Rowling, Outrage & the Weald School

I’ve rather enjoyed the tizzy fit over J.K. Rowling’s recent ‘offensive comments’. Ms Rowling said she was writing

“out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who've been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces."

She was concerned about men who claim to be women using women’s toilets and changing rooms. I’d be pretty concerned too, as would any mother of young daughters. Furthermore, she responded to a headline for an online article discussing ‘people who menstruate’. She responded by tweeting

"I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”

The outrage from the media luvvies! The devotees of the Great Equality Cult were incandescent with fury, clamouring and jockeying to denounce one of their own who’s turned heretic. How dare someone in the British cultural elite question gender fluidity. Putting the safety of children before the rights of men to self-declare themselves women is an act of sacrilege not easily forgiven. Out came the big guns. Harry Potter actor himself, Daniel Radcliffe, was quick to turn on her:

“Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”

Emma Watson, another bore from the Harry Potter franchise, responded:

“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.”

One by one, the little actors and actresses who made their fortunes on Rowling’s work lined up to offer her the tweeted equivalent of a dirty protest. But it doesn’t stop there!

The Weald School in Billinghurst, West Sussex, was all set to rename one of its six houses after the great author. In a letter to parents posted on its website last week, the Deputy Headteacher, Mrs Edwards, explained:

However, in recent days it has come to light that one of our new names may in fact no longer be an

appropriate role model for our community. JK Rowling has tweeted some messages which are

considered to be offensive to the LGBT+ community (specifically, trans-phobic) and we feel that we

do not wish to be associated with these views. The Weald is a school which always seeks to be

inclusive of people across all of the protected characteristics, and we would not want to cause

offence, even inadvertently.

Inadvertent offense to Christians and Muslims caused by her promotion of witchcraft and demons doesn’t count. Wanting to keep girls safe at the swimming pool from self-declared women- now that crossed the line. Interestingly, the other new house names are DaVinci, Seacole, Mercury, Attenborough and Thompson. These are replacing the names of Wilberforce and Livingstone among others, who were deemed to be insufficiently ‘representative of gender, ethnicity and sexuality/gender identity’. So two men who spent their lives fighting the slave trade are out, and Farrokh Bulsara, aka Freddie Mercury, the talented but self-seeking hedonist and drug abuser is in. Well done, Weald School, you certainly know how to select role models. Still, how many bonus points has the school’s senior leadership team scooped by siding with the luvvie establishment?

Liberals bickering about who is the more metropolitan, possessing the most up-to-date world views amuses me. They’re running to the cliff edge and can’t see the drop. Having fought for women’s rights and dignity for sixty years, they’re now un-doing it all by denying that women exist as biological phenomena.  

The wise woman builds her house,

But the foolish pulls it down with her hands. Proverbs 14:1

Image by Robin Higgins from Pixabay