In a preview of the interview, which will be available next Tuesday, Clinton looked as relaxed as ever in a public appearance
By GABE FRIEDMAN
(JTA) — In the wake of the never-ending email scandal and Bernie Sanders’ rise in the polls, Hillary Clinton is feeling some serious heat in the 2016 presidential race.
In an attempt to connect with younger voters, the Democratic front-runner agreed to be interviewed by Lena Dunham, the Jewish creator of HBO’s hit show Girls.
Elections 2016
The full interview was available on Tuesday to subscribers of Dunham’s new Lenny newsletter, whose name is a portmanteau of Lena and Jenny (as in Dunham’s Girls co-writer Jenni Konner).
Konner has also pointed out that it’s the name of an “old Jewish man.” The newsletter will include content on “feminism, style, health, politics, friendship” and more according to its Web site.
A minute-long preview clip of the interview released on Thursday shows Clinton — who confessed that she does not watch Girls — as relaxed as she has ever looked in a public appearance.
Asked by Dunham if she considers herself a feminist, Clinton leaned forward with a smile and said, “Yes, absolutely.”
“You know I’m always a little bit puzzled when any woman of whatever age, but particularly a young woman, says something like, and you’ve heard it, ‘Well, I believe in equal rights but I’m not a feminist.’ Well, a feminist is by definition someone who believes in equal rights,” the former secretary of state said in the clip. “I’m hoping people will not be afraid to say, that doesn’t mean you hate men, it doesn’t mean you want to separate out the world, so you’re not a part of ordinary life — that’s not what it means at all! It just means we believe that women should have the same rights as men, politically, culturally, socially, economically. That’s what it means.”
According to Politico, Clinton also talked with Dunham about her college years and early 20s, as well as her initial ambivalence about a political career.
Dunham supported Barack Obama in the 2012 election. Rumors also swirled back in July that Malia Obama, the elder of the Obama daughters, was interning (or at least hanging out) on the set of Girls, which is filmed in Brooklyn, N.Y.
