J.K. Rowling Criticizes Emma Watson Over Transgender Rights Dispute

The novelist J.K. Rowling sharply responded to Emma Watson’s comments about their conflict over transgender rights. Rowling stated that the actress “does not realize her own ignorance” and “has enthusiastically joined in undermining women’s rights.”

The statement appeared after Watson’s interview on a podcast, in which the actress spoke about supporting her views:

“I truly don’t believe that my love, support, and the views I hold mean that I cannot value Jo and the person with whom I share a personal history”

In her lengthy post, Rowling noted that she recognizes Watson and her colleagues’ right to support the ideology of gender identity, and she does not believe they are in danger or at risk of losing work because of it.

At the same time she emphasized that she does not understand why Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe in recent years “felt compelled to publicly criticize me and my views.”

Watson has previously repeatedly expressed support for the transgender community. In 2020 she wrote on Twitter (now X):

“Transgender people are the ones they say they are, and deserve to live without constant doubts or denial of their identity”

And during her speech at the BAFTA ceremony in 2022 she said:

“I’m here for all the witches”

Rowling recalled that she had declined to comment on Watson’s statements to avoid a wave of persecution directed at the actress. At the same time she spoke about a note she received after BAFTA:

“That was then, when death threats, rapes and tortures directed at me were at their peak. I was forced to significantly strengthen security measures and was constantly worried about my family. Emma publicly poured oil on the fire, but she believed that a brief note of sympathy could reassure me of her kindness”

“And like other people who have never faced adult life without protection, wealth, and fame, Emma knows so little about reality that she doesn’t even realize her own ignorance, – wrote Rowling. – I lived in poverty when I wrote the book that made Emma famous. Therefore I know what it means to destroy women’s rights, to which she has so actively contributed, for those who do not have her privileges”

The analysis of the conflict continues not only through personal statements, but also through a sequence of public declarations by both sides regarding the role of women, freedom of expression, and the rights of the two communities. Rowling emphasizes: her critique is aimed at the reverse impact of movements that, in her view, threaten the gains that are truly important for the women’s movement.

Earlier the author also stressed that she is not ready to forgive Watson and Radcliffe for drawing closer to a movement aimed at undermining hard-won women’s rights.