While I consistently find myself stuck in an inner battle of liking HBO’s Girls and disliking its lead actress and writer, Lena Dunham, I nonetheless signed up for her “feminist newsletter,” Lenny Letter. I don’t disagree with Dunham on every single political issue, but I do on most and find her comments about the Republican Party extremely offensive.
Thus, I was not surprised when one of the first issues of Lenny Letter contained an interview with Hillary Clinton. Nor was I surprised when other female Democrats, such as Debbie Wasserman Schultz, were interviewed in following issues. Nor am I surprised that not a single female Republican has yet to be interviewed by the publication. I was surprised, however, at how much I enjoyed reading an article in Monday’s Lenny Letter about voting for Hillary Clinton.
The articled, titled There’s No Such Thing As “Voting with Your Vagina,” discusses the accusation that female Clinton supporters only are so because she too is a woman.
“The last time I checked, my uterus was not a sentient being,” wrote the author, Jessica Grose. “Here’s what the ‘voting with your genitals’ accusation is really telling other women: you’re too hysterical to use your pretty head.”
I’m glad that Grose called out this sexist assumption, and I’m also glad that she went on to admit that she’s skeptical of Clinton’s “pathological secrecy.” But what I liked most about the article was the fact that she later defended conservative women.
“For what it’s worth, telling women that they’re too hysterical to understand the facts is a criticism that I often see lobbed at conservative women from liberal women, and I hate that just as much,” she wrote. “I’ve heard liberal feminists say that women are only Republicans if they’re brainwashed by the patriarchy. While I don’t agree with almost any part of the Republican platform, I respect that different human beings can come to different ends based on the same set of facts.”
Thinking that the writers and editors of Lenny Letter would perhaps like to expand on Grose’s message of tolerance, I sent an email back asking them to consider speaking with a Republican woman for their next women-in-politics interview.
“I think it’s very important for young girls to know that they are allowed to believe whatever they want and to feel empowered to formulate their own opinions without fear of being ridiculed by other women if they find themselves leaning to the Right,” I wrote. “As true feminists, we should be accepting of women whose political opinions differ from ours and should celebrate the fact that more and more women are getting involved in politics on both sides of the aisle.”
I later addressed Grose’s argument that the “voting with your vagina” accusation wouldn’t exist if Hillary Clinton weren’t the only viable woman running for president by pointing out that Carly Fiorina is also running for president and by suggesting that she be reached out to for an interview.
Here is the response I got back:
Hi Carlin,
I didn’t include Carly Fiorina, because I clarified, “a VIABLE woman running for president.” Fiorina has never polled high enough, and was demoted to the lower tier debate. You’ll notice I mentioned other republicans who might be in the future.
Thanks for reading and for your letter,
Jess
That was it. Looking back, the fact that 95% of my email, including my suggestion to interview conservative female politicians, was entirely dismissed shouldn’t have been that unexpected, but it was still disappointing. Even more disappointing was when I opened today’s Lenny Letter to find an interview with Democrat and MSNBC host, Rachel Maddow.
