Lena Dunham: "I get so tired of having to cry out 'misogyny'"

In a new interview, the "Girls" creator and star responds to the chatter about last season's biggest controversies

Published June 7, 2013 11:48AM (EDT)

                 (<a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-564025p1.html'>Helga Esteb</a> via <a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/'>Shutterstock</a>)
(Helga Esteb via Shutterstock)

In a fascinating interview today with the Los Angeles Times, Lena Dunham breaks down three of the most talked-about episodes of the last season of "Girls."

Here's a sample of what she has to say:

Asked about the response to the episode where Hannah lands a doctor played by Patrick Wilson for a two-day romp: "I get so tired of having to cry out "misogyny," but that's what's going on in this situation. People questioning the idea that a woman could sleep with a man who defied her lot in the looks bracket hews so closely to these really outdated ideas about what makes a woman worth spending time with. Really? Can you not imagine a world in which a girl who's sexually down for anything and oddly gregarious pulls a guy out of his shell for two days?

Asked about Adam's controversial sex scene with Natalia: "Did what Adam do constitute rape? That's hard for me to answer. I'm a rabid feminist. and no woman should ever be placed in a sexual situation that leaves her feeling degraded or compromised. ... But I don't think Adam is a villain. If he thought he had even touched the R-word, he would be unable to live. To me, it seemed like a terrible miscommunication between two people who didn't know what they really wanted."

Asked about how the show moves on without Christopher Abbott, who played Marnie's boyfriend Charlie: "I want to say, 'If the show "Girls" relied on guys, we'd be up a creek without a paddle.' Don't worry. I've tried to come up with an emotionally honest version of the end of that relationship."


By David Daley

David Daley, former editor-in-chief of Salon, is the author of the national bestseller “Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn’t Count” and “Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy.”

MORE FROM David Daley


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