JK Rowling on mysoginistic abuse

Fantastic stuff. Well done JK.
Criticising someone for their words, attitudes, policies and actions is fair game. Bringing their sex, age, race, sexual orientation or appearance into the debate isn't.

I'm currently voting Tory, and it's worth noting my 'side' can be just as bad. We men write ourselves a blank cheque to behave indefensibly misogynistic when engaging/ criticising our female political opposites.

It's time we stamp it out and doesn't degenerate into your 'side' is as bad or worse than mine and we all unite in condemning it. I applaud JKR for doing so, whilst recognising the plank in my side's eye on the same issue.

We need to be able to cross ideological lines and unite on this issue. It really is bizzare that we don't.

chicken, I expect the tone reflects the fact the DM have already been sued by JKR for previous articles & lost. They're probably more wary of spouting their usual bile for that reason. That & the fact JKR has the resources to take action where many don't. And their tone is hardly neutral - they've tried their best to allude to JKR overreacting by saying she suggested the writer who wrote the trigger tweet was being compared to a homophobic/racist/murderer/rapist. Which IMO takes what she said out of context.

I think JKR is quite interesting in the way she is treated by the Daily Mail. If she were any other woman expressing feminist opinions in public she would be being mocked, but because she wrote books beloved by mail readers and their children she gets to say this stuff without being vilified.

Did you notice the tone of the article seems very neutral? It's not written in a supportive or approving tone.

I don’t recall her defending Diane Abbott or Nicola Sturgeon from the horrendous abuse continually directed at them.

GuitarGirl I think she has now said she was wrong about Corbyn

I wonder if that was before or after the general election was called

her Harry Potter books have been criticised for being rather backwards in how people are portrayed.

I agree with the sentiment, but I'm not massively surprised. It seems like she has grown in the last 20 years. The first book was written in 1997, the last one in what, 2007? I expect we've all grown since 2007.

There is a hypocrisy in her tweets. They're an important message for sure but she is also Twitter "friends" and communicates regularly with someone called Brian Spanner who regularly refers to women he disagrees with as Cunts and worse. She can't take moral stand against one man yet continue to support the other.

I meant "liberal" not in the sense of self-identifying as a liberal, but in the sense of what is generally meant by liberal in political philosophy. So I think it's quite possible to point out that someone's beliefs can be totally at odds with the label they attach to those beliefs. (But yes, there's a hell of a lot of self-professed liberal and left wing men who are apalling misogynists).

Neither JK Rowling's opinions on Corbyn nor Theresa May's policies are particularly relevant to the point being made which is a good one. Misogynist abuse is never acceptable and some vitriol towards May veers strongly into that territory. I don't like Theresa May much at all but not liking a woman doesn't mean it's acceptable to talk about her in the terms I believe Rowling was objecting to. If someone uses such terms about a woman it's quite telling, in my opinion, on their views of women generally.

Ah i like her. I don't agree with all her politics but i love the fact that she uses her position to call out misogynist bullshit when she sees it.

Absolutely 100% right - if you're only liberal towards the people who you agree with and reach for racist, sexist or homophobic epithets the moment someone says something you don't like, you aren't really liberal at all.

Is "liberal" synonymous with anti-racist and anti-sexist? Because I don't get that impression that all.

I.e. I wouldn't call him No True Liberal, I'd rather assume that liberal men aren't so very great in the first place.

You know, I am often amazed at how reasonable J.K. Rowling looks whenever she makes a public statement.

Whereas her Harry Potter books have been criticised for being rather backwards in how people are portrayed.

(No complaint. I'd rather that someone who's unconsciously stuck in some horrid attitudes at least be able to distance herself from them when consciously thinking about it)

That's a brilliant set of tweets, well done her.

Absolutely 100% right - if you're only liberal towards the people who you agree with and reach for racist, sexist or homophobic epithets the moment someone says something you don't like, you aren't really liberal at all.

Sean - good. Last time I checked her Twitter, there didn't seem to be any acknowledgement but then as I don't follow her anymore, I am probably not up-to-date. (Plus obviously Twitter is not the be-all-and-end-all of someone's public profile).

GuitarGirl I think she has now said she was wrong about Corbyn.

Non-fail link: https://www.buzzfeed.com/juliareinstein/jk-rowling-misogyny-thread?utmterm=.xdkqXwpDR7&ref=mobilee_share#.pd5ZEqQ62j

A lot of left-leaning men enjoy having a woman to hurl misogynist abuse at. For all their posturing, scratch the surface and most of them hate women

Graham Linehan retweeted it approvingly, so someone dug up and retweeted some of his choice misogynistic tweets about Theresa May

I completely agree with what JKR says, but it has to apply to all women, not just those you agree with politically

JK sais;
'''I’m sick of "liberal" men whose mask slips every time a woman displeases them, who reach immediately for crude and humiliating words associated with femaleness, act like old-school misogynists and then preen themselves as though they’ve been brave.

'When you do this, Mr Liberal Cool Guy, you ally yourself, wittingly or not, with the men who send women violent pornographic images and rape threats, who try by every means possible to intimidate women out of politics and public spaces, both real and digital.'''

This is fantastic, we need more women in the public eye to call these men out. They just dismiss us.

Corbyn has a massive mandate for his policies, but it has been interesting to see how much influence the media has had in this election, and I am hardly one of Corbyn's greatest fans.

JK Rowling is spot on here. It won't get her many man cookies, but I don't think she gives a fuck

Sorry, I can't bring myself to click on a DM link.

If May gets into bed with the DUP she'll get into bed with anyone. She's probably getting paid for it too.

I think you can tell how liberal someone is by how they treat members of the marginalised group when they are angry with them. Not how they treat the people they "like" or "approve of"

Of course you will sometimes be angry with a specific woman or be angry with a specific black person. But when you are angry with them, do you use the same language as you would use if you were angry with a white man? Or do you resort to the same abusive language that you would call "sexist" or "racist" if it were used against one of your friends?

Just read this & came here cos I knew there would be a thread about it. Loved her response & given her platform I'm glad she tore into him & did so very publicly. Every word she said was spot on & he deserved that.

I follow her.
John Niven is vile, and she is absolutely right to rip into him - too many so-called liberal men are happy to use misogynistic insults without thinking twice.

Corby or not, her twitter comments to this person who called May a whore are superb. got link through fb so am purer than snow