Is Lena Dunham’s latest column offensive? Or just not that funny?
Lena Dunham has been been slammed over a recent article published in the New Yorker magazine, in which readers were asked to guess whether statements referred to Dunham’s boyfriend or her dog.
The article “Dog or Jewish Boyfriend? A Quiz” is clearly intended as satire, but Dunham has been accused by some of playing into anti-Semitic stereotypes.
The 28-year-old Girls creator self-identifies as half Jewish (her father is Protestant and her mother is Jewish) and has previously described herself as “very culturally Jewish, although that’s the biggest cliché for a Jewish woman to say”.
Her current boyfriend Jack Antonoff is Jewish and her dog Lamby has no obvious religious affiliations.
“Disgusting” child sex abuse claims levelled against Girls star Lena Dunham.
Some of the comparisons in the article are fairly innocuous (“2. We love to spend hours in bed together on Sunday mornings.”), but others such as “13. He doesn’t tip” and the following have been accused of playing into shallow and offensive tropes about Jewish people.
8. I feel that he is judgmental about the food I serve him. When I make something from scratch, he doesn’t want to eat it, but he also rejects most store-bought dinners.
9. This is because he comes from a culture in which mothers focus every ounce of their attention on their offspring and don’t acknowledge their own need for independence as women. They are sucked dry by their children, who ultimately leave them as soon as they find suitable mates.
10. As a result of this dynamic, he expects to be waited on hand and foot by the women in his life, and anything less than that makes him whiny and distant.
The Anti-Defamation League issued a response to the piece calling it “tasteless”.
“Some will certainly find Lena Dunham’s stereotypes about cheap Jews offensive,” national director Abraham H Foxman said in a statement. “Others will take issue with the very idea of comparing a dog and a Jewish boyfriend.
One Tree Hill's Bethany Joy Lenz Lived In A Cult For 10 Years
The Spill
Top Comments
It's a rip off of a bit from Big Bang Theory where they try and guess if phrases like 'you have such beautiful eyes' were said about Raj's dog or his girlfriend. It was incredibly funny on the show but not so much in this case :\
I have no time for Ms Dunham. I think she's largely talentless and got where she is by having rich, well connected parents. That said, the outrage in this case seems overdone.
In response to Kate, if she wants to identify as 'half jewish' rather than 'jewish' that's up to her and is no one else's business. The question of who is a Jew and who is not is highly variable and dependent on context and religion. The article made reference to signs saying 'no dogs or jews allowed' - these and other variants appear to be an urban myth and no one has ever been able to come up with actual proof they existed although the attitudes themselves certainly did.