--- title: Lena Dunham Writes About Hillary Clinton's Election Loss description: Lena Dunham penned an essay for her website Lenny on the results of the 2016 presidential election and Hillary Clinton's loss. canonical: https://time.com/4567967/lena-dunham-hillary-clinton-election-results/ author: Suyin Haynes article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-11T16:55:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:50.937Z og:title: Lena Dunham Felt 'Frozen' After the Election Results og:description: The actress and writer gets real about her feelings following Hillary Clinton's loss og:url: https://time.com/4567967/lena-dunham-hillary-clinton-election-results/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf946a307fb03ff5d/6988ae2c5f570f1150b2340c/gettyimages-462155248.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2015 Sundance Film Festival Portraits - Day 3 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lena Dunham Felt 'Frozen' After the Election Results twitter:description: The actress and writer gets real about her feelings following Hillary Clinton's loss twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf946a307fb03ff5d/6988ae2c5f570f1150b2340c/gettyimages-462155248.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lena Dunham Felt 'Frozen' After the Election Results by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Nov 11, 2016 4:55 PM UTC  Lena Dunham during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The actress recently penned an essay on her thoughts on the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Lena Dunham during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The actress recently penned an essay on her thoughts on the 2016 U.S. presidential election.Larry Busacca—Getty Images by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Nov 11, 2016 4:55 PM UTC Lena Dunham has penned an [essay](http://www.lennyletter.com/politics/a608/dont-agonize-organize/) addressing the 2016 U.S presidential election and urging readers to remember that “the work isn’t done. It is only beginning.” Dunham, a [vocal supporter of Democratic candidate](http://motto.time.com/4425974/dnc-powerful-women-quotes/?iid=sr-link9) Hillary Clinton, wrote about her disappointment as she attended what was meant to be the [Democratic victory party](http://time.com/election-day-photos-2016/?iid=sr-link9) at the Javits Center in New York on Tuesday. “It wasn’t supposed to go this way. It was supposed to be her job. She worked her whole life for the job. It’s her job,” wrote Dunham, referring to her immediate reaction of [Clinton’s defeat to Donald Trump](http://time.com/4565978/how-hillary-clinton-lost/?iid=sr-link2). “I was frozen.” As exit poll data indicated an unexpected [surge of support from white women](http://time.com/4566748/hillary-clinton-firewall-women/?iid=sr-link1) for Trump, Dunham wrote, “It’s painful to know that white women, so unable to see the unity of female identity, so unable to look past their violent privilege, and so inoculated with hate for themselves, showed up to the polls for him, too.” Interspersed in the open letter are inspiring and motivational quotes by women ranging from Audre Lorde to Florynce Kennedy, as well as Clinton herself. However, in the same way that Dunham’s friend and fellow actress [Jennifer Lawrence did earlier this week](http://motto.time.com/4566491/jennifer-lawrence-article-trump/?iid=sr-link8), the _Girls_ star went on to rally others left feeling disheartened by Clinton’s defeat. “Our generation says no, as do first-time voters, to what this man and his presidency represent,” she writes. “Now, more than ever, our power is in numbers and in our refusal to accept the idea that our leaders intrinsically know what’s best for us, better than the people we meet every day.” The essay concludes with Dunham paying tribute to Clinton, who despite not winning the presidency, [made history](http://motto.time.com/4361320/hillary-clinton-democratic-nomination-women/?iid=sr-link7) by becoming the first female presidential nominee for a major political party. “Thank you for showing our daughters something beautiful to aspire to. Thank you for reminding us what we are capable of when we are focused and ferocious.” _Read Lena Dunham’s essay in full on_ [_Lenny_](http://www.lennyletter.com/politics/a608/dont-agonize-organize/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4567967/lena-dunham-hillary-clinton-election-results/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4567967/lena-dunham-hillary-clinton-election-results/"},"headline":"Lena Dunham Felt 'Frozen' After the Election Results","datePublished":"2016-11-11T16:55:46.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:50.937Z","description":"The actress and writer gets real about her feelings following Hillary Clinton's loss","url":"https://time.com/4567967/lena-dunham-hillary-clinton-election-results/","keywords":["motto","Hillary Clinton","lena dunham","2016 presidential election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf946a307fb03ff5d/6988ae2c5f570f1150b2340c/gettyimages-462155248.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Suyin Haynes","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf946a307fb03ff5d/6988ae2c5f570f1150b2340c/gettyimages-462155248.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2015 Sundance Film Festival Portraits - Day 3","caption":"2015 Sundance Film Festival Portraits - Day 3","creditText":"Larry Busacca—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4567967/lena-dunham-hillary-clinton-election-results/","name":"Lena Dunham Felt 'Frozen' After the Election Results"}}]}] ```