Letter from Hollywood
In bullet points, how women are being squeezed out of cultural and public life
Women (directors, producers, writers, and actors) have been vastly underrepresented in Hollywood.
We have been striving to correct this by agitating for women’s sex-based rights and protections.
One of the most successful entertainment franchises in history, the Harry Potter series, was written by a woman, JK Rowling.
JK Rowling has long supported women’s rights.
In 2018 she liked a tweet that said, "I was shouted at by men at my first Labour Party meeting aged 18 because I asked them to remove a Page 3 calendar. I've been told to toughen up, be louder, stronger, independent. I've often not felt supported. Men in dresses get brocialist solidarity I never had. That's misogyny.”
JK Rowling’s publicist said the ‘like’ was an accident, but she was loudly accused of bigotry and hate.
In 2019 she tweeted: “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real?…”
A majority of people and a majority of women agree with this statement.
She was accused of bigotry and hate for saying it.
In 2020 she clarified: “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction, If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”
The majority of people and a majority of women agree with this statement.
JK Rowling was vilified, called a bigot, accused of hate speech, sent death threats, called a TERF in the mainstream media, and mocked and derided on tv and in film.
The actors from her franchise distanced themselves from her.
Women who liked, shared or publicly agreed with her statements were also vilified. Some lost their jobs.
Almost no one in the Hollywood industry took her side.
Women were watching.
The majority of women agreed with these statements, yet they received the message: agreement was wrong and dangerous.
This caused a chilling effect that has now spread through Hollywood.
Women in the Hollywood Industry grew quiet. They went through their feeds searching for words or phrases that might be wrong, like ‘sex’ or ‘same-sex’ or ‘sex-based rights’.
If they ever said something positive toward JK Rowling or Harry Potter they had to acknowledge that they disagreed with her bigotry or remove those positive thoughts all together.
Some women used their social media to denounce those statements that a majority of women agree with.
Many women, unable to speak against what they believed, left social media.
In work environments, women had to grow very very quiet about any issues affecting women.
Conversations were taken offline, but even in personal private communications, women reported having to be vigilant about what they said, any slips might be career-ending.
The biggest male star of the Harry Potter franchise said he would only continue work in the franchise if JK Rowling was not involved.
Media companies, producers and directors feeling the pressure will need to scour the social media histories of women to be certain that there isn’t a past agreement with ‘sex-based women’s rights’ or admiration for the writer, JK Rowling.
The trouble is, the majority of women agree with her statement, they are now keeping those views silent out of fear.
If you don’t hear women speaking out anymore about women’s rights in your entertainment workplace, this is why.
If all you hear is that women think JK Rowling is a bigot, then many women around you are afraid to speak.
The end result:
Hiring women will become (has become?) problematic because of their privately-held views. There goes the equal representation we were striving for.
There might come a time where, in order to be hired in Hollywood, women will need to be asked to state that they are against their own sex-based rights.
—Anon, you understand why
(From a subscriber to my site)
I have a friend who agrees with JKR but can't follow her (or me) on twitter because she is trying to get published. She did a creative writing MA and has written two brilliant children's books but she knows the horde would come after her if she even followed someone with the wrong thoughts. It's chilling.
If I hear one more person spout “Where are the feminists? If they agree with JKR why aren’t women speaking up about this?” Especially on social media - I think I will smash the screen by sitting on it with my middle aged, big woman’s arse.