People who advance gender ideology rarely experience the practical consequences of their activism.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling expertly articulated this point last week in an X post addressing tension between herself and actress Emma Watson, who played Hermione in the Harry Potter movie franchise.
Watson is among the professional and personal allies Rowling has lost for refusing to accept that men can “identify” as women.
“I wasn’t a multimillionaire at fourteen,” Rowling wrote in the post. “I lived in poverty while writing the book that made Emma famous.”
“I therefore understand from my own life experience what the trashing of women’s rights in which Emma has so enthusiastically participated means to women and girls without her privileges.”
Watson publicly distanced herself from Rowling in 2020. Days after Rowling publicly articulated her position on gender ideology, Watson took to social media and declared:
Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.
“I want my trans followers to know that I and so many other people around the world see you, respect you and love you for who you are,” Watson followed up, implying Rowling’s belief in science meant she didn’t — or couldn’t — respect the inherent dignity of people experiencing sexual identity confusion.
Rowling refused to address Watson’s ongoing comments for five years until Watson professed to “love and treasure” her on the Jay Shetty podcast in September.
“Adults can’t expect to cozy up to an activist movement that regularly calls for a friend’s assassination, then assert their right to the former friend’s love,” Rowling explained.
But the crux of the author’s post focused less on the women’s personal relationship and more on the crucial fact that Emma Watson will likely never face the real-world impacts of her activism.
“Emma has so little experience of real life she’s ignorant of how ignorant she is,” Rowling began, continuing:
She’ll never need a homeless shelter. She’s never going to be placed on a mixed sex public hospital ward … Her ‘public bathroom’ is single occupancy and comes with a security man standing outside the door.
She further asked:
Has [Watson] had to strip off in a newly mixed-sex changing room at a council-run swimming pool? Is she ever likely to need a state-run rape crisis center that refuses to guarantee an all-female service? To find herself sharing a prison cell with a male rapist who’s identified into a women’s prison?
Watson isn’t alone; many of the most vocal gender ideology proponents will never experience the real-world consequences of their chosen ideology
The politicians who allow men to live in women’s prisons do not have to share cells with violent offenders, like female inmates in Washington do.
The school administrators who equate sex-segregated bathrooms and locker rooms with “sexual harassment” will never have to change in front of a member of the opposite sex.
The coaches who groom girls to help integrate boys onto girls sports teams will never take second place to a male athlete in a high school championship.
Believers should take two points away from Rowling’s argument. First, activists should always concern themselves, not just with the intentions or aspirations of a given ideology, but the practical consequences of implicating them.
Second, we should be fundamentally wary of powerful people who espouse beliefs that do not affect them personally. There is political and social incentive for leaders to uncritically push whatever view they deem “empathetic.”
But true kindness requires more than nice-sounding lip-service. It necessitates the hard work of determining policy impacts and opposing those that harm people — even if it’s unpopular.
Additional Articles and Resources
Male Offenders Harm Dozens of Female Inmates in Women’s Prison
Violent Male Offender Beats Up Female Inmate in Women’s Prison
Federal Investigation Finds Loudoun County Violated Boys’ Title IX Rights
Yes, Girls Care When Boys Take Their Trophies
DOJ’s Lawsuit Describes California Department of Education’s Infuriating Treatment of Girls
J.K. Rowling Attacked For Saying Male Rapists Aren’t Women – No Matter How They ‘Identify’
J.K. Rowling Defends Women Against Transgender Agenda, Gets Attacked
Praising J.K. Rowling’s Unwavering Courage and Clarity on the ‘Trans’ Issue
J.K. Rowling Explains Why She – a Liberal – Is Opposed to Gender Ideology
J.K. Rowling Calls Trans Procedures on Children ‘Worst Medical Scandal in a Century’
