LENA DUNHAM'S APOLOGY AND THE FAN CULTURE OF DISGUISING MISOGYNY AS OPINION AS AN EXCUSE TO SLUT-SHAME FEMALE CELEBRITIES!

Okay, we need to talk about this, 'cause this-, this shit has gotten out of hand. So, apparently Lena Dunham did something offensive recently and it's caused a few stirs and it's gotten out of hand, so let me back up here, So Dunham has this newsletter called "Lenny Letter" where twice a week, you subscribe via e-mail and get informed of a new, usually an interview, post on her site. (I should really set something up like that here.) So, one of her recent interviews was with Amy Schumer. I subscribe, I have the interview right here:

http://www.lennyletter.com/culture/interviews/a527/the-lenny-interview-amy-schumer/

So, and they're talking about Schumer's new book, and a few other things, and they're talking about being at the Met Ball, and I don't want to misquote, so this is what Ms. Dunham said that got her in trouble.

"I was sitting next to Odell Beckham Jr., and it was so amazing because it was like he looked at me and he determined I was not the shape of a woman by his standards. He was like, "That's a marshmallow. That's a child. That's a dog." It wasn't mean -- he just seemed confused. 

The vibe was very much like, "Do I want to fuck it? Is it wearing a... yep, it's wearing a tuxedo. I'm going to go back to my cell phone." It was like we were forced to be together, and he literally was scrolling Instagram rather than have to look at a woman in a bow tie. I was like, "This should be called the Metropolitan Museum of Getting Rejected by Athletes." 

They then, move on to talking about how the media takes everything they say out of context, and no, I'm not being ironic, that's literally the next subject they talk about. Anyway, she, a week later, took to Instagram and posted an apology to Beckham, you can find that link here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BJ50WGnAZDk/?hl=en

I know, I've given a lot of praise to Lena Dunham over the years, and all of it deserved, but I'm fair and I don't want to simply go over somebody's actions just because I happen to laid a bunch of praise, I'm not a fan; I'm an analyst, and Lena Dunham, it pains me to say it, did something that she really, really shouldn't have. So, bad Lena Dunham. She shouldn't have done that.

In case you're unsure, I'm talking about the apology, Dunham shouldn't have done that, because there was not a god damn thing she should've apologized for! Yeah, I'm backdooring into this, but I am getting sick of this shit, especially with Lena Dunham, who seems to keeping the brunt of the criticisms, for, nothing. Literally, nothing. Every six months or so, it seems, I hear, about her and a few other talented, but groundbreaking and supposedly controversial comediennes, and I'm getting sick of the just few some, just-, ugh.

Okay, I really did not want to be the one that wrote the article where I'm "defending" somebody, but I gotta tell you, I'm just nauseated at some of the crap I here, directed at Lena Dunham, or Amy Schumer, or Sarah Silverman, or whoever it is, and it's usually a talented female comic or comedienne, who, I don't know, talks about penises instead of mothers-in-law, and it's such misogyny, and you know, if you actually want to blast someone who's actually a despicable person, I'm not against that, in theory. I've gone after people before, mostly fans, but a few specific people in the industry. I've attacked Rex Reed for being a shitty film critic, in my early days, I was incredibly critical of Netflix President Reed Hastings, and a critic, I've gone out of my to condemn as bash a few artists myself. Joss Whedon, I've panned, Shane Carruth I've panned viciously. Peter Jackson, Wong Kar-Wai more than once, and plenty of others. However, I don't go after them, personally, or I try not to. If you've followed my personal Facebook page lately, you'll notice that I've gone after a certain Republican Presidential candidate viciously for some of his personal and professional actions, but they're for things that he actually did, that either he or somebody else credible confirms they did. And as to the filmmakers and other industry professionals, I criticize them, as what they are. Actors, actresses, businessman, critics, comics/comedienne, writers, producers, etc. I'm criticizing their actual work that they want to be known for and put out on the market. And that can be mean and vicious, but that's the trade, you're allowed to put your work out there, I'm allowed to criticize it. That doesn't mean, I'm not gonna think about them and some of the horrible things some of these people have actually done in their past or present, or might have done in some cases, not those names above in particular, but some people who I criticize, both positively and negatively, in this industry have done some truly despicable stuff. Some of them you might be aware, others you might not be, 'cause there's some that's mostly known within the industry but not necessarily outside of it. And even some stuff that's troubled or not despicable but not necessarily the best thing to do, that's apart of them, and you criticize accordingly, especially if they're a primary artist of the work in question and they're either specifically or indirectly bringing up a cataclysmic moment in their personal life up, either subliminally or literally, within their work.

That's the thing though, Dunham and many others have been getting that kind of personal attacks, at every chance they get and she hasn't done any of those damn things. At least none that I'm aware of.

