To think JKRowling should be in the House of Lords

[Allthegoodnamesarechosen]

She is probably the best selling living author writing in English

She has given a great deal of money to charity

She has conquered the disadvantages of being an unemployed single mother by her own efforts

She is a great role model for women and girls

I'm going to have a try.

Sexual assault doesn't exist because lemons. Boris Johnson doesn't exist because Liz Truss. Pineapple on pizza doesn't exist because pepperoni.

I can see why they like it here.

Still waiting for @TropicalDrink to tell us what a woman is.

You can't ignore the disconnect in what Lord Lucas is saying; i.e.

• Everyone who gives birth is a mother
• Not everyone who gives birth is a woman

You cannot give birth unless you are biologically female. However, you can become a mother without giving birth. Lord Lucas is suggesting that 'mother' is an immutable reality whereas 'woman' is not. To put it simply, he has it the wrong way round.

And we have to ask ourselves why. The answer is because the Lords need mothers (to perpetuate their family lines) but they don't need women who are not mothers - women who are not mothers can neither inherit nor produce heirs. The HoL protects only what is important to it. They do not care about women's rights, although they may be happy to pretend they do to attract feminist allies.

He is saying that not everyone who gives birth accepts that she is a woman.

And he is therefore accepting the idea that 'woman' is a label, but defending the idea that 'mother' is not a label. Yet 'mother' is the term that is a societal construct, not 'woman'.

Leaving aside biological mothers who might call themselves fathers, there are other valid reasons why a biological mother might not call herself a mother - if her child is brought up by another family member, for example, who might become in emotional/societal terms its 'mother' while the child's biological mother calls herself its 'aunt' or 'sister'.

A woman who gives her baby up immediately for adoption might identify herself as childfree, not a mother at all.

However, all those non-mothers remain biologically female.

You cannot give birth unless you are biologically female. However, you can become a mother without giving birth. Lord Lucas is suggesting that 'mother' is an immutable reality whereas 'woman' is not. To put it simply, he has it the wrong way round.

Excellent observation, and very telling when you think about it.

Sex is real as is biological parenthood.

Why is it never ok for anyone to say that they don't like the woman? Why is that an opinion that is just not allowed at all by posters who frequent the FWR board? Its constantly met with such vitriol, as if its inherently wrong to not like her, as if it means you're a terrible person/an idiot/someone without a brain, etc. Some people do, some people don't, simple as that for goodness sake.

Definitely not a great role model for anyone, especially not women and girls

I’d be devastated if my DD looked up to her. Just as much as I’d be devastated if my DS looked up to Andrew Tate

She does belong in an irrelevant dated institution so I guess you're right.

Why, what has she done?

Why is it never ok for anyone to say that they don't like the woman?

It's fine, it's just that we always ask why and if we get a response at all, it's along the lines of "said offensive things that I can't quote" or "isn't nice enough about death and rape threats".

If your reason for not liking her is based on false narrative then yes people will unsupportive of your opinion

JKR is sadly the patron saint of MN

There is a lot of spill over from FWR to AIBU which does impact a lot of the posts on here (for the worst)

Sad to see you resort to faux naivety

Many don’t like her for her stance on Trans women in particular, she has actively endorsed businesses selling anti trans merchandise on her social media channels, one of which exclusively sold badges with ‘fuck your pronouns’ on them.

I don’t enjoy bigotry and hatred. Therefore don’t enjoy JKR.

Considering I see plenty of posts such as the following, I'm going to disagree with you.

Poster 1: "No, really don't like the woman"
Poster 2: "Oh here we go. lists 70 good things that JKR has done. Honestly if you don't like her you're utterly dense, don't care about women's rights and don't have your head screwed on right. Have a word with yourself."

I don't like her and I'm free to say that, no one should be calling me an idiot for that opinion.

I agree.

Many don’t like her for her stance on Trans women

Other than not agreeing that transwomen are women and saying there are circumstances in which sex matters to preserve the dignity and safety of women and children what is it about her stance that you don't like?

As far as I can tell she has said nothing negative about trans women at all. She has said that women are distinct as a sex class and should maintain their rights.

Why don't you think women should have rights?

I don’t enjoy bigotry and hatred. Therefore don’t enjoy JKR.

How are women needing single sex spaces the same as bigotry and hatred?

Ah yes, because actively promoting businesses selling anti trans shit isn’t negative

Its not just the shit she says, it’s the things she does, the people she supports, it’s the underlying current of hatred that swirls around her.

See, yet again the false transphobic narrative

Comes across as a smear campaign.

Again, she doesn’t just sit there and ask for single sex spaces

These arguments are pointless, as many on here will never turn against their hero

Thankfully many women, especially younger women see right through it.

When you like or retweet hate, when you promote companies selling hateful merchandise, when you support people who are more ott with their anti trans agenda - that makes you just as hateful

She is careful about what she says, she is less careful about the more subtle things she does online.

Ah yes, because actively promoting businesses selling anti trans shit isn’t negative

What anti - trans shit? Are you talking about the Adult Human Female T-shirt?

Unless we are clear on how the word woman is defined we can't maintain women's rights. If you think that's anti- trans then you are accepting there is a conflict of rights at play here.

It’s not a smear campaign when it’s true

Fact - JK Rowling actively promoted a company on her Twitter account that sells anti trans merchandise

Fact - she associates and supports women who are far more militant in their anti trans rhetoric

I find her comments abhorrent enough, what’s worse is the stuff she does and supports passively.

It’s tiring seeing the same old tripe on here ‘all she does is fight for single sex spaces’ ‘all she does is support the biological definition of sex’ - no, that’s not ‘all’ she does. That’s all she has the guts to say herself, it’s not all she supports

I agree with you. You can say a lot without saying much of anything at all and she's one of the best at it.

Nope

I’m referring to the business selling badges with ‘fuck your pronouns’ and ‘notorious transphobe’ on them

Maybe those who support JKR could do with educating themselves before looking silly.

Well I don't agree in pronouns either. I think it's rather sinister to compel a persons speech don't you?

You end up in an awful situation where women have to lie about the sex of their rapists and the NHS deny a rape could have happened because there wasn't a man on the ward and recently where the police wouldn't state they were looking for a man in a skirt who was masturbating and flashing 2 girls for fear they would offend the perpetrator.