Nick Cohen on JKR in the Spectator

[Kit19]

Pointing out that she is being slandered & she’s not transphobic

[Kit19]

www.spectator.co.uk/article/j-k-rowling-s-latest-novel-isn-t-transphobic-

[SerenityNowwwww]

I’d love to see their circulation stats. They must be pretty impressive 😊

[Kit19]

It seems the ‘transphobic’ content amounts to a single page in a 900 page book. FOR FUCKS SAKE

[yourhairiswinterfire]

Is that what's caused all of this? That little passage he quoted in the article? Fuck.

I mean, I know that they love blowing things out of proportion on Twitter and won't pass on a chance to bully JKR, but this is just embarrassingly fucking ridiculous even by their standards.

The character wears a wig and a woman's coat, and so JKR should die? (And I don't believe for a second that the RIP hashtag was referring to her career, because there were plenty of gun memes.)

Should have kept their mouths shut until they'd read it, but that seems too much to ask being as they can't even read her short, simple essay properly.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

I'm surprised no-ones accused of her kink shaming yet, cross dressing isn't the only paraphilia mentioned ...

[ChattyLion]

Good article by Nick Cohen
no mob on the rampage in history has ever stopped to read a novel.

Yes, even when the idiots are rampaging about a novel

Also it is well documented that some male criminals absolutely do use women's clothes for disguise, as part of carrying out their crime or evading detection or both. JKR isn’t inventing that. Is writing about crime, when you are a crime writer, transphobic?

[Mayswear]

I might treat myself to a Spectator subscription actually.

[megletthesecond]

I was a bit "what the hell are they screaming at now?" too.

[Thecazelets]

Good article, thanks for posting. I was also wondering what the latest twitter threat-fest could possibly be about.

I don't actually love JKR's writing, but I'm going to buy this one on principle.

[Gladysthesphinx]

Haven’t read the new Strike (arriving tomorrow!) but PD James had a male murderer, decades ago, wearing a blonde woman’s wig & coat to get up close to women walking at night before strangling them. What are the twitter mob going to do about her I wonder? Launch a campaign to have her stripped of all honours?
It’s a plot device. Pretty sure also used in an Agatha Christie short story. Did Dorothy Sayers use something similar- man disguised as woman?

[picklemewalnuts]

Ooh, i like this bit!


In one respect, however, her critics are right to scream 'witch'. Rowling’s writing is becoming ever-more feminist; ever-more conscious of women’s physical and emotional abuse. The novel’s descriptions of how men condescend to Robin Ellacott, how they send her lewd pictures, grab her, talk over her, and refuse to accept her opinions because they are from a woman form one of the novels most convincing themes. 

[Austriana]

Is she a feminist writer? I admire her hugely, she's intelligent, classy, philanthropic - a role model. But her books feature females as the sidekicks to the central male character. She's certainly a feminist, just not sure I would define her as a feminist writer.

[ChattyLion]

I agree Austriana and that’s not to take anything away whatsoever from what an absolutely solid gold feminist JKR is in how she conducts her public life, her advocacy and her philanthropy.

I have wondered if her art will begin to reflect her life more as time goes on. In a way, I don’t care though- she can write how she wants in her novels. I don’t have to read them to respect her very much for her massively impactful recent contributions to an international public debate on women’s rights, just from her blogs and tweets.

[TheFleegleHasLanded]

@Mayswear

I might treat myself to a Spectator subscription actually.

550+ new subscribers on the day the Co-Op had their hissy fit.

The Speccie goes from strength to strength purely because they publish views from across the political spectrum and trust their readers to make up their own minds,

[stumbledin]

I dont like the Spectator.

I dont like Nick Cohen.

But I thought this was a really good piece of writing. None of his usual superior tone.

Well measured and being straight forward and honest about both JKR and the book.

If only everything published was like this.

First the twitter trolls starting copying the worst parts of tabloid journalism, and now the main stream media, is aping twitter. That sly remark in the Telegraph review is an example.

But everytime something likes this happens, it is worth remembering that twitter is one of the least used social media platform. It is the main stream media which is amplifying what it said there.

How is twitter any better a source for newspaper articles, than popping into the local pub and seeing what rubbish the all day drinkers are yelling at each other.

[LoveInTheTimeOfCorona]

Some people are giving it a bad review on amazon because the book is too big and weighs too much. You couldn't make this up.

[LoveInTheTimeOfCorona]

Sorry, I meant to post it on another thread! But still

[hamstersarse]

The Spectator is the last bastion of sensibility in our media

[boatyardblues]

@LoveInTheTimeOfCorona

Some people are giving it a bad review on amazon because the book is too big and weighs too much. You couldn't make this up.

I borrowed a hardback from a friend last winter, got fed up with how much it made my arms ache after 2 days and bought the Kindle version. If you’re out of practice, weighty tomes are hard work. In this case, it was the first of a series and she’d loaned me the whole set. Reader, I downloaded the whole set. 🤦‍♀️

[Datun]

So if it's slanderous and if it started with the telegraph, can JK sue them?

She certainly does not hold the view that you can't trust a man in a dress. If the telegraph review muppet had bothered to read her essay, he would know she says the opposite.

[SunsetBeetch]

@Kit19

It seems the ‘transphobic’ content amounts to a single page in a 900 page book. FOR FUCKS SAKE

Fucking incredible. Boy, are a lot of people going to look very stupid. Well, even more stupid than they did already.

What an amazing example of mob mentality.

[SunsetBeetch]

Oh and maybe Mumsnet needs a new acronym: RTFB

[nachthexe]

@SunsetBeetch

Oh and maybe Mumsnet needs a new acronym: RTFB

[wellbehavedwomen]

@Gladysthesphinx

Haven’t read the new Strike (arriving tomorrow!) but PD James had a male murderer, decades ago, wearing a blonde woman’s wig & coat to get up close to women walking at night before strangling them. What are the twitter mob going to do about her I wonder? Launch a campaign to have her stripped of all honours?
It’s a plot device. Pretty sure also used in an Agatha Christie short story. Did Dorothy Sayers use something similar- man disguised as woman?

It's also happened in real life. The Cambridge Rapist wore women's clothes and a wig when leaving crime scenes, in an attempt to evade detection. He wasn't trans. Nor even a cross dresser, as far as I know. He was just a bloke who didn't want to get caught - and isn't that the same as Rowling's villain, from Nick Cohen's account?

[Quillink]

Good article. I keep toying with the idea of restarting our Spectator subs and this might be the necessary shove.

Did the Telegraph reviewer not realise that people will actually read the book and realise that he's a terrible reviewer? It won't do anything for his credibility.