Laurie Penny

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Lena Dunham, Caitlin Moran and the problem of unexamined privilege

There are many ways “to be a woman”, and we should try to show more of them, says Laurie Penny.

Lena Dunham. Photo: Getty
Lena Dunham. Photo: Getty

53 comments

Venusandserena's picture

You miss the point completely. Anglo-Japanese - thats more white than you care to mention, but so what?
The point was she was dismissive about WOC being represented, why shouldn't women of Colour not give a damn?
I guess we should just accept the world for what it is as long as I'm alright jack right?
The feminist movement *is* about progressiveness, and any feminist worth her salt should be working to change things for all women. If you want to say that feminsits do not have a duty to do this, that feminism has done its work and women (white) have largely been emancipated, then you have no idea what feminism is, or simply couldn't give a shit about minorities. Either way doesn't look good for you.

Sam Lacey's picture

Moran may be comfortable now, but to call her upbringing middle class is ridiculous. Have you read How To Be a Woman? She grew up in a tiny council house, had no money and more siblings than most Catholics. How to be a Woman is an excellent book, but Moran has stated on many occasions that it is not supposed to be a guidebook to feminism, more a conversation starter. I'm not sure what my point is here really, but I think women attacking women for not being quite the right sort of feminist is only splitting the time we attack sexism.

LouiseD's picture

Thanks for this. I always thought Moran was quite funny, I never really liked that she was hailed by mainstream media as the face of feminsm, but it was nice to see someone's USP be their open self-indentification as a feminist. However so much of modern, mainstream (for lack of a better word) feminism is coming from a white, middle-class, educated perspective and, as I fit that demographic myself, I very often (embarrassingly often) didn't even notice it. If nothing else comes from this, hopefully more white feminist will notice and check their privilege, especially when their faults and the failings and shortcomings of their feminism is pointed out by WOC, LGBT and disabled people (some of the groups that I have recently been learning about and realising how often mainstream feminism has excluded.)

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