A nonpartisan political analyst says Obama’s new ad featuring a young
woman describing her “first time” voting for the president in terms
similar to losing her virginity is “nothing short of demeaning and
sexist” towards women.“As a woman, I am horribly offended by this ad,” Kara Mone of CatholicVote.org told CNA Oct. 26.
In the ad, 26 year-old actress and writer Lena Dunham, tells the camera that, “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.”
“A guy who cares about whether or not you get health insurance, specifically whether you get birth control,” Dunham added.
The political advertisement, featuring Dunham likening her “first time” voting for President Obama to her first sexual encounter has received just over 275,000 views on YouTube, with nearly 9,000 “dislikes” and roughly 6,600 “likes.”
Mone said the ad is “anti-woman” because it sends the message that female voters are essentially “reducible” to their reproductive organs.
“Mr. Obama has constantly reminded young women during this campaign that all we need to be concerned with is sex, birth control and abortion on demand,” she said.
Dunham closes the video saying, “My first time voting was amazing. It was this line in the sand. Before I was a girl, now I was a woman.”
The ad, which has only been released online, has received mixed reviews in the video’s comments section, with some calling it “clever” and others referring to the ad as “creepy.”
Mone said that for Dunham “to suggest that voting for Obama is what made her a woman” is “a slap in the face to women,” especially those who “have worked hard to become what they are today through hard work, dedication and sacrifice.”
The Obama for America campaign did not respond to requests for comment from CNA by publication time.