JK Rowling says Nicola Sturgeon has caused ‘lasting harm’ for Scottish women

JK Rowling has accused Nicola Sturgeon of creating a “dystopian nightmare” for Scottish women.

In a review of Sturgeon’s memoir, Frankly, posted on her own website Rowling said the former first minister had caused “real, lasting harm” for women due to her pursuit of gender self-ID.

And she said Sturgeon had been made to look like a “fuckwit” by the case of rapist Isla Bryson, who was briefly held in a women’s prison before being moved to the male estate.

Rowling wrote: “Bryson, a convicted double rapist, had decided he was a woman and would rather be incarcerated with the sex against which he’d already committed the most male of crimes.

“When asked on television whether bald, blonde wig-wearing Bryson was a man or a woman, the first minister, whose composure and articulacy under fire had, for years, been her most potent political asset, made herself look – and forgive me for employing a PR term here – a complete fuckwit.”

Launching her book at the Edinburgh International Book Festival earlier today, Sturgeon said the side arguing against reform of the Gender Recognition Act had been “hijacked” by transphobes.

She said that while she did not believe everyone who opposed the now-abandoned legislation was transphobic or homophobic, some were and it was the “soft underbelly of prejudice”.

But Rowling said the former SNP leader had “demonised and stigmatised” women concerned about “safety, privacy, fairness and dignity”.

She said Frankly read like a “PR statement that’s been through sixteen drafts”, adding: “If you’re looking for a more scintillating read, I recommend The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht – especially if you want the real low down on the dystopian nightmare Sturgeon’s gender beliefs have imposed on Scottish women.”

She added: “[Sturgeon] caused real, lasting harm by presiding over and encouraging a culture in which women have been silenced, shamed, persecuted and placed in situations that are degrading and unsafe, all for not subscribing to her own luxury beliefs.”