If more people stand up
There’s an open letter supporting JK Rowling in the Sunday Times:
JK Rowling has been subjected to an onslaught of abuse that highlights an insidious, authoritarian and misogynistic trend in social media.
Rowling has consistently shown herself to be an honourable and compassionate person, and the appalling hashtag #RIPJKRowling is just the latest example of hate speech directed against her and other women that Twitter and other platforms enable and implicitly endorse.
We are signing this letter in the hope that, if more people stand up against the targeting of women online, we might at least make it less acceptable to engage in it or profit from it.
We wish JK Rowling well and stand in solidarity with her.
Signed by:
Ian McEwan, author; Lionel Shriver, author; Griff Rhys Jones, actor; Graham Linehan, writer; Maureen Chadwick, writer; Andrew Davies, writer; Frances Barber, actress; Craig Brown, writer; Alexander Armstrong, actor; Amanda Craig, writer; Philip Hensher, writer; Susan Hill, writer; Jane Thynne, writer; Ben Miller, actor; Simon Fanshawe, writer; James Dreyfus, actor; Frances Welch, writer; Francis Wheen, writer; Arthur Matthews, writer; Aminatta Forna, writer; Joan Smith, writer; Nick Cohen, journalist; Kath Gotts, composer & lyricist; Ann McManus, writer; Eileen Gallagher, writer & producer; Jimmy Mulville, producer; Lizzie Roper, actress; Stella O’Malley, author; Nina Paley, animator; Julie Bindel, journalist; Abigail Shrier, journalist; Rachel Rooney, author; Jane Harris, writer; Tatsuya Ishida, cartoonist; Lisa Marchiano, author; Zuby, musician and author; Debbie Hayton, journalist; Gillian Philip, Author, Jonny Best, musician; Manick Govinda, arts consultant; Russell Celyn Jones, writer; Magi Gibson, writer; Victoria Whitworth, writer; Dr Mez Packer, writer; Grace Carley, producer; Sam Leith, journalist; Malcolm Clark, television producer-director; Shirley Wishart, musician; Charlotte Delaney, writer; Nehanda Ferguson, musician; Justin Hill, writer; Trezza Azzopardi, writer; Birdy Rose, artist; Jess de Wahls, textile artist; Mo Lovatt, writer; Simon Edge, novelist; Tom Stoppard, playwright; and Amanda Smyth, writer
I endorse this message.
I’m glad to see Tom Stoppard on the list; it was disturbing when Philip Pullman joined the pile on. Having a favorite playwright stand up on the right side of the issue helps restore at least some of my faith in humankind.
Me too, iknklast. Especially pleased to see his name there.
There are numerous high-profile signatories who couldn’t quite be 100% confirmed before the print deadline, and now that the letter’s out, many more still are saying they want to be added to the list. Even Philip Pullman is now saying he’d have signed the letter if only they’d asked him. (Oh, please!)
This isn’t the last we’ve heard of it; there’s more to come I’m sure.
It’s certainly welcome and cause for optimism but I can’t help but feel that it’s a little on the late side for some. I don’t mean the signatories of the letter itself, most of those I recognise have been outspoken all along. But it feels as though some people are making themselves heard only now it’s becoming a little safer to do so and perhaps they ought to have acted sooner. The abuse of Rowling and others plus the attacks on speech and thought have been going on for some time, after all.
I can’t complain about the results, though.
Some names I don’t recognise, any ‘young’ people there? Are we seeing a generational divide?