J.K. Rowling Threatens The Left Because She’s A Feminist Who Affirms Women’s Dignity

J.K. Rowling’s decision to double-down on her resistance to transgender dogma is not surprising but it is powerful, and for one particular reason: her feminist framing.

After irking leftists for more than a year with her increasingly public opposition to the movement, the “Harry Potter” author self-published a long, thoughtful essay explaining her reasoning on Wednesday. You can read the full post here. It is compassionate and reasonable and exhaustive.

Rowling has been labeled by detractors as a “TERF,” or trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Connotation aside, the label pretty much fits. She criticizes transgender ideology from the left, not as one of us toothless Christian rubes you might find in, say, a Taylor Swift video. It’s exceptionally rare for celebrities to challenge LGBT dogma, let alone someone as influential as Rowling. As observers have already noted, she’s basically “too big to cancel.”

Rowling’s influence makes her a rare voice of opposition, sure. Her statement is powerful in a climate that leaves most public figures too intimidated to represent the other side of this pressing and consequential debate. But I think that’s even less important than the way Rowling framed her argument, which might actually just make it persuasive.