When Gloria Steinem wants to feel like “the queen of business and a rad bitch,” she wears the following: “Boots, pants, a sweater or a T-shirt. A concha belt. Something that’s Native American or Indian, or something that has a resonance from the past before patriarchy came along.” She feels affection toward her hands. Her favorite way to curse is to put the f-word (that’s “fuck,” not “feminist“) between syllables. She’s superstitious.
Such important trivia comes courtesy of Lenny, the newsletter brainchild of Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner. In the span of a three-minute read, this very letter made me feel like I was reading an email from my best friend — a copied-then-pasted conversation with history-making feminist icon Gloria Steinem that I was somehow lucky enough to be privy to, as though it came with a subject line that read something along the lines of, “FOR YOUR EYES ONLY. DO NOT FORWARD. SRSLY.” That’s the thing about Lenny: it holds the weight of a secret club.
And while it’s not a secret, it definitely is a sisterhood. The October 13th issue featured an essay by Jennifer Lawrence who asked, “Why do these dudes make more than me?” On October 9th, Amy Poehler asked me what day it was interviewed Sydney Lucas of Fun Home about reincarnation. There have been stories about periods and important conversations about abortions. One morning, my inbox boasted an interview with Hillary Clinton. Another introduced me to Michele Roberts, the first woman to hold the title of executive director of the National Basketball Players Association — the first woman to lead any major professional-sports union in the country. Without sounding like a cliché advertisement, it is not your typical newsletter.
That’s because Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner aren’t your typical anything. In fact, the only thing they’ve done thus far in their careers that could possibly count as conforming is accidental: they both showed up in the same outfit as Leandra for this very special episode of the Chatroom. Coincidence, I guess. Best friends are weird like that.
Do you know who else is really cool, besides Lena and Jenni? Our very own Amelia Diamond!
