J.K. Rowling‘s X account has developed into a weird microcosm of our modern world: one minute you’re looking at a wand, and the next you’re gazing at a war zone. This week was a perfect case in point. Within a single hour, the billionaire author managed to celebrate the rebirth of her Harry Potter wizarding world and, at the same time, jump back into the trenches of the world’s gender debate.
One foot in the clouds, one foot in the trenches
The “good news” for the fandom was delivered first. Following HBO’s release of a teaser for their massive, multi-season Harry Potter reboot, J.K. Rowling did not hold back on how excited she was for it. Fans of the series were promised that it would be “incredible.” There was a brief period where it felt like it was back to 2001: pure, unadulterated hype for the boy who lived.
But this hype was short-lived. Barely twenty minutes before she was talking about Hogwarts, Rowling was already swinging at the International Olympic Committee.
Her X post reads, “Today’s ruling by the IOC means a welcome return to fair sport for women and girls, but I’ll never forget the scandal of Paris 2024, when people who consider themselves supremely virtuous and progressive publicly cheered on men punching women.“
She wasn’t simply praising the new and more stringent regulations put in place by the IOC with regard to gender and sports; she was settling old scores. In her declaration of the IOC’s decision as a “welcome return to fair sport,” she quickly went back to the 2024 Paris Games. She did not hold back in her assessment of the situation, declaring the inclusion of the athletes a “scandal” and the public’s support of the athletes “cheering on men punching women.”
The object of her ire is still the Algerian boxer named Imane Khelif. The reality of the situation that Rowling ignores is the fact that Khelif is a female athlete who has been a woman her entire life. By positioning the situation as simply “men vs. women,” Rowling is again embracing the black-and-white perspective that has made her a hero and a villain.
This is the new reality of the world of J.K. Rowling. It is impossible to have the magic without the fire. She is the creator of the most beloved childhood fantasies and the most divisive figure in the culture wars of the 21st century.
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