
The launch of a sexual assault support centre for women is always good news but, when it is the brainchild of J.K. Rowling, it is very big news. Especially given the feminist philanthropist and world famous author has smartly taken pre-emptive steps to outwit her detractors.
Rowling has funded and designed a new, women-only sexual violence support service, Beira’s Place, which opens today. “I founded Beira’s Place to provide what I believe is currently an unmet need for women in the Lothians area,” the author said this weekend. “As a survivor of sexual assault myself, I know how important it is that survivors have the option of women-centred and women-delivered care at such a vulnerable time. Beira’s Place will offer an increase in capacity for services in the area and will, I hope, enable more women to process and recover from their trauma.”
Situated in the heart of Edinburgh, it is a service for women who have been subjected to men’s violence. It is named after the Scottish goddess of Winter, as Rowling explained: “Beira rules over the dark part of the year, handing over to her sister, Bride, when summer comes again. Beira represents female wisdom, power, and regeneration. Hers is a strength that endures during the difficult times, but her myth contains the promise that they will not last for ever.”
It has taken a year of hard work by Rowling and her team to get it off the ground, and I was delighted to be invited to the top-secret launch on Saturday alongside the crème de la crème of Scottish feminists and many other supporters. Today is the first that anyone, aside from those who have had some kind of involvement in the project, will hear about Beira’s Place.
The board, which includes Rowling, is comprised of experts with a lifelong commitment to ending men’s violence towards women and girls. They include former prison governor and LGB rights campaigner Rhona Hotchkiss, previous Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, GP Margaret McCartney, and Susan Smith who is director of For Women Scotland. Its CEO is Isabelle Kerr, a veteran of the Rape Crisis movement.
Beira’s Place is strictly female-only, as defined by section 212 of the Equality Act which states that a woman is a “female of any age”. If you are a natal women aged 16 and over, reside in the Lothians and have experienced sexual violence or abuse at any time in your life, a free and confidential service is now there for you.
The service is funded solely by Rowling and is not set up as a charity, which means trans activists won’t be able to petition the Charities Commission to close it down.
Rowling understands why women need single-sex services following rape and sexual assault. As she wrote on her blog in June 2020: “I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it.”
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