Three days ago, the Obama campaign released a video titled "Your First Time"—your first time voting, of course. You've probably already seen it. The video elicited many different reactions, some of which are cropping up at Harvard as well.
In the video endorsement, actress and filmmaker Lena Dunham begins with a statement that raises eyebrows, saying: "Your first time shouldn't be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy. Someone who really cares about and understands women."
But when she suddenly starts talking about making sure we "do it with a guy who brought the troops out of Iraq," the video's connection to Obama suddenly starts to make a little more sense.
As an artist whose work openly talks about topics like sex, femininity, and body image, Dunham’s intent seems clear: young women, go out and vote.
Her sexual undertone, however, has sparked several negative reactions. Picked up by various newspapers and blogs, the video has come under intense scrutiny, including being called "utterly sexist" by the Independent Women's Forum.
At Harvard, Dunham's video has also raised concern among the members of The Harvard Anscombe Society, a student organization that prides itself on its positions on abstinence from sex before marriage and "true feminism."
President Luciana E. Milano '14 published a blog post Sunday afternoon titled "Obama's Trivialization of Virginity," criticizing the campaign for "[drawing] an offensive and distasteful parallel between losing one’s virginity and the 'awesome' experience of voting for Mr. Obama."
Milano went on to say that the ad "hyper-sexualizes women and treats chastity as a quaint concept."
Meanwhile, liberal blogs say that conservatives are over-reacting. Blackbookmag.com, for instance, published an article titled "Lena Dunham Proves No One Has A Sense of Humor Anymore."
Dunham herself seems to care little: "I voted for Barack Obama," she ends the video with a grin.
