Lena Dunham, a voice of a generation, is over at Playboy answering 20 Questions. It’s the usual stuff, but she also says some things about feminism that a lot of us know, but don’t often see in print — especially not in Playboy.
Playboy: How do you want Girls to contribute to the ongoing conversation about feminism?
Dunham: On Girls I like being a mouthpiece for the issues I think young females face today. It’s always shocking when people question whether it’s a feminist show. How could a show about women exploring women not be? Feminism isn’t a dirty word. It’s not like we’re a deranged group who think women should take over the planet, raise our young on our own and eliminate men from the picture. Feminism is about women having all the rights that men have.
Yes! If you believe in equality, then you’re a feminist — simple and apparently profound!
More importantly, she love trashy magazines, hella gum, and CCE (she’s just like us!):
Playboy: What’s your grocery checkout aisle routine?
Dunham: I cannot get out of the market without six trashy magazines and seven packs of gum. I wish I could resist those things. Oh, and sometimes a Cadbury Creme Egg, if it’s in season.
She tackles the oft queried “Why is everyone on the show so white?? This IS Brooklyn, right??”
Playboy: One of the louder criticisms of Girls is that it takes place in a narrow world of young, urban, middle-class white women and is thus not suitably diverse and representative of your generation.
Dunham: I think that’s a valid criticism, but we can’t let that erase someone’s ability to tell a personal story. While being racist and promoting inequality are crimes that should be punished, the sin of writing two Jewish girl characters and two Waspy characters feels less egregious to me. I’ve tried to be elegant about it and receive the criticism, and I understand what’s hard about it. At the same time I’m like, Really?
Uh, yeah, really, Dunham. It’s bullshit she gets more about this than almost any show ever, but that doesn’t make it any less important.
Finally, she might murder you with a spoon:
Playboy: What’s in your purse that would surprise us?
Dunham: I still keep a paper date planner, which seems pretty old-school. I always have a novel. The stray-vitamin situation is pretty out of hand. But most surprising? A spoon. I’m always dragging one around. It’s a metal spoon. A plastic spoon makes sense. A metal spoon from your house makes it look like you’re going to commit a spoon murder.
[Playboy]
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