15 Times J.K. Rowling Proved She’s A Badass

by Taia Handlin

Bringing the world Harry Potter is one of many contributions JK Rowling has made to the world. Her storytelling, her characters, her philanthropy and political activism, her dry-yet-biting wit, are all reasons why, in my humble opinion, JK Rowling is one of the greatest humans on the planet. The following are just 15 of the many:

1. That time she made this misogynistic Serena Williams-hater go sit in the corner:

After tweeting her support of Williams, Rowling received this reply:

To which she brilliantly replied:

2. Her most perfect response to this ignorant person who claimed they couldn’t see Dumbledore as gay:

 

3. And then her suggestion Dumbledore and Gandalf could get gay-married in Ireland

 

4. And her “nobody cares about you” response to the Westboro Baptist Church

 

5. Hell, and when a Twitter follower said he “stopped being a fan” because of Rowling’s revelation about LGBT students and teachers:


And she responded thus:

 

6. That time her charity work bumped her down from a billionaire to a millionaire.

 

Rowling at a conference for her charity Lumos, which works to “end the systematic institutionalisation of children across Europe.”

7. In related news, Rowling tweeted her support of Syrian refugees, received this response, and responded with no fucks given:

 

8. “Why Dumbledore went to the hilltop”

Her TwitLonger explaining her objection to the cultural boycott of Israel, emphasizing the importance of art being available to everyone.

9. This NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour

Promoting her latest Cormoran Strike murder mystery, Career of EvilRowling stopped by NPR to discuss, among other things, her approach to writing about sexual assault:

“It was very, very, very important to me that this didn’t become what I call ‘violence porn.’ So it was very important to me that the damage inflicted is felt to feel real and human and Robin, who is one of our central characters, is key to revealing what it feels like to come up against someone like this and what that does to their life. These are not pieces of meat. These are not mannequins to be dismembered. And it was important to me that those scenes were not written with a view to titillation but to understand why it is so essential that this man is caught.”

Then, when [SPOILER] talking about the sexual assault of one of the central characters:

“I wanted the reader to know, or to think they knew, Robin before finding out about what had happened to her in the past. For me it was very important because I wanted the reader to feel the weight of that. That they knew the human being; they didn’t first of all see the survivor. And that is something that can very easily be lost in life and in literature when you’re talking about this kind of mindset and this kind of violence. Giving the survivor a voice, a face, giving them their due humanity is really important to me.”

On rape being a signifier:

“This does not define her. She is many, many, many, many things. And that’s about giving her her weight as a human and not seeing her as the vehicle for some grotesque act that someone else decided to perpetuate.”

 

10. Hermione

Whatever you think about Hermione and Rowling’s flawed feminism (and who in the hell’s feminism isn’t flawed?) Hermione’s character was a net feminist champion. Her brains, her being “plain” in J.K. Rowling’s imagination, her activism, are all deeply politically arousing.

Batcii/Tumblr / Via batcii.tumblr.com

11. This tweet, because this tweet:

 

12. Scotland/victimization/cunt tweet

13. And her “haters gonna hate” response to this person  who is clearly ignorant of her background

14. This letter she sent a fan who was being bullied:

 

15. Her Harvard failure speech

 

It made all of us feel better.

 

 

 

Images via Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr

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