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Lena Dunham

Lena Dunham45 posts

Lena Dunham is an Emmy Award-winning American writer, director, and actor. Born on May 13, 1986 in New York City, Dunham grew up in Brooklyn and attended Oberlin College, where she studied creative writing. In 2010, she wrote and directed a feature length film Tiny Furniture, which gained her the attention of Judd Appatow and Nora Ephron. She is best known for her work on HBO’s television comedy drama Girls. In 2014, she wrote a memoir Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s “Learned.”

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13 Oct, 2015

Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?

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In an article for Dunham’s Lenny newsletter, titled Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars? Lawrence talks about her experiences.

It’s hard for me to speak about my experience as a working woman because I can safely say my problems aren’t exactly relatable. When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early…But if I’m honest with myself, I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight. I didn’t want to seem “difficult” or “spoiled.” At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being “difficult” or “spoiled.” I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable! F*ck that. I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It’s just heard

29 Sep, 2015

Quits Twitter and Gawker

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On the Re/code Decode podcast Dunham tells Swisher she has quit Twitter and Gawker citing verbal abuse and body-shaming.

I don’t look at Twitter anymore. I tweet, but I do it through someone else. I really appreciate that anybody follows me at all, and so I didn’t want to cut off my relationship to it completely, but it really, truly wasn’t a safe space for me.

She says the decision was prompted after she posted a picture of herself in her boyfriends’ shorts:

It wasn’t a graphic picture. I was wearing men’s boxers, and it turned into the most rabid, disgusting debate about women’s bodies, and my Instagram page was somehow the hub for misogynists for the afternoon.

She also says she has stopped reading Gawker and Jezebel:

I used to read Gawker and Jezebel in college and be like, ‘I can’t wait to get to New York where my people will be to welcome me.’ And it’s like, it’s literally, if I read it, it’s like going back to a husband who beat me in the face — it just doesn’t make any sense.

25 Sep, 2015

Dunham interview preview

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During a preview of an interview with Dunham, Clinton urges young women make pragmatic political choices even when they can’t get excited about candidates.

Whenever I’m talking to young women about politics, I always say, look, you don’t have to run for office, you don’t have to be actively involved, but you do have to exercise your brain in deciding what you believe and who you will support. And sometimes, it is choices between people that none of whom excite you, but study it enough to figure out, OK, if I vote for this person over that person, I’m more likely to see progress on something I care about.

Clinton also urges young women to not get turned off by negativity in today’s politics.

You kind of can cut through that and say, look, I not only have a right, I have an obligation to make a choice. That’s part of the service I pay for living in our country. So I’m going to vote for X or Y. Not because I think that person is perfect, but it’s going to be better than the alternative. If you can’t get excited, be pragmatic and do it anyway.

5 Jun, 2015

Calls Dunham ‘pedophile’

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Palin criticizes what she sees as the double standard in media treatment of the Duggar case, compared to that of Dunham.

HEY LENA, WHY NOT LAUGH OFF EVERYONE’S SEXUAL ‘EXPERIMENTS’ AS YOU HAUGHTILY ENJOY REWARDS FOR YOUR OWN PERVERSION? YOU PEDOPHILE, YOU. I’m not defending the Duggar boy’s obvious wrongdoing over a decade ago. The main victim in any story like this isn’t the perpetrator, it’s the innocent ones so harmfully affected. I’m not an apologist for any sexual predator, but I’m sickened that the media gives their chosen ones a pass for any behavior as long as they share their leftwing politics. Case in point, they suggest Lena Dunham’s sexual assault on her sibling is cute, and she’s rewarded for it with fame and fortune. Meanwhile, they crucify another, along with an entire family.

27 Mar, 2015

Dog or Jewish Boyfriend? A Quiz

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In a New Yorker article Dunham posts a 35-point quiz:

Do the following statements refer to (a) my dog or (b) my Jewish boyfriend?

1. The first thing I noticed about him was his eyes

2. We love to spend hours in bed together on Sunday mornings.

3. He’s crazy for cream cheese.

4. It hasn’t always been easy, but we currently live together and it’s going O.K.

1 Feb, 2015

Elle cover

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Dunham appears on the cover of the February 2015 issue of Elle magazine. She talks about the future of Girls and how she handles criticism.