Oh, you think I'm not aware of the criticism lashed against her, I'm just being naive, you say? Now, I have never met her, and I doubt that I ever will, and maybe I'll hear something from a source who's legitimate who will tell me some story out-of-school otherwise that will make my change my mind about her. That's possible, I'm not claiming she's an angel; I'm claiming that the shits she's actually accused of being are so out-of-context and so overblown, especially by a particularly misogynistic group of fans, particularly ones who seem to have a negative response to female-based comedy in general...  are full of shit liars and she doesn't deserve it. (Oh, and one last aside here, don't be mislead by the fact that I can list an all-star team of the greatest female comics of all-time who are in their prime or are about to be at this moment, sexism and sexual harassment is alive and well in comedy. Anybody catch this Buzzfeed article?:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/katiejmbaker/standing-up-to-sexual-harassment-and-assault-in-las-comedy-s?utm_term=.rmPXnAqoxM#.ks5z8kDdJQ

You should read it, it's not as uncommon as you think on the sketch comedy circuits. So yeah, this shit exists and I'm not gonna pretend it doesn't.)

But anyway, so, Dunham, let's focus on her and her "actions'? or maybe "misbehaviors"? "misgivings"? the criticisms and controversies that have been laid against her and have caused, outrage and contempt from the Press, and specifically from the fans. Especially since she seems to be the one most divisive target of all the leading females of comedy right now, and since she's the one with the latest controversy. Let's start with that one, shall we...

What the hell did she actually do here, that's causing such ire? (Shrugs) She talked about her interaction with another fellow celebrity, from her perspective, in a comedic matter. Did I miss anything? Oh, he was Black, fine that had nothing to do with anything. I showed you the article, I quoted the controversial part. Reportedly, there was one other section about how she was talking about dancing and trying to hook up with, who's name is escaping so I'm having difficult looking up that edited quote, Maybe if I type in "Lena Dunham Racist" into Google. Oh, there's that other thing that brought me to writing this today, the six-year-old supposedly racist tweet, we'll get to that, but, ah, here it is, she talked about trying to dance with Michael B. Jordan at the Ball also, seemingly making fun of herself in the process. She's telling a story about trying to get laid. (Mocking voice)  "Oh my God, a white girl tried to fuck a Black guy and failed!" Is that the outrage?

(Sigh) No, the outrage is that, "She made totally narcissistic assumptions about Beckham's thoughts and presented them as facts." Her words. Um, yeah, that's why the joke was funny! Isn't that how comedy works most of the time, sometimes tells their side of the story, and presents it in a comedic way? In this case, discussing, with a fellow friend, who was at the event with her, about the shared experience they had. There's no mention of race, at all. I didn't see any, yes Odell Beckham is African-American, that enhances the story because we know who he is, (For those who don't, he's the very talented wide receiver for the New York Giants) and she made a joke about the Met being to her, the "Metropolitan Museum of Getting Rejected by Athletes". Yeah, from her perspective that's what happened, what's the concern? Where's the controversy?  She said things she claimed he thought,- Ah no, she didn't, she's very clearly said what she, from her perspective, suspects is going through someone else's mind, at that moment; she's not putting words in his mouth and never claimed to be,  Yeah, there's a few bullshit "thinkpieces" here, about her assumption being apart of systematic whatever that's led to deaths of 'causing the deaths of "many extrajudicial of innocent black men and boys", which- um... No, it hasn't. Look, I know there's history, but, no, it hasn't. That's from an op-ed by Kristen Root Savali of TheRoot.com that's so preposterous, I'm not even gonna post a link to it, where she's connecting Lena Dunham's actions and statements to Emmitt Louis Till and William Harper and George Stinney, Jr. and the Central Park Five, and. ugh. Okay, no! I'm sorry, there's no racism undertone in any of these actions or statements. If anything, there's an anti-racist undertone, 'cause obviously was so oblivious to her that it could be perceived that talking about a failed interactions with Black men she was trying to get with, would bring up so much history of actual racism, and she's right; it shouldn't have. All the actual fucking racism in this country that still exists constantly, and this what somebody's getting mad at? Eh, no. We're not going through the history books and blaming everything on Lena Dunham failing to get laid at a Met Ball!

