32
votes
JK Rowling dismisses Emma Watson as 'ignorant' over trans rights row
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- Title
- JK Rowling posts stinging response to 'ignorant' Emma Watson
- Published
- Sep 29 2025
- Word count
- 895 words
The terrifying part about all this, imo, is that anyone gives a single iota about what any of these people have to say. This is some random book nerd and a person who reads words off a page for a living, expressing their opinion on subjects they have no credentials to discuss. They’re having a public feud, and somehow, that is seen as newsworthy. Whereas two random people screaming at each other about, I don’t know, how long it’s acceptable to leave one’s Christmas lights up is merely annoying.
Genuinely I have no idea how society functions given that “this” is what directs peoples’ political opinions.
While I understand your point, it does matter. Someone telling one of the world's most well known anti-trans crusaders that they're wrong is important. People care because these two both have massive platforms. Most people's worldview is shaped by the things around them, especially when they are younger. That includes pop culture. If you grew up with the Harry Potter books and movies, they most likely shaped who you are (and maybe even how you view the world, if they found you at the right time). So when the creator of that franchise says something, it does matter and it does carry some weight in the real world.
It also matters because these are the people talking about trans rights. There are a lot of voices out there yelling various things about trans people right now, most of them bad. I'll take someone getting their opinion of trans people's right to exist from Emma Watson if it stops them from getting it from some Republican politician. We need all the allies we can get right now.
To be clear: I’m not arguing that Emma Watson’s take is bad. It’s this part specifically that I have a problem with:
It’s troublesome to me that platforms like that even exist. This site is a rarity for me — I keep to the corners of many different social groups (online or otherwise), but I normally don’t care to participate or follow in any large gatherings. The idea that folks will willingly find, associate with, and then closely follow some random person baffles me.
Saying this as a person that grew up as a Harry Potter fan, I could not give less of a crap what any of these people have to say. And — again, I’m not disagreeing with you on anything, I’m just reiterating because it feels that my initial take (“it’s weird that people care what these two feuding weirdos have to say”) was reframed a smidge to sound anti-trans rights — it is very troublesome to me that anyone got to the point in their life where JK Rowling’s opinion on anything other than jellybean flavours matters in the slightest.
To phrase this as a stronger point, so it’s harder to reframe: I truly believe the world would be a more equitable, stable, and fuller place if everyone blocked every single celebrity from their lives, which I am about to attempt to do with the tildes tag filter.
Generally I agree, but... They're not as random as most celebrities. The Harry Potter series and its fandom was a huge part of millions of people's childhoods and lives, and genuinely shaped hundreds of thousands of people into who they are today. Countless friendships and relationships began because of a shared interest in it, countless families bonded over it, countless kids got into reading and writing and art and other creative fields because of it...
I genuinely cannot think of any other franchise that had such a widespread effect. I've honestly felt envious of Rowling at times because I know any story I create will likely never have that level of impact. Even without Rowling directly interacting with the fandom and technically being a stranger, she is the one who created the series, so that gives her a Walt Disney or Santa Claus level of reverence.
People always feel betrayed and hurt when they find out the creator or a major celebrity involved with some beloved franchise is an awful person, because it sours otherwise fond memories. In this case, millions of people feel that pain, so... Yeah, it's a bit more newsworthy than a lot of other celebrity feuds. Especially since the subject of the feud is bigotry which directly impacts many of the fans.
Agreed up until here; TIL that I am not people. This is at least a comforting response, however, since it hopefully means that blocking all of these actors/novelists will keep my news feed clear.
I’d also underline that JK Rowling being a transphobic stain on the soiled undergarments of humanity is nowhere near a new phenomenon. If this were the first, second, or thirtieth time she’d come out swinging, I might be inclined to agree that publicizing her awful takes is necessary. But in 2025?
JK Rowling is still one of the most prominent anti-trans activists in the UK. And she also even recently founded the J.K. Rowling Women's Fund, which is entirely dedicated toward providing funding for legal battles being fought against trans rights. So yes, news organizations continuing to expose her awful opinions is unfortunately still entirely relevant and necessary in 2025, IMO. As is highlighting prominent people who have spoken out against her.
God, I hadn’t heard of that. That’s so depressing. Thank you for noting it, as — like you say — it’s important to be aware of.
As an aside - these kinds of actions, the continued harassment of trans people, are why these interactions are news worthy and why she's been mentioned dozens of times in the last few years. I wish she would disappear from the news because I'm god awful tired of her, but until she stops spreading hate speech and stops her violent campaign against the individuals that she hates, her presence and continued blight on this world needs to be reported on. All of this has never been enough for people to stop supporting her work and giving her money, which she is redirecting to hurt others. People deserve to know they are indirectly funding her personal war on innocent people.
No prob. I get where you were coming from since I wish she would just go away too... but she unfortunately refuses to keep her vile opinions to herself, and also just keeps getting more and more involved. So it's hard to ignore her due to her continued prominence and the damage she seems intent on doing to trans rights. :(
I ended up looking up a person I used to know who came out as trans and has since made quite a name for herself as a trans anti-trans activist. I knew her vaguely through those early years of her transition, and I wanted to see what she was up to now.
Quite high up in the search results are two articles, both with titles along the lines of "why I disagree with Xyz". The first is from a trans woman saying basically "you can speak for yourself, but you can't speak for all trans people, many of us have very different experiences to you". The other is from shortly after my acquaintance wrote an article saying "JK Rowling, I get it and agree with you, but woah, you can calm down a bit on the rhetoric", and the tone of this response is roughly "see, look at this creepy MAN, we all knew he was WEIRD but now he's clearly a ULTRATRANS ACTIVIST, let's all BURN HIM AT THE STAKE".
The difference between the two responses really strikes home that this basically feels like a way of legitimising hate for so many of the TERF activists. You see the same thing in this article from Rowling - there's no sense of "we don't agree, but that's okay", it's just pure antagonism from start to finish. It isn't about protecting women's spaces or about protecting children from harm or whatever, it's just a kind of twisted, gleeful hate.
Rowling digs a deeper grave. Blames Watson for supporting trans rights because she grew up famous. I believe it’s textbook ad-hominem.
It is really quite ironic for billionaire JK Rowlings to cast aspersions about Emma Watson being sheltered and privileged.
What's even more baffling is that Rowling was around when Watson was getting creeped on by scores of weirdos salivating over Hermione's underage sideboob. She should know firsthand exactly how being very young and famous does in fact cause you to need safe spaces, in ways that being poor and unknown does not.
Rowling's comments in this article come off as so bitter and lonely, it's wild how the author of a beloved children's series has become a blonde Maleficent. Watson is talking about how meaningful and important Rowling's support was to her while growing up, making sure she kept her safe...and all Rowling can do is rant about how stupid and selfish Watson is. Because she texted her instead of called?? Yikes. Reading this article felt like going to a high school reunion, looking at one of the kids expected to achieve a lot, and realizing instead that they ended up as a hot mess. I have been disgusted by Rowling's behaviour, but this just makes me sad for her. She's completely and utterly lost all connection to her role as a mentor, attacking the people she used to protect.
Remarkable. You'd think someone renowned for their own ignorance would be able to avoid misidentifying it in others.