I realized early on that I was not going to be able to have a comfortable relationship with celebrity if I didn’t feel like I was using it to talk about things that were important to me. It was always going to make me feel gross, for lack of a better word. I was like, ‘Oh, this attention is something I’m going to figure out how to use in a way that feels productive, healthy, and smart. And not just like as an excuse to collect handbags.’ Although, I love handbags.

12 Dec, 2014

Cat charm gift

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Dunham gives Swift a handpainted Irene Neuwirth charm for her birthday. Swift:

My birthday present from Lena Dunham is my new most cherished possession

http://instagram.com/p/wj0JbvDvIM/

10 Dec, 2014

To amend memoir

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Dunham will amend a section in Not That Kind Of Girl to make it clear that she is using a pseudonym when she refers to a ‘mustachioed campus Republican’ she calls Barry, who she says sexually assaulted her in college by taking off a condom without her consent during sex. Another man named Barry, from Oberlyn, feels that the description matched him too closely and began legal action. Random House:

As indicated on the copyright page of Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion.

The new editions of the book will contain a footnote in the relevant chapter noting that Barry is not the man’s real name.

Publishes commentary

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Dunham writes for Buzzfeed that she published the details of her alleged sexual assault in college in order to highlight the shame she felt and to deal with it, not to expose the perpetrator or bring him to justice. She says she didn’t report the incident to the college or to police, like many other assault victims, and says she was ashamed and confused when telling her gynecologist, as she had been drunk and high at the time it occurred.

And I was afraid. I was afraid that no one would believe me. I was afraid other potential partners would consider me damaged goods. I was afraid I was overreacting. I was afraid it was my fault. I was afraid he would be angry. Eight years later, I know just how classic these fears are. They are the reason that the majority of college women who are assaulted will never report it.

Issues an apology

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In an essay to Buzzfeed, Dunham apologizes to a man falsely identified as her attacker due to the name and description used in her book Not That Kind of Girl, which details the rape that occurred while she was in college. Dunham says ‘Barry’ is a pseudonym she used in the book to protect her attacker.

To be very clear, ‘Barry’ is a pseudonym, not the name of the man who assaulted me, and any resemblance to a person with this name is an unfortunate and surreal coincidence. I am sorry about all he has experienced.

Dec 2014

$4.8m apartment

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lena-dunham-4-mil-aptDunham buys the apartment in Brooklyn to replace her previous $500,000 apartment. Antonoff is seen moving their stuff into the new pad.

8 Dec, 2014

Apologizes for ‘confusion’

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Random House apologizes to a man who hired an attorney after feeling he was the target of Lena Dunham’s memoir Not That Kind of Girl, where Dunham claims she was raped in college by a man named ‘Barry’.

As indicated on the copyright page of ‘Not That Kind of Girl’ by Lena Dunham, some names and identifying details in the book have been changed. The name ‘Barry’ referenced in the book is a pseudonym. Random House, on our own behalf and on behalf of our author, regrets the confusion that has led attorney Aaron Minc to post on GoFundMe on behalf of his client, whose first name is Barry. We are offering to pay the fees Mr. Minc has billed his client to date. Our offer will allow Mr. Minc and his client to donate all of the crowd-funding raised to not-for-profit organizations assisting survivors of rape and sexual assault.

4 Dec, 2014

Investigates assault details

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The conservative news site investigates Dunham’s allegations that she was sexually assaulted by a ‘campus Republican’ she identifies by the name of Barry when she was a 19-year-old student at the Oberlin liberal arts college in Ohio. Dunham says the man worked at the campus library and having a flamboyant mustache, and identifies the name of the radio show she says he hosted, Real Talk With Jimbo. In total she gives around a dozen clues to his identity, including hard-to-verify traits such as being a poor loser at poker and having worn purple cowboy boots. It says she is deliberately identifying a man named Barry who attended the college at the time:

For weeks, and to no avail, using phone and email and online searches, Breitbart News was able to verify just one of these details. Like everyone else interested, we immediately found that there indeed was a prominent Republican named Barry who attended Oberlin at the time in question.

