January 13, 2015

Wednesday Wonder Woman: Lena Dunham

Here at Girls Talk London we love celebrating the many wonderful talents of our fellow women but we wanted to do more of it. We wanted to showcase the women we’re proud of, have learned from, admire, take inspiration from and aspire to be. So we came up with our new series, Wednesday Wonder Woman. Every Wednesday we’ll be bringing you a woman that we love and who we think you should know about. Some you might have already heard of, some you might not. Either way, we want you to join us in celebrating them.First up, to mark the return of Girls to our screens this week, we wanted to share our admiration of Lena Dunham with you. Honest, brimming with body confidence and not afraid to call herself a feminist, here’s why we love her so much…

She’s not a one-trick pony

As well as being an actress, Lena’s also written, directed and produced and she’s got awards to prove just how good an all-rounder she is. She won Best Narrative Feature for her feature film Tiny Feature at South by Southwest, 2 Golden Globes for Best Comedy Series and for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy or Musical series and, ever a woman to not only push boundaries but to break them down altogether, in 2013 Dunham won a Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Director in a Comedy Series and was the first woman ever to do so.
She’s the perfect woman to think of when you’re not sure what you want to do and are thinking of trying several things. Who says you need to focus on one interest and put yourself in a box? Not Lena.

She’s not perfect

And she doesn’t try to be. We don’t look our best in the morning, we often embarrass ourselves, say stupid things, do stupid stuff etc etc and so does Lena (well, we imagine so). Because she’s not perfect either; she’s made mistakes, she’s taken drugs, she’s been that drunk girl in the corner at a party, she’s been diagnosed with OCD, she still takes anti-despressants and she doesn’t try and hide it. Which makes us feel that little bit better at not being perfect ourselves and makes us also realise that being ‘perfect’ is no match for talent anyway.

She’s a Boss

For those of you who don’t know: The Hit-Show Girls, was created by Lena herself-yes it was ALL her idea! However, most importantly she is a Producer on the series. This means she is essentially, The Boss, and gets involved in not just writing the script for the shows but makes decision’s on hiring cast members too! Just recently whilst on a plane with HBO (TV Channel in the US which broadcasts the show) Executives to promote Season 4, Lena along with the other producer, Jenni Konner actually successfully pitched Season 5 to the Execs who loved their ideas even before Season 4 aired! Talk about flying high! (Sorry couldn’t resist the cheese)

She hasn’t forgotten her roots

In her 2010 film Tiny Furniture, it was definitely a case of art imitating life as Lena’s Mum and sister Grace played their same familial roles on-screen. Grace was also in Lena’s first film, Creative Nonfiction. Now, with an awards cabinet bigger than most London flats, you might wonder if she’d left all that behind but we’re happy to report  that’s not the case at all; her best friend has appeared in Girls more than once.
There’s definitely a lesson to be learnt here: you’re never too cool, popular, famous or award-winning to leave behind your family and friends, no matter what industry you work in.

She spoke openly about her sexual assault

Last year Lena released her personal memoir, Not that Kind of Girl, and wrote about a sexual assault that took place when she was a student at Oberlin College. It took a huge amount of courage to write about this to the world, however, Lena has been heavily criticised because at the time she did admit that she was drunk and high on drugs. In the same book she also goes into detail about her sexual curiosity as a young girl whilst playing with her younger sister Grace. There is a large division on opinions around this, however, no matter what side you are on- what is inspiring is the way Lena does not let what people have to say bother her. When questionned about the backlash Lena stated

‘  Speaking out was never about exposing the man who assaulted me. Rather, it was about exposing my shame, letting it dry out in the sun ‘

What Lena has done is at least helped more girls around the world to speak out freely about any abuse or even sexual exploration (no matter how weird they are) without the shadow of shame.

She made being a feminist cool

There have been many before her, but for our generation she made being a feminist cool. She made it something to be proud of. She made it less about hating men and more about what it should be focused on; gender equality and an unwavering support for each other. And she did it all by speaking out, showing us that whatever we believe in, we should have the confidence to stand up and shout about it. As one of my friends put it, “she’s outspoken, creative and talented and just sums up my generation perfectly for me”. We couldn’t agree more!