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Lena Dunham sat down with Bill Simmons for his Wednesday podcast of “The B.S. Report,” and made it clear that she felt conservatives pored over passages from her bestselling book, “Not That Kind Of Girl,” and used them to smear her. She told Simmons that a section of the book in which she talked about her childhood fascination with vaginas led to an article by a conservative blog that was posted “the day after I launched a Planned Parenthood campaign and the day before the midterm elections.”
The outspoken creator of the hit HBO series noted during her sit-down interview, “I don’t care what conservative white men think about me.” However, Dunham, who has been accused of manufacturing a story about being raped in college, added, “But I do care if anything I write is painful for survivors of sexual abuse, if anything I write is painful for other feminists. The difference between not caring sort of what your sort of enemy party thinks of you and caring about how you effect people whose values line up with yours is very vast.”
Dunham also said that from a young age she and her sister were “taught very healthy boundaries. We were taught sexual boundaries.” She also reiterated how much she regrets having made a joke in her book about behaving like a “sexual predator” around her younger sister. “It was painful to be accused of being things that I know I’m not, and to sort of have what I thought was a very natural childhood experience and curiosity vilified,” said Dunham.
Despite her disdain for what white conservative men think, Dunham did praise “right-wing websites” for what she believes is their ability to stir up controversy. “They know how to do it. They line it up and they knock it down,” said Dunham.
She also talked about the formation of her feminist views, which came from the famous Billie Jean King-Bobby Riggs “Battle Of The Sexes” tennis match. Dunham said, “A part of my feminist education was my dad showing me that match when I was a little kid.” One of her “big fears” down the road, however, she told Simmons, is “What if my daughter literally is like Phyllis Schlafly,” the anti-feminism, constitutional attorney and conservative activist. Dunham went on, “What if she literally is like against everything I stand for?”
The bestselling author, though, has no beef with men. She said during the podcast, “I really like men. I need to be around them. They make me laugh and make me happy, and I need that balance of male and female and genderqueer energy in my life. I also think that mens’ positions can really change over time, based on what they’re exposed to and what they’re open to.” Check out Dunham’s interview on “The B.S. Report” below, and tell us what you think?