Whatever her motives, Dunham is pointing her powerful finger at this man. But as you will read in the details below, the facts do not point back at him. Not even close. This man is by all accounts (including his own) innocent.

It refers to the person as ‘Barry One’ and declines to use his real name:

Lena Dunham might have been raped at Oberlin College, but the “Barry” she describes in her memoir is a ghost. The man we call Barry One, however, the man legions have found online using details published in Not That Kind of Girl, is very real. And what’s unforgivable is that, through an incomprehensible malice or a combination of breathtaking carelessness and a number of unthinkable coincidences, in the courtroom of public opinion, Lena Dunham is pointing her powerful finger at this man and screaming “rapist.”

The investigation concludes that Dunham is not cooperating with authorities, who are taking her charges seriously, to get justice served for the person who raped her but is instead casting suspicion on somebody innocent.

4 Nov, 2014

Statement about sexual passages

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Dunham gives a statement to TIME about the passages in her book that dealt with her sexual play with her sister while they were young:

I want to be very clear that I do not condone any kind of abuse under any circumstances.

Childhood sexual abuse is a life-shattering event for so many, and I have been vocal about the rights of survivors. If the situations described in my book have been painful or triggering for people to read, I am sorry, as that was never my intention. I am also aware that the comic use of the term “sexual predator” was insensitive, and I’m sorry for that as well.

As for my sibling, Grace, she is my best friend, and anything I have written about her has been published with her approval.

3 Nov, 2014

Responds to abuse allegations

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Dunham responds to the allegations in a series of tweets:

The right wing news story that I molested my little sister isn’t just LOL—it’s really f–king upsetting and disgusting. And by the way, if you were a little kid and never looked at another little kid’s vagina, well, congrats to you. Usually this is stuff I can ignore but don’t demean sufferers, don’t twist my words, back the f–k up bros. I told a story about being a weird 7 year old. I bet you have some too, old men, that I’d rather not hear. And yes, this is a rage spiral. Sometimes I get so mad I burn right up. Also I wish my sister wasn’t laughing so hard.

29 Oct, 2014

Child sexuality passages highlighted

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An article by Thomas in Truth Revolt, notes that in her book, Dunham describes experimenting sexually with her younger sister Grace, whom she says she attempted to persuade to kiss her using “anything a sexual predator might do.” The article highlights book passages where Dunham bribes her sister to kiss her for prolonged periods using what she says “anything a sexual predator might do”, masturbates while she is in the bed beside her, and plays with her one-year-old sister’s vagina (p. 158-9):

One day, as I sat in our driveway in Long Island playing with blocks and buckets, my curiosity got the best of me. Grace was sitting up, babbling and smiling, and I leaned down between her legs and carefully spread open her vagina. She didn’t resist and when I saw what was inside I shrieked. My mother came running. “Mama, Mama! Grace has something in there!”

My mother didn’t bother asking why I had opened Grace’s vagina. This was within the spectrum of things I did. She just got on her knees and looked for herself. It quickly became apparent that Grace had stuffed six or seven pebbles in there. My mother removed them patiently while Grace cackled, thrilled that her prank had been a success.

13 Oct, 2014

Catherine, Called Birdy film adaptation

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While speaking to a crowd at the New Yorker Festival, Dunham reveals she is working on adapting Karen Cushman’s young adult novel Catherine, Called Birdy into a film. The novel, set during the Middle Ages, is a coming of age tale of a young girl growing up circa 1290.

This is actually my first time talking about it publicly. I’m very excited about it. I’m not sure when it’ll happen, but I’m in the process of (working on it). I’m going to adapt it and hopefully direct it. I just need to find someone who wants to fund a PG-13 medieval movie.

9 Oct, 2014

Law enforcement can’t act

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Law enforcement officials say they are taking Dunham’s claims seriously but they aren’t able to do anything about the allegations unless she is prepared to step forward. Lieutenant Mike McCloskey of the Oberlin Police Department:

Information published in a memoir is not enough to pursue an investigation. Unless Ms. Dunham comes forward, there can be no active case.