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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 23, 2023

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There is no one out there who thinks people should be going around and randomly starting to masturbate in front of women who haven't consented to such a thing.

Oh, man...I'm hesitant to dive on this particular grenade, but I think it's really apropos to the larger discussion that's happening here. This is simply a gross mischaracterization. By all accounts, he consistently sought verbal consent, and took "no" for an answer. There's still many good reasons to call this unethical (the power differential, it's likely they didn't take the request seriously or felt pressured in other ways, etc.), but what took place isn't what you're describing -- it's like the talking point that "Woody Allen married his daughter." (And, likewise, his actions can be viewed as extraordinarily unethical, but -- that specific accusation does not reflect the reality of what he did.)

I would say that this is exactly what happened to Rowling -- she has clearly and repeatedly stated her position, and I imagine that if you talked to the average person-on-the-street (that is, if they had any awareness of this at all), they would attribute positions to her that aren't in the same universe. None of it's new, but I do find it dispiriting.

However much this might be the case, you're making a point more about how mis-percieved their actions are, more-so than about how poorly received (the common perception of) those actions are in absolute terms, compared to each other.

Maybe both of them are misunderstood generally. The truth is, though, that even some of the worst interpretations of Rowlings 'misdeeds' are not considered as heinous as some of the best interpretations of Louis CK's. If we're talking about 'Why is Rowling not as cancelled as Louis CK?' my point is only that the difference in this perception is indeed a factor.