She launched an employment tribunal case which was settled out of court last year with Oxfam apologising for making mistakes in the case and the disciplinary process. In June 2020, Rowling was accused of being 'transphobic' after insisting only women experience menstruation. She had challenged an article entitled: 'Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.'
Taking issue with the phrasing, she copied a link to the article and posted above it on Twitter: 'People who menstruate.' I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?'
