For days/weeks now, cable news has been obsessed with the idea/reality that black-voter turnout is really weak this year. Several explanations have been given, like the fact that black turnout was especially, historically high in 2008 and 2012 because President Obama was on the ticket and that of course Hillary Clinton wasn’t going to match those numbers. But at this point, I have to also admit that there’s another reason why African-American turnout might be lower than people were expecting: because Hillary Clinton has been cozying up to the worst of white feminism this year. Just in the past few months, we’ve seen non-intersectional white feminists like Amy Schumer and Lena Dunham (I would include Chloe Moretz too, she even had a prime speaking position at the DNC) use their voices to promote Hillary Clinton. And while that’s Amy’s right and Lena’s right, I do have to wonder… are they doing more harm than good? Are they actually turning off people who want to support HRC? Does HRC’s alliance with Schumer and Dunham say something about her priorities?

I asked myself those same questions while I watched Lena Dunham’s new Funny or Die video for getting out the vote, or getting people to vote for Hillary. And… honestly, this is just bad. Just watch it.

The “joke” is that Lena Dunham is an oblivious white feminist who decides to culturally appropriate rap to make a video supporting Hillary Clinton. Like, Lena Dunham is self-aware so she’s making the joke that she’s oblivious. It’s very “meta,” or that’s what she hopes. In reality, it just feels like she’s not even half as self-aware as she pretends to be because she still made the damn video! In reality, the joke she’s making is “hahaha, isn’t it funny that I’m such a clueless white feminist and I’m still using black people as props in my fake music video?” As Spin wrote last night:

But you have to wonder who MC Pantsuit’s audience is. If we’re really trying to be pro-Hillary, perhaps the most pro-Hillary thing to do here would’ve been to go silent for the next week. Dunham’s attempts at using black culture as comedic backdrop renders it as an exotic plaything. Like Clinton’s pro-establishment image, it’s alienating. This is one of the least pro-Hillary things you can do in an election where black voter turnout, one of this election’s deciding factors, has decreased.

…White feminism has had a long history of excluding the black American experience: The suffragettes who’ve been constantly referenced before and during this election campaign also thought that African-Americans—former slaves—having voting rights before them was absurd. It’s a stretch to pin Schumer and Dunham as this blatantly racist, but their misfires are another reminder of how dominant white cultural influencers—the so-called good ones—can still minimize and misunderstand black culture. Democrats are understandably stressing on galvanizing African-Americans to vote, and if Trump does in fact win, black people will very likely be marked as scapegoats. Either way, their culture will remain a joke to the people in charge.

[From Spin]

That whole Spin piece is worth a read, just FYI.

Lena also posted this short video, which angered the MRAs, because of course. Like… Lena, you’re not helping. You’re speaking to the already converted and you’re alienating potential allies. If you really believe in these things and you’re not just doing this because you’re an attention-deprived a—hole with special snowflake syndrome, maybe STFU for a week? Please?

It's not the end of men, it's the evolution of men into better men. (beautiful animation by Sophie Koko Gate!) pic.twitter.com/Qtf0xyT5Ad

— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 2, 2016

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.