Thoughts On: Lena Dunham

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Lena Dunham is a woman who, if you spend any time at all on the internet, you won't be able to avoid and because of this fact, people have very strong opinions on her. It seems that there is no middle ground for view points on Lena Dunham.


First of all, I am a fan of Lena, her book, her film, her HBO show, her podcast and her activism. I think she's using her position of fame and power in a very positive and effective way, shown overtly in her podcast - Women Of The Hour - a feminist podcast, presented by Lena and Buzzfeed (Buzzfeed: another thing that people have very strong opinions on). Lena is a cis white feminist, coming from a position of privilege, however this position is not shown in her podcast. Her show includes conversations between women and girls of all ages, races and sexualities; 11 year old's who are members of a social justice group, transgender rights activist Janet Mock, singer Mindie Lind, writer Zadie Smith and comedian and self proclaimed "size bitch" Aidy Bryant.

 Even though the show only consists of 5 episodes, it hosts a large spectrum of women, each with very different life experiences, discussing issues that are important to them and effect most women on a day-to-day basis. And Lena is enabling their voices to be projected even further. As a young white feminist, I would highly recommend this podcast, if you want to have your knowledge of women's issues expanded.  

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/women-of-the-hour/id1049452428?mt=2
The recent controversy surrounding Lena involved Photoshop and body-image, Lena posed a photograph on Instagram claiming that a magazine had airbrushed an image of her. Understandably, she was frustrated at not knowing what her body looked like any more, as it was constantly being edited to fit society's standards for the bodies that women in Hollywood should have. However, that particular image had not been retouched, the magazine came forward with the original, proving they hadn't changed it. Even though Lena was wrong, the fact she no longer knew whether the version of herself she was seeing was real or not, is worrying. 

The female bodies that we see in the media are constantly being altered, male bodies are too, but not nearly as much, or to the same drastic extent. For instance Lena's images from her shoot with Vogue had been hugely edited, whilst not even slighting editing the man in the photo with her (Adam Driver, co-star of Girls). Lena standing up for injustices like these is another reason I respect her, she uses her platform in a way that will positively influence young people and hopefully, inspire young girls to be comfortable and confident in their bodies. Their bodies that don't need to be altered. 


"ALL that matters is that this body works, not that it be milky white and slim."

Lena's writing style is unique and fun, personal and open, she writes thought provoking essays on her life experiences, without sounding condescending. She inspired me to start writing again, I hugely admire how she can be so open within her work. Her character on Girls, Hannah, is extremely open, she doesn't come with a filter, making her character vulnerable and loveable, if slightly annoying. But, her openness works in her favour. Lena in her book is similar to the character of Hannah, and I aim to be like them, possibly not as open as Hannah, but at least a little. 

I think we can all learn something from Lena Dunham. 

(I have a lot more to say on Lena Dunham so expect the next instalment of this soon)



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I'm Eve, a seventeen year old girl living in a tiny village on the butt of England, spending my time exploring the internet and writing about what I find.

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