Ask a Manager commenters claim JK Rowling is worse than Neil Gaiman

[Magenta82]

I don't know why I keep reading the blog tbh, it has been useful for work stuff in the past but it is getting very political.

A reader writes in because they want to be able to stop colleges talking about Harry Potter, became of their author. The advice is actually pretty sensible, you can't stop people talking about books, but the comments go a bit wild!

Apparently Neil Gaiman only hurt a few women whereas JK Rowling wants to make millions stop existing.

Starts here:

www.askamanager.org/2025/09/i-overheard-a-horrible-phone-call-will-i-be-unhireable-if-i-do-a-naked-bike-ride-and-more.html#comment-5211299

FFS. She states her opinion and he sexually assaulted young women.
Pretty clear distinction to me

Somehow a woman who sets up a rape crisis centre for women who have been assaulted is worse than a man who assaults women. Because the feelings of men who want to be women are more important than the safety of actual women.

It is bonkers thinking.

🙄

The comments are really interesting because you get to see what the "other side" are thinking and it's fascinating trying to work out how they got to where they are.

Ask a manager is verrry pro trans and has been for at least a decade. There's a useful example from there from a few years ago now though where, even though she is fully TWAW she was against enforcing pronoun declaration in work (albeit mainly because it might make trans people either feel they had to out themselves before they were ready or wrong-gender themselves).

It also doesn't help that because it's US based the majority of the commentators are American and therefore don't have a clue about the different legislation, cultural background etc in the UK (but, also because they are American, they don't let that stop them providing their incorrect assumptions).

Reading it is eye opening to find out how bad American working conditions are generally- appreciate it varies from state to state and there are obviously many good employers but overall the lack of maternity leave, minimum wage, low annual leave entitlements, the way sick pay works/doesn't, the fire-at-will states....is pretty shocking. The cultural and social background is so different I'd be wary of taking advice from there even on issues that are more personal/personality related rather than legal

I have found it useful for some things, I needed to tackle a really stinky employee and did find her advice helpful.

But yes the culture is very different over there, even down to clothes. The debates/discussions about wearing or not wearing "pantyhose" in the office are nuts and go on for pages and days

There now seem to be some sensible comments about NG being an actual rapist, in amongst the "literal genocide" stuff.

These people are FUBAR. I can't even.

I don't understand why they keep saying she attacks women who "don't perform femininity correctly" surely it's the exact opposite?

That's because they consider Trans Identified Males to be women.

I used to read that blog years ago and I remember the comments were nuts on a question about bringing dogs into the office, according to them if you don’t like dogs you should give your job up rather than your colleague being told they can’t bring their dog into the office!

When you get further down they start calling her a Holocaust denier.

Oh, of course. The hurt feelings of men pretending to be women will always matter more than actual harm done to actual women. Always.

They’re really depressing. So many people who are quite sure that JKR is actively hunting down trans people. Have they actually ever read anything she has written on the subject???

Of course not.

Haha reminds me of the scene in pretty woman. Can you imagine an office in the uk giving a shit about someone wearing tights or not?

No one would care if you wore them or not, but also so many women in the site claim they are far too uncomfortable and impractical to wear.

They are talking about 10/15 denier tights and saying they are evil and so much worse than 30/40/50 denier ones.

Oh good lord. That is really depressing. It's the same phrases repeated again and again.

'She does irreparable harm to LGBTQ and in particular Trans people'...etc etc etc

It's like listening to sheep baaaing tbh.

I'd love to have an actual conversation with them about it, but if you ever watch a Mr Menno vid, you know the reaction you'd get.

Anyway, little steps....

Yes agreed. And thanks for posting even though I felt like banging my head against the wall!

I also agree about your post on the femininity thing. Do they get all their views from India W do you think? 🤔

😊

It's mostly USians who don't understand that the UKSC does not make law but interprets it, and their interpretation is law. Nor do they appreciate the political climate here and that a bill introduced the day after the SC ruling would have caused uproar. Weird to read the comments.
They also equate 'England' with the 'UK' and do not realise it was the Scottish government taken to the SC, not the UK government.
As to equating JKR with the holocaust, that's parr for the course with TWAWists, I think.

It's perfectly obvious why she is worse (and my male friend agrees). NG is male and his supposed *victims are only women. She is female and her supposed victims are male. And she is uppity.

*Because not proven in law yet.