A novelist and women’s rights advocate, J.K. Rowling, delivered a blistering response to author Malcolm Gladwell after he said he was “cowed” into staying silent on the topic of allowing transgender athletes in women’s sports. 

“Changing sides years late, and only after you’ve realised the non-elite opposition is winning, isn’t a mark of integrity but of arse-covering,” Ms. Rowling wrote in a scathing rebuke on Friday. 

The “Harry Potter” author, who has faced intense criticism from liberal circles over her stance on transgender issues, dismissed the notion that Mr. Gladwell simply succumbed to public pressure. Instead, she argued that the acclaimed writer and speaker possessed precisely the social capital necessary to challenge prevailing orthodoxy. 

“Gladwell’s career wouldn’t have been destroyed if he’d spoken out against the glaring unfairness, not to mention dangers, of allowing men to compete in women’s sport,” Ms. Rowling stated. “He’d have faced loss of approval from the cultural elite and received activist blowback, and even that wouldn’t have come with the tsunami of death and rape threats women face when they speak.” 

Ms. Rowling further suggested that Mr. Gladwell’s belated position shift represents opportunism rather than genuine conviction. “He’s merely sensed a shift in what it’s acceptable to say and feels safe to align himself with the new consensus, with ready-made excuses for his previous behavior,” she wrote. “He isn’t an ally, he’s a weathervane.”

Mr. Rowling’s rebuke came less than 24 hours after the “Outliers” author appeared on “The Real Science of Sport” podcast, where he expressed regret over moderating a 2022 panel discussion on the “path forward for the inclusion” of transgender athletes. 

“I’m ashamed of my performance at that panel because I share your position 100 percent,” Mr. Gladwell told co-host Ross Tucker, who had been a speaker at the 2022 event. “And I was cowed at the idea of saying anything on this issue.”

Mr. Gladwell recounted a pivotal moment when panelist Joanna Harper, a transgender athlete, declared that Americans “have to let” transgender people win competitions against biological women. “I realized this position, this argument has gone to the furthest extreme,” Mr. Gladwell reflected.

“They’re not asking for a place at the table, they’re not asking to be treated with respect and dignity. What they’re asking is for no one to question their considerable physiological advantage they bring to the sport,” the best-selling author explained. “I heard that and thought, ‘This is nuts,’ and yet I didn’t say anything.”

Ms. Rowling’s critique garnered support from a political commentator and behavioral scientist, Gad Saad, who declared her assessment “spot on.” He added: “Gladwell was perfectly happy to go along with the greatest lie that denies the most fundamental marker of biological reality. Now that the winds are changing, he comes out with ‘oops.'”