Girls creator and star Lena Dunham is no stranger to controversy. She has been finding herself in hot water since 2015, with accusations of anti-Semitism and racism, attributed to her publishing a satirical article titled “Dog or Jewish Boyfriend?” Her problematic moments continued as she made comments relating her online hate comments to domestic abuse and claims she never had the opportunity to have an abortion, but wishes she had. Dunham often proclaims herself to be a feminist, but her actions seem to lack a connection with this identity.
Her latest controversy involves her defense of a colleague. On Nov. 17, actress Aurora Perrineau filed a police report accusing Girls writer Murray Miller of sexual assault. Representatives for Miller were quick to deny these allegations and even called Perrineau’s claims outrageous. Dunham then took to BuzzFeed News to defend her colleague along with another showrunner, Jenni Konner.
In this statement, Dunham and Konner highlight the importance of necessary accusations coming to light in Hollywood recently, as well as calling themselves feminists “who celebrate this change.” They go on to describe the Miller allegations as “taking down the wrong targets” due to “enthusiasm and zeal,” and they push their support for Miller, saying that they have worked more than half a decade with him. They conclude their statement by describing this situation to be “one of the three per cent of assault cases that are misreported every year.”
Of course this statement was met with a great deal of criticism, to which Dunham responded with another statement on Twitter: “. . . I naively believed it was important to share my perspective on my friend’s situation as it has transpired behind the scenes over the last few months, I now understand that it was absolutely the wrong time to come forward with such a statement and I am so sorry . . . Every woman who comes forward deserves to be heard, fully and completely, and our relationship to the accused should not be part of the calculation anyone makes when examining her case.”
She concludes, “Every person and every feminist should be required to hear her. Under patriarchy, ‘I believe you’ is essential.”
An apology from Dunham’s position lacks value, as she has a history of giving so many of them. When Dunham makes a headline, we can expect the story to follow the same archetype: Dunham does a terrible thing, and then Dunham apologizes for that terrible thing.
It is tiring to hear of a woman announcing her ill opinion, when she identifies and knows the ideologies of feminism so well. Not only do Dunham’s recurring actions detract from feminist ideas, this situation also reinforces the idea that an abuser could never be someone we know or love.
It’s time for everyone, including Lena Dunham, to realize that abusers are not strangers in alleyways following you home, but they can be classmates, coworkers, and even friends. Just because you have a relationship with this person, does not lessen the severity of their wrongdoings.
It is easy to believe a stranger was capable of these crimes but difficult to believe someone we know is. We must move past this notion, because survivors coming forward deserve to be believed.
