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J.K. Rowling's tweets about the UK election are truly magical

J.K. Rowling's tweets about the UK election are truly magical

In her no-nonsense style, the Harry Potter author explained why verbally abusing Theresa May is unacceptable
10 Jun, 2017

In her fiction, J.K. Rowling takes on the evils of the wizarding world. In her real life, the best-selling Harry Potter author takes on evils that are more mundane, but no less sinister.

As British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a major setback in the country's general elections, J.K. Rowling says she caught some people who claimed to be liberals verbally abusing her with gender-based slurs.

Rowling made it clear that this is not ok in a series of 14 searing tweets.

She said: "Just unfollowed a man whom I thought was smart and funny, because he called Theresa May a wh***. If you can’t disagree with a woman without reaching for all those filthy old insults, screw you and your politics. I’m sick of ‘liberal’ men whose mask slips every time a woman displeases them, who reach immediately for crude and humiliating words. When you do this, Mr Liberal Cool Guy, you ally yourself, wittingly or not, with the men who send women violent pornographic images and rape threats, who try by every means possible to intimidate women out of politics and public spaces, both real and digital.”

She went on to reference the experiences of other female politicians, saying: "Every woman I know who has dared express an opinion publicly has endured this kind of abuse at least once, rooted in an apparent determination to humiliate or intimidate her on the basis that she is female. If you want to know how much fouler it gets if you also happen to be black or gay, ask Diane Abbot or Ruth Davidson."

In closing she said: "Femaleness is not a design flaw. If your immediate response to a woman who displeases you is to call her a synonym for her vulva, or compare her to a prostitute, then drop the pretence and own it: you’re not a liberal. You’re a few short steps away from some guy hiding behind a cartoon frog."

Rowling is on point as usual.