It’s Official: JK Rowling Hates Asexuals

I didn’t really want to write a blog post about how JK Rowling hates asexuals, but here we are. 

And look, I know I’m way behind the curve. If you’re chronically online like I am, you’ve probably heard this discussed to death. But maybe you haven’t heard about this or maybe you just want my perspective. If you fit into either of those categories, this post is for you. 

Unsurprisingly, I’m terrible at keeping track of when various awareness days and months are. You would think that as an asexual person, I’d be able to keep track of asexual related dates, but nope. 

When I started scrolling through Threads on April 6, I saw that people were talking about asexuality – for all the wrong reasons. 

How we know JK Rowling hates asexuals

April 6 is International Asexuality Day (IAD). And JK Rowling – who has made her hatred of the transgender community abundantly clear – decided it would be the perfect day to get on Twitter and post this gem:

Happy International Fake Oppression Day to everyone who wants complete strangers to know they don't fancy a shag. pic.twitter.com/xkBhbWqP5z

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 6, 2025

Listen, it’s been clear that Rowling hates queer people for quite some time. She doesn’t want to shut up about trans athletes or about People of Color who don’t match with her western ideas of femininity. So I can’t say I was really surprised that Rowling hates asexual people too.

Frankly, Rowling’s comments about the asexual community were pretty tame in the grand scheme of things – at least in compared to some of the other things she’s said. But I still think her comments are bad.

First, some context.

What is asexuality?

Asexuality is a spectrum, generally characterized by little to no sexual attraction. Under the asexual umbrella, are itentieis like gray asexuality, demisexuality, lithosexuality…you can read more about some of the identities under the asexual umbrella here.

Asexual vs. aromantic

Where “asexual” refers to someone’s sexual attraction (or lack thereof), “aromantic” refers to someone’s romantic attraction. Someone who is aromantic experiences little to no romantic attraction. While it’s possible to be both asexual and aromantic (often called aroace), it’s also possible to be one and not the other. In other words, it’s possible for someone to experience sexual attraction but not romantic attraction and vice versa.

As such, asexual people can – and do – form both platonic friendship bonds as well as romantic ones.

Asexual vs. celibacy

The short explanation is that celibacy is a choice, asexuality isn’t. 

Some asexual people choose to have sex for various reasons – this doesn’t make them any less asexual. Conversely, some people may decide to remain celebate despite experiencing sexual attraction.

Why International Asexuality Day Matters

IAD was created by activist Yasmin Benoit. After Rowling’s comments, Benoit accused Rowling of “hijacking” the conversation. 

One of the reasons things like IAD is needed is because there are still so many misconceptions about the identity. 

For example, according to a study by Kings College London, 42% of survey respondents said they believed that someone can’t identify as asexual if they haven’t had sex. Further, 26% believed that asexual people just haven’t met the right person and 11% said they don’t believe asexual people exist.

More notably, studies have shown that people who identify as asexual have experienced sexual assault at high rates. There seems to be a correlation between these instances of sexual assault and mental health conditions like substance use disorder and PTSD. If Rowling really claimed about women’s rights as she claimed, this would be something that she would care about. But as Rowling as shown over and over, she only cares about “rights” that impact her directly. 

Some personal anecdotes

On a personal level, I can tell you that for years, I thought I was broken because I experience very limited sexual attraction. I didn’t realize that the term “asexual” existed until I was an adult and that it was something I could identify as. 

When I was in high school, I knew there was something different about me, but I didn’t know how to put that difference into words. I had to take a health class where one of my classmates challenged anyone who wasn’t straight to say so. He then followed that up with a claim that humans naturally want to reproduce, so anyone who experienced same sex attraction – or no sexual attraction at all – was unnatural. Nobody corrected him. Not the teacher, none of the students, nobody. Adult me wishes I had said something, but then I remind myself that I didn’t feel safe challenging him – besides, I believe that correcting him was the teacher’s job. Interestingly, the teacher approached me outside of class and encouraged me to talk more in class. No thanks, lady.

More recently, I was enrolled in a social work program. In one of my classes, we were discussing the LGBTQIA+ community. In this class, the professor insisted that the “A” in LGBTQIA+ was for “ally.” That a social work professor would make this claim still disturbs me. Good job erasing a group of people who experience discrimination, my dude. 

Two reasons asexual representation is important

First, it’s vital for people questioning their sexuaity to know that they’re not broken. 

Second, there’s clearly still a lot of ignorance about the LGBTQIA+ community in general and asexuality in particular. 

When it’s all said and done, I’m disappointed by JK Rowling’s comments, but I’m not really surprised. The general public doesn’t really seem to understand asexuality, and Rowling in particular clearly has no desire to educate herself. Instead, JK Rowling has decided to turn her hate towards the asexual community.

JK Rowling has made it clear that she hates various minority groups. It was only a matter of time before we learned that Rowling hates asexuals.