Or what she "represents", being a rich, white, privileged, whatever-the-fuck... and that's another layer to this, I keep hearing this criticism about how she, perverts feminism or whatever by claiming to be some kind of voice for the millennials or whatever (She has never done that, btw), and most of the criticisms I hear is that she's some product of some spoiled, upper class society and some this is a justification for trashing her, because this viewpoint is somehow false, or wrong or whatever. It probably has a lot more to do with the fact that she often writes about people who act like that, but-um, no, that's not an inherent flaw or reason to discredit her. And fine, you don't think she's funny or like her writing, fine, but you don't like what she's writing about, or don't like who she portrays? What do you want her to write about, living the WWII Warsaw ghetto, what the fuck is with this argument?! I don't know what the hell people have against her upbringing, but I have no idea what the hell they're talking about with that, and even if I did, I'm not gonna bash somebody for how they were brought up, A. cause that can't change, and B. In their work, I'm not gonna bash them for portraying that perspective, 'cause what the hell else should they do? It's the Fellini rule, I call it, you don't criticism Fellini for making movies that are too Felliniesque. Dunham is Dunham, she's not X or Y, you want X or Y, go watch their shows.

This is same crap I feel like people smash on things like "Rent" when they say it portrayals characters they don't like? Uh, yeah, but they were based slightly on real people, and even if they weren't is there anything about that show, outside of the obvious, singing and dancing randomly 'cause it's a musical, that's portrays characters unrealistically? Like, "That could never happen" or "These characters could not exist?" Not liking her characters (Which btw, by every account, Dunham seems nothing like who she portrays) and not liking her, are two different things; there's no point in combining them, they're not the same thing. That's like saying, Steven Zaillian wrote Amon Goeth in "Schindler's List", therefore, he must be a Nazi! (Sigh) So, no, that argument, is-, it's just classism, I guess. No, you have to actually come up with a legitimate reason to hate people or persons in a demographic, not blindly hate just to blindly hate. I'm calling bullshit on that.  You have to show what that person actually done and thought and/or said these things and that they're with clear intent that she's somehow racist or otherwise illegitimate, and again, I'm going through, all the criticisms and complaints, right now, so let's see if we find them elsewhere, 'cause this isn't it. There's nothing inherently, hateful or wrong here...-

Oh, wait there's one thing, "She's talking about a celebrity encounter" and only telling his side of the story. I dismiss it, but some objected, they've never seen a woman, actually discuss a celebrity encounter with the public that was one-sided and shockingly misrepresentative of the person she's talking about before...- annnnnnnnnnnnnnd, you pick the Kathy Griffin clip I should show here. No, you pick it! I can literally think of about thirty off the top of my head! You're really saying, this is problematic, a basic tenant of comedy, that we tell the singular perspective of an event? Eh, no, it's not. Where's her Jerry Seinfeld routine.... I should probably post this Ebony article while I'm searching Youtube, it was actually somewhat intriguing...

http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/lena-dunham-odell-beckham#axzz4JpbKWOxP



And in case some of you are wondering, Odell Beckham finally did respond to this, "controversy", and he didn't say much, 'cause what the hell would he say. "She doesn't know whether or not I was attractive to her, I was trying to bang her all night?" Yeah, that's not what he said. He seems like a nice guy, very calmly, he said, he didn't know enough about the situation. I suspect that he was just embarrassed at his behavior seen through someone else's light, which is understandable, but yeah, I don't expect him to go out with her anytime soon. He didn't say much, 'cause there's not for him to say, what he said makes sense, and I think he probably had other more pressing things on his mind, so... (Shrugs) yeah, here's his response.

http://thefederalist.com/2016/09/08/odell-beckham-doesnt-care-about-lena-dunham-in-the-nicest-way-possible/

He has nothing to say, 'cause there's nothing there that happened, overblowing something that really shouldn't have been overblown. Let's move on to the six-year-old tweet, 'cause I feel like going backwards through time.

Okay, the "Tweets" that have come up, where did this controversy...-? Oh, PerezHilton.com, of course.

http://perezhilton.com/2016-09-06-lena-dunham-racist-tweets-controversy/?from=post

Yeah, I'm never exactly been a fan of Perez Hilton, seems like a nice enough guy, sorta, I don't like a lot of his tactics, some I don't mind, but yeah, he's basically a low-rent Hedda Hopper and to this day, it somewhat baffles me that he's actually got such a following, even within the tabloid journalism world. Okay, to be fair, he's just the first article to come up when I searched the tweets on Google, he's just posting the responses and about the backlash over them, as he's supposed to do. That's his job. The people who looked up her twitter to find supposedly racist remarks, probably should've had better stuff to do.

But, anyway, the two tweets from God knows when, that only I found out 'cause somebody who's name I won't say. posted one of them in a FB group, mostly so everybody else could you it as an excuse to slut-shame her. (And yeah, that's what a lot of this is, btw, fans slut-shaming people they don't like, but they know are more talented than they'll ever be.) So, what did they say? To quote her exactly:

"Just found my "creativity journal" from 2005. It begins: "I dreamed I was a prostitute and that I molested a little African-American rodent"

I studied this tweet that everybody was using as justification for bashing her as a person, wondering what the hell the problem was for a good twenty minutes or so. This was a Tweet, from six years ago, about a journal entry, she wrote five years before that, so, eleven years, when she was 19; which takes place, in a "dream". (Frustrated breath pause) that's in a "Creativity Journal". We're really shocked and appalled at this? Okay, she dreamed about being a hooker, who molested an African-American rat? Yeah, some may think I'm being blind here, by not seeing how she's supposedly calling African-Americans, "rodents". I read the tweet and thought it was an actual, rodent, probably a rat. What, rats can't be African-American? I don't see why not, there's plenty of examples over the years of species from one place in the world forever altering the ecosystem of some other world locale by being introduced, rats included. Take a mouse from Africa, mouse from America, lock them together... (Okay, maybe not lock them together, maybe, they were out on the town, maybe they go on a blind date, what's it matter, it's rats in a dream!!!) and sooner or later, a bunch of African-American rats. Besides that, it's a dream, who cares! What if I said I dreamed of a black person in a dream, would that be offensive? No. "Oh, but she molested him?" A. It's a dream, and B. you should see the things I've done to Halle Berry in my dreams, you'd be a lot more upset at me, and certainly she would be. And if it's not a black person, which I contend it isn't, then it's a tweet about bestiality. A dream, that a character in a creativity journal she wrote had, eleven years ago, about being a hooker that has performed bestiality with a rat. Or a rodent, maybe it's a gopher, who knows? As far as creative people using bestiality as a story device, she's the not the first or last, and if it's good enough for Edward Albee, I don't see why it's a problem for Lena Dunham. So, yeah, this is bullshit, and there's nothing about this tweet that's remotely offensive or proves that's she doing anything other than, doing what a writer does, being a creative artist. I heard one argument by someone who said that "People don't say such things or discuss such thoughts in public and she shouldn't?" Eh, who says? You, fuck you. You can talk about whatever the hell you want, it's how you talk about it, and creative people talk about any and everything they damn well want to. Yeah, she's not living up to your standards, yeah that's stupid. I'm a creative person, I can tell you right now, I discuss and talk about other ideas and random thoughts I have with a lot of people, many of them fellow creative types, they tell me when they think something's a good idea or a bad idea, or whatever else it may be. It's not unusual. So she uses Twitter for it, so, I use Facebook and Twitter. And I'm being ignorant for defending her? What the fuck!

Okay, next tweet, what was this fake problem of controversy? Quoting exactly, again:

"An uncool thought to have: "is that guy walking in the dark behind me a rapist? Never mind, he's Asian." 

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! What, it's funny. She's commenting on the stereotypes that perpetuate our media and ergo our minds, and then satirizing it, by playing off the "fear of the black man" stereotype, by circumventing our expectations and undercutting our ingrained cliched of stereotypes. The fact that we're suddenly calmed by the realization that the person in the dark walking behind a woman, is Asian, is funny, 'cause it wouldn't occur to the laymen, that an Asian person walking is inherently scary. Of course, it's not necessarily scary that a Black person walking behind us is scary, but it's a common conceit, one that many white and Caucasian people worry about. I've even had that fear. I see a few African-American kids walking across from me, and I'm trying to get across the street the other way, so do I cross towards them, or away from them at the intersection. I'm afraid of seeming racist sometimes if I don't cross their path one way, but it's easier and more convenient if I go the other way, since, that's what light's green for me to walk. Yeah, I'll admit this, it's a fear that many Americans have of seeming racist when they're not, it comes up. I've also been scared to death of some white people following me on the street, and there are times where, I'm not thinking about it at all, and I cross the street, not caring, but it happens, and there's nothing inherently wrong with talking about race and the experiences we have with it. Mine experience as much different than most, but I'm not pretending I know more than others, I'm just expressing my thoughts and experiences. Which she is doing. And by the way, she did write that this was, "An uncool thought," so, she's not promoting it, she's simply acknowledging she has it. I'm not condoning or antagonizing someone for admitting their flaws. So, yeah, the argument against this tweet, is also, total bullshit.

(Sigh) What else?

Purportedly she gets criticized constantly for not having more minorities represented on her show, which is, a criticism, and an inaccurate one at that by the way, but (Sigh) look, I don't get two things about this argument, and the first one is that, most of television is severely lacking in minority characters and representative, so why are people constantly picking on her? That makes no sense, and second of all, so what? She's got the right to create her characters and have them be portrayed in any way possible. "Girls" is about characters who are, like her and her world, and that often includes people who may be surrounded by numerous cultural influences outside of their own, and that also includes those who take little or no influence from them. It happens. That's not inherently racist, it's just, well, anthropology; we like to separate ourselves into groups and those groups can be characterized as "People Like Us" and "People Not Like Us". She surrounds herself with characters she surrounds herself with, and many of them