Is Lena Dunham’s New newsletter Lenny What Feminism desires Now?

Jessica Grose’s existence as a freelance journalist was lovely candy: regular work from Slate, Elle, and new york journal was rolling in; her second book The Closest Marriage used to be done. Nothing, it seemed, could pull her back into the day-to-day hustle of a group of workers job.

aside from maybe the chance to work as editor-in-chief for Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s approaching weekly e-newsletter Lenny.

“I truly thought i’d by no means return to a full-time staff job,” Grose says. “This project got here alongside, and it used to be just so exciting and provoking for me—it was starting something from the ground up, which I had by no means executed sooner than.”

Dunham, one in every of fast company’s Most inventive folks and creator and famous person of women, and Konner, producer and showrunner for girls, introduced in July their plan to start out “an email e-newsletter where there’s no such factor as too much data,” covering topics of “feminism, model, health, politics, friendship,” and everything in between. Lenny may even feature unique fiction, and recently previewed what’s to come with its first difficulty of short tales (see the above slideshow for more on that). as it stands, Lenny’s format will probably be 5 tales: one lengthy learn in the ballpark of 1,000 to 2,000 phrases, and 4 shorter items. Lenny has a tentative launch date of September 29. right here, Grose (who has written for fast firm) explains why she’s basking within the slower aspect of the information cycle—and Lenny’s place in the ladies-centric media galaxy.

The gradual information movement

“i like the day by day news cycle, but as a author and an editor I had gotten burnt out,” Grose says. “I used to be simply exhausted by means of all the time having to provide you with a fresh attitude on the news and everybody talking about the same thing.”

a part of Lenny’s appeal for Grose used to be its 2nd-day, journal-fashion solution to topical situations, which, in turn, Grose hopes will give readers less static and more substance. Take, as an example, Dunham’s Q&A with Chenai Okammor, a colleague and pal to Sandra Bland, the black woman whose demise in a holding cell following her arrest in July stoked but more claims of latest injustices towards the black neighborhood by the hands of police officers. within the dialog, Dunham makes a speciality of Bland’s mentor and the site Woman4Woman they had been going to launch collectively.

Given Lenny’s layout as a weekly publication, the place space for content and timelines are to be considered, nationwide tales like Bland’s will indeed be discussed, “however it’s going to be in a considerate approach,” Grose says.

Defining Feminism—And Why It issues

Lenny will sign up for an already loaded club of feminist-leaning blogs and web sites—Jezebel, The Hairpin, and the newly launched largely, to call a couple of—every with a specific tone on the topic. Grose is perfectly fantastic with this.

“We’re now not reinventing the wheel, but, expectantly, making the wheel a little bit extra spiffy,” Grose says. “We’re now not looking to be a monolith in any respect. Our feminism is professional-option feminism, and past that, it’s totally open and fluid and as different as the various contributors we’re going to have. It’s additionally intersectional, having a various collection of voices that aren’t just racially numerous but additionally relating to gender expression. That’s tremendous vital to us.”

whether or not or now not Lenny competes with identical web pages isn’t essential to Grose. What issues is that there is an audience hungry for details about both women’s rights and model guidelines.

“the foundation [for the newsletter came] when Lena was once on her guide tour. She didn’t simply do the regular book tour where she was at bookstores and browse a part of her book, she made it this experience,” Grose says. “every place she went, she had poets and singers, and she or he was once meeting all these amazing young ladies in the target market. So Lena wished a technique to preserve that conversation going.”

that concept of extending conversations of both broader and narrower ladies’s concerns comes at one of the best time in tradition right now. Feminism has re-entered the zeitgeist in a method that can’t be omitted, and which makes Lenny’s presence feel that much more urgent.

“i believe we’re in a moment where ladies’s rights do feel rather at risk,” Grose says. “girls’s rights are being beaten back at the state stage, and that is actually upsetting and troubling.”