--- title: J.K. Rowling Unleashed an Fiery Anti-Misogynist Tweetstorm description: The 'Harry Potter' author didn't hold back in dishing out a master class on how misogyny works, calling out a Twitter user who used a sexist language. canonical: https://time.com/4812905/jk-rowling-misogyny-twitter-rant/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-09T17:10:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:22.273Z og:title: J.K. Rowling Shreds Sexist Criticism of Theresa May og:description: "Femaleness is not a design flaw." og:url: https://time.com/4812905/jk-rowling-misogyny-twitter-rant/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb66a86e175720c7a/6988b47ae20a8748e4a93a5f/j-k-rowlling-twitter-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: "Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them" European Premiere - Red Carpet Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: J.K. Rowling Shreds Sexist Criticism of Theresa May twitter:description: "Femaleness is not a design flaw." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb66a86e175720c7a/6988b47ae20a8748e4a93a5f/j-k-rowlling-twitter-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Femaleness Is Not a Design Flaw.' J. K. Rowling Shuts Down Theresa May Troll on Behalf of All Female Politicians  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 9, 2017 5:10 PM UTC  J.K. Rowling attends the European premiere of 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them' at Odeon Leicester Square on November 15, 2016 in London, England. J.K. Rowling attends the European premiere of 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them' at Odeon Leicester Square on November 15, 2016 in London, England.Anthony Harvey/Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 9, 2017 5:10 PM UTC Once again, [J.K. Rowling](http://time.com/4777090/jk-rowling-trump-lewis-carroll/) is taking people to task on Twitter. This time, the [_Harry Potter_ author](http://time.com/4763122/harry-potter-j-k-rowling-apologizes-snape-death/) chose to call out misogynist behavior in a passionate 14-part [Twitter missive](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling). It started with Rowling explaining that she unfollowed someone on the social media platform who she considered “smart and funny” — but she couldn’t abide by the sexist language the Twitter user lobbed in the direction of British politician [Theresa May](http://time.com/4811172/uk-election-2017-theresa-may-jeremy-corbyn-results/). Although Rowling is opposed to May’s Conservative Party, she was not willing to sit by while the sexualized insult was tossed out on the platform. “If you can’t disagree with a woman without reaching for all those filthy old insult, screw you and your politics,” she explained in her response. “I’m sick of ‘liberal’ men whose mask slips every time a woman displeases them, who reach immediately for crude and humiliating words associated with femaleness, act like old-school misogynists and then preen themselves as though they’ve been brave.” She went on to note that women in the public sphere, both physical and digital, are often faced with these kinds of abuses, regardless of their political leanings. “I don’t care if we’re talking about Theresa May or… Hillary Clinton,” she wrote. “Femaleness is not a design flaw.” Within minutes, her tweets had picked up thousands of likes. First literature, and now J.K. Rowling has [mastered the subtweet](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/873208043382743040). > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/873208895912779776) > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/873209108874375169) > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/873209210108071936) > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/873209517751848960) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4812905/jk-rowling-misogyny-twitter-rant/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4812905/jk-rowling-misogyny-twitter-rant/"},"headline":"'Femaleness Is Not a Design Flaw.' J. K. Rowling Shuts Down Theresa May Troll on Behalf of All Female Politicians","datePublished":"2017-06-09T17:10:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:22.273Z","description":"The 'Harry Potter' author didn't hold back in dishing out a master class on how misogyny works, calling out a Twitter user who used a sexist language.","url":"https://time.com/4812905/jk-rowling-misogyny-twitter-rant/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","twitter","Harry Potter","J.K. Rowling"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb66a86e175720c7a/6988b47ae20a8748e4a93a5f/j-k-rowlling-twitter-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb66a86e175720c7a/6988b47ae20a8748e4a93a5f/j-k-rowlling-twitter-photo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them\" European Premiere - Red Carpet Arrivals","caption":"J.K. Rowling attends the European premiere of 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them' at Odeon Leicester Square on November 15, 2016 in London, England.","creditText":"Anthony Harvey/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4812905/jk-rowling-misogyny-twitter-rant/","name":"'Femaleness Is Not a Design Flaw.' J. K. Rowling Shuts Down Theresa May Troll on Behalf of All Female Politicians"}}]}] ```