8 Salient Points Lena Dunham Just Made About Kesha's Legal Troubles

By Ryan Roschke
Getty | Isaac Brekken
Getty | Isaac Brekken

Despite the fact that Kesha's legal battle against Dr. Luke has been happening for almost a year and a half, the whole situation is just now getting the kind of attention it deserves. This is due in part to Friday's ruling in court, a pivotal marking point in the case to be sure. Even so, partial credit also goes to the celebrities who have finally begun to speak out on the issue and the musicians who are offering help to the singer. The case has quickly become a larger conversation about the treatment of rape victims, and a new essay from Lenny Letter — Lena Dunham's subscription-based newsletter — pinpoints exactly why. What's more, the new piece has been bringing even more stars in on the conversation. Reese Witherspoon tweeted about it with praise, and Anne Hathaway took to Facebook with her own declaration of support. Keep reading for a selection of quotes that really expose the heart of the issue in a raw but thought-provoking way.

  1. "Sony could make this go away. But instead the company has chosen to engage in a protracted legal battle to protect Gottwald's stake in Kesha's future."
  2. "Although the company insists that Kesha and Gottwald never need to be in a room together and that he will allow her to record without his direct involvement, they are minimizing what Kesha says regarding how Gottwald's continued involvement in her career would affect her physical well-being and psychological safety."
  3. "[Judge Shirley Kornreich] said, it's not appropriate to 'decimate a contract that was heavily negotiated.' Guess what else is heavily negotiated? The human contract that says we will not hurt one another physically and emotionally. In fact, it's so obvious that we usually don't add it to our corporate documents."
  4. "What's happening to Kesha highlights the way that the American legal system continues to hurt women by failing to protect them from the men they identify as their abusers."
  5. "These women deserve better. They do not choose to have their reputations pilloried and their characters questioned as a tactic for getting what they want. What if we realize that the women who come forward have everything to lose, whether they're pop stars or single mothers?"
  6. "The fact is, Kesha will never have a doctor's note. She will never have a videotape that shows us that Gottwald threatened and shamed her, and she will never be able to prove, beyond the power of her testimony, that she is unsafe doing business with this man."
  7. "The lack of perspective on the part of Sony — the inability to look at the worth of a woman's platinum records versus the worth of her soul being intact — is horrifying."
  8. "While Kesha is indefinitely silenced, her voice has never been louder."