Lena Dunham is problematic on many levels. This is how she finds herself in the midst of controversies fairly often. She then issues an apology, admits she hadn’t thought things through, and we all move on with our lives.
This time, it actually seems as though there may be longer-term consequences for the actress and writer. Because this time, her latest blunder drew a caustic condemnation and call to action from author Zinzi Clemmons, who says she will no longer be writing for Dunham’s weekly feminist newsletter Lenny Letter, and who encourages others to do the same. “Especially women of color.”
https://twitter.com/zinziclemmons/status/932200880975286273
A recap of what it was Lena Dunham did:
Last week, Dunham along with her best friend and Lenny Letter co-founder Jenni Konner issued a statement defending Girls writer Murray Miller after actress Aurora Perrineau accused him of raping her in 2012. Perrineau was only 17 years old at the time. Rather than questioning Miller (who denies the claims) Dunham and Konner basically accused Perrineau of lying, issuing the following statement: “Insider knowledge of Murray’s situation makes us confident that sadly this accusation is one of the 3 percent of assault cases that are misreported every year. We stand by Murray and this is all we’ll be saying about this issue.”
Considering Lena Dunham as a person as well as her dedication to feminism, (just recently, she wrote an op-ed piece in the NYT condemning sexual abusers in Hollywood and stressing how important it is for women to step forward) this denial of Perrineau’s experience seemed almost to come out of left field. By immediately casting doubt on the statement of the victim, Dunham made it about race; Another tired stereotype of a white ‘feminist’ casting doubt on a black woman.
The denial of the black female experience— even in Hollywood— even among the beautiful and powerful — is nothing novel. Lupita Nyong’o for example, was the only one of 79 actresses contradicted by Harvey Weinstein when she came forward with her story of sexual misconduct. OUT OF 79 ACTRESSES.
Again, Dunham backpedaled so fast she crashed through the wall behind her. She and Konner issued a statement on Twitter, saying “We regret this decision with every fiber of our being.”
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 19, 2017
Dunham’s apology reads:
“I naively believed it was important to share my perspective on my friend’s situation as it has transpired behind the scenes over the last few months. I now understand that it was absolutely the wrong time to come forward with such a statement and I am so sorry.” Dunham continued: “We have been given the gift of powerful voices and by speaking out we were putting our thumb on the scale and it was wrong. We regret this decision with every fiber to our being.“ The message concluded: “Every woman who comes forward deserves to be heard, fully and completely, and our relationship to the accused should not be part of the calculation anyone makes when examining her case. … We apologize to any woman who have been disappointed.”
For author Zinzi Clemmons, this was the final straw. She wrote how she knew Dunham before she was famous and “avoided” social circle “like the plague because of their well-known racism.” She writes how Dunham and co. are a bunch of rich kids with powerful parents in the art world, and how their strain of “hipster racism” was bafflingly accepted and ultimately sought to gaslight it’s victims.
Clemmons’ full statement reads:
As a result of Lena Dunham’s statements, I have decided that I will no longer write for Lenny Letter. For all you writers who are outraged about what she did, I encourage you to do the same. Especially women of color. She cannot have our words if she cannot respect us. To eliminate any doubt, I know exactly who Lena Dunham is–who she was before she was famous–and have for years, and I will tell you:
She and I ran in the same circles in college. Jemima Kirke was in my year at RISD while I was at Brown. We had many mutual acquaintances and still do. Most of these acquaintances were like Lena–wealthy, with parents who are influential in the art world. They had a lot of power and seemed to get off on simultaneously wielding it and denying it.
Back in college, I avoided those people like the plague because of their well-known racism. I’d call their strain “hipster racism”, which typically uses sarcasm as a cover , and in the end, it looks a lot like gaslighting–“It’s just a joke. Why are you overreacting?” Is a common response to these kinds of statements. In Lena’s circle, there was a girl who was known to use the N word in conversation in order to be provocative, and if she was ever called on it, she would say “it’s just a joke”. I was often in the same room with her, but I never spoke to her, only watched her from afar in anxiety and horror.
I have been overcome by emotion since reading Aurora Perrineau’s account because of its similarity to an incident that happened when I was in college. One of my best friends was victimized in almost the exact same way by someone in Lena’s circle. It was never addressed, and he continues to move in those circles and has a powerful job. My friend was going through a hard time then, and we decided not to report it or take it further because we didn’t want to expose her to more trauma, which would surely come from facing these people. I grew up middle class, with no family connections in the writing or art worlds, and my friend was from a similar background. We were powerless against them.
Even so, I still carry so much guilt, to this day, that I didn’t do more at the time, and I worry what effect that had on how she’s processed this trauma.
I am currently in Nigeria at a literary festival on the theme of feminism, which, of course, means black African feminism. It is a beautiful thing. I have been awed and inspired by the women here who are facing such immense obstacles, putting themselves in danger every day to help women in some of the worst conditions on earth. Remember that many of those 26 migrant girls who drowned off the coast of Italy last week were Northern Nigerians, and sex trafficked). Yesterday, I had the honor of sharing a stage with Hadiza El-Rufai, who comes from the same region, who lost both her son and daughter in the process of publishing her latest novel. She has made it her mission to promote the stories of women from that area, no matter the cost. If these women can do that, surely we can make this small sacrifice.
I had one reservation in this decision, and that is that there are many incredible women who work for Lenny, two of whom have supported my work with such selfless care. I would apologize to them for this decision, but I’m not doing that anymore. Their boss betrayed them by her actions, and it was wrong for her to make them choose between their authors and supporting their boss. They deserve so much better.
Let’s hold Lena accountable, and to me that means sacrificing some comfort and a little bit of cash, in this moment.
A luta continua