J. K. Rowling Is Unwholesome

Children’s authors don’t have the right to unvarnished opinions in the public eye

4 min read

Just now

Do you know why everyone still reveres Mr. Rogers? Because he didn’t spew his opinions all over the public. We shouldn’t condone or excuse J. K. Rowling’s public behavior, and we certainly shouldn’t pretend that her legacy is untarnished. Jobs involving children, including being a children’s author, means keeping your adult opinions out of public spaces, including social media.

Rowling’s political views didn’t interest me until all this talk of the reboot of her series as a TV show. Now she’s back in entertainment news and WB wants to introduce her stories to a new generation of people. That starts the conversation of Rowling’s anti-trans and anti-asexuality stance all over again. Something we wouldn’t have to even think about if she had just kept her thoughts to herself.

Whether we agree or not with Rowling’s politics is beside the point that she became a famous children’s author and in doing gave up, or should have given up, having adult political discussions of any kind out where children would be exposed to them. I don’t agree with her politics, but I disagree even more with her conduct in general. I shouldn’t know her stance on issues.