Lena Dunham
In late October, Vanity Fair published a quirky short video featuring eight of Lena Dunham’s thoughts on feminism. These thoughts included points like why calling out a women for being “un-feminist” is itself a choice at odds with feminist principles and why she does not feel inclined to judge the Kardashian family. The video was clearly meant to be funny and playful, but many of Dunham’s thoughts point to broader truths and issues within the movement.
One of the most important points Dunham raised was the idea that allowing women to make choices you may not personally agree with is a feminist act. For example, some women are comfortable wearing clothing that reveals more of their body — like taped-over nipples or booty shorts — than others. It’s important to remember that part of being a feminist is supporting women’s decisions to express their style any way they wish. It’s nobody’s place to criticize a woman for being “too promiscuous” or “revealing too much” and, what’s more, doing so perpetuates the prevailing cultural attitude that discourages women from loving their bodies and expressing themselves without any inhibitions.
Dunham also demonstrated that it’s possible to have a sense of humor about the feminist movement itself. She commented on what she saw as funny feminist fashion choices, including women growing out their armpit hair and the humor involved in arresting suffragettes in petty coats. While having a sense of humor about this work is important, it’s also important to acknowledge the hard work women did to achieve the relative amount of equality that allows this perspective. It may seem funny now, but at the time women had to rebel against forces that infringed on their political, social and economic rights. We can laugh and not take ourselves too seriously, but we should always take the work we do — and which other women have done — seriously and acknowledge the absurd barriers women overcame to acheive rights they should have had in the first place.
The boldest assertion Dunham made was that Viola Davis could potentially become the next female president, in place of Hillary Clinton. Dunham was clearly joking, but the joke is a great opportunity to highlight the many factors that prevent women of color from even getting paid the same as a white women, let alone challenging another one to become president of a country that has long been a playing field exclusively for white middle class men. Women of color still face plenty of barriers in this country: For example, they are incarcerated at 4 times the rate of white women and African American girls are also more likely to be suspended in schools than their white counterparts, according to the organization INCITE!. While it is nice to imagine a progressive world in which an African American woman could be president, therefore, that idea does not seem likely in today’s age and it’s important to recognize that our country is still in the slow and lengthy process of dismantling patterns of racism and bigotry.
Ultimately, this video managed to quickly raise many points which illuminate the endless ways one can be a feminist and understand feminism today. It reminded me that “feminism” is an ever-changing term that can mean different things to everyone. My feminism means being able to weightlift and express myself freely, but it likely doesn’t mean the same for you, and that’s okay. Given this, feminists should always be mindful of the assumptions we make about others who identify as feminists.