The Dunham Controversy Compendium

Last year Lena Dunham made a statement to discredit actress Aurora Perrineau’s rape allegation against ‘Girls’ writer Mauray Miller, citing that she had “insider information” that rendered the claim completely false. Many people at the time were frustrated with Dunham for making a statement about Aurora’s story after she publicly endorsed the Me Too movement with an article for Marie Claire, however very few people were surprised that she'd contradict herself. Last week she took the stage with Aurora Perrineau’s mother at The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Awards to admit that she lied to defend Miller, feminists are now beginning to wonder if Lena will ever see consequences for her treatment of others.

Over the years, Dunham has perfected the art of the preformative non-apology. After making her name as the hipster golden-child of HBO with her show ‘Girls’, set in a fictional Brooklyn in which the residents are overwhelmingly rich and white, she has developed a penchant for saying the wrong thing at the worst time. It seems as if every time she publishes a piece she has to atone for it days later, most likely in the form of a humble Instagram post. You may remember when she joked about wanting to have an abortion in the pro-choice episode of her podcast or when she said Odell Beckham Jr (who she has never spoken to) didn’t see her as a woman because she is plus sized. The running motif in each mea culpa is her naive ignorance, each insult is traced back to her own struggles - her self esteem, her mental health, her battle with internalised misogyny - in such a way that she becomes a victim alongside the people that she has hurt. Her first apology regarding the Miller allegation was not directed to Perrineau at all, Dunham only sought forgiveness from the wider public with her only regret being that she “naively believed it was important to share [her] perspective.” Though her latest statement at the awards evening acknowledged a "terrible mistake" had been made, Dunham doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that she lied and deflected the blame onto "the dominant male agenda that asks us to defend it no matter what." This lack of accountability is why she has become known as the archetypal White Feminist, someone who claims to support the women’s movement but refuses to unlearn oppressive behaviours.

Perhaps these apologies would seem more legitimate if she has not had to make so many of them - each announcement of her guilt reminds us that she still doesn’t know how to respect others - and maybe they would not make us so angry if Dunham did not assume the position of an expert. 'Girls' received continuous critical acclaim for its realism, despite the fact that it featured more dogs in New York than black people, and her 2014 memoir ‘Not That Kind Of Girl’ was on the New York Times bestseller list. Although Dunham likes to poke fun at the idea of a singular “voice of a generation” she clearly preaching to a very large audience which is why her blunders irritate us so. Not only do black feminists like Roxanne Gay and Chiamanda Ngozi Adiche not receive the same amount of exposure and acclaim, they are not afforded the same amount of second changes as Dunham. Its hard to imagine any other celebrity admitting to lying to defend a rapist during a women's awards show, never mind the transcript of the speech being published by The Hollywood Reporter in the culture section. In an era of pop culture in which celebrities can be 'canceled' out of relevancy, Lena clings onto the limelight regardless because of her enduring appeal to fellow white, straight, cisgendered and upper middle class women. Though many writers have covered the discrepancies in her apologies, in all likelihood she will continue to benefit from her persona of an educated feminist all the while representing the rift between privileged women and the rest of the movement. We can only hope that in light of this latest controversy she is given less space to do it in.