Fran Lebowitz Still Has the Last Word — and It Belongs to Lesbians
When Fran Lebowitz walks into a room, she doesn’t perform — she commands. At 75, the Lesbian writer, social critic, and cultural icon filled Northwestern University’s Cahn Auditorium in Evanston with laughter, gasps, and the kind of truth that makes you sit up straighter.
“It’s so much harder to be a girl now than when I was growing up,” she began. “It’s not perfect. It’s not even good. It’s all misogyny — and a lot of it’s anti-woke.”
That was Fran being Fran — piercing through the noise with her signature blend of deadpan and depth. She wasn’t nostalgic for a “better” past; she was furious at how much harder women, and especially queer women, still have to fight just to be seen and heard.
She described today’s landscape as perilous for women who speak up. For those who are out and opinionated? Even more so. “The culture,” she said, “has grown loud — but not smarter.” The audience laughed, then went quiet.
Fran reminded everyone that Lesbian visibility isn’t just about representation — it’s about survival. “When you’re a Lesbian,” she said, “you don’t get to coast. You have to keep insisting on your right to exist in every conversation, every room, every century.”