The Girls creator and star rejects condescending and misogynistic assumption that she is backing the Democratic frontrunner just because she is a woman
Lena Dunham isnt supporting Hillary Clinton for president because they share the same anatomy. She is, however, a big fan of the Democratic frontrunners pantsuits.
The Girls creator and star laid out her support for Clinton at an Iowa City coffee shop on Saturday, while urging a crowd of mostly women to get involved in the sates Iowa caucus on 1 February. Dunham was attending her first event of the day, on a swing through early voting states on the candidates behalf.
Nothing gets me angrier than when someone implies Im voting for Hillary Clinton simply because shes female, Dunham said, to laughter. [Its] as if I have some feminist version of beer-goggles, lets call it estrogen blindness, and I just kind of walk like a zombie towards the nearest vagina.
This assumption is condescending at best and it is sharply mysogynistic at worst.
Dunham said she was supporting Clinton because of her policies, because of her track record, because of her beliefs and a little bit because of her pantsuits. But thats my prerogative as a citizen.
Dunham recently interviewed Clinton for the first issue of her email newsletter, Lenny. Seated across from Clinton on a folding chair, she asked the Democratic candidate: Do you consider yourself a feminist?
Yes, Clinton responded. Absolutely.
With a mix of raw honesty and playful self-deprecation, on Saturday Dunham told the crowd how she had not voted until four years after she came of voting age. She encouraged women, especially young women, to make their voices heard in 2016.
Im embarrassed to say this but it took me far too long to start voting, Dunham said. I had been of legal age for more than four years before I cast my first vote in the 2008 presidential election.
Its not that I didnt care, but I didnt believe that me caring mattered. It was impossible for me to comprehend that one young woman checking a box after waiting in a long line could matter on a national level.
Dunham said she almost turned down the opportunity to create a video for President Barack Obamas re-election campaign in 2012. She said deciding to make the innuendo-laced film, Your First Time, energized her to engage with politics.
My father has never been prouder of me than when I was called a dirty word on Fox News, Dunham joked about reaction to the video, which she said went a little bit viral.
On Friday, Dunham traveled around New Hampshire with the World Cup-winning soccer superstar Abby Wambach, pitching Clinton as the best advocate for women. Notably, Dunham has been having fun with her bespoke Hillary Clinton line of dresses and sweaters. In Iowa on Saturday, she wore a white jumper featuring Hillary printed in red.
The audience, equal parts Dunham fans and Clinton supporters, were very receptive.
Abbie Gould, 24, said she was still deciding between Clinton and her chief rival, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, but was impressed by what Dunham had to say about the former secretary of state.
Listening to Lena, hearing the sincerity in her voice and listening to how she got involved in the campaign, and that she actually hadnt gotten involved into politics until later in her career, I think thats inspiring for people my age, Gould said.
Allison Poss, who runs a small business, Girls with Ideas, in Iowa City, called Dunham and Clinton the dream team. Poss said she was an unabashed Dunham fan she collects clippings of every magazine interview she gives and a longtime Clinton supporter.
Ive always followed [Clintons] policies, that is what is driving my vote for her, Poss said. However, its like a double-whammy of happiness to me that she just so happens to be a woman as well.
After the Iowa City coffee shop event, Dunham and her team departed without taking any questions, in order to make it to a second event of the day in Des Moines.
source http://allofbeer.com/2017/10/31/lena-dunham-talks-policies-and-pantsuits-in-push-for-hillary-clinton/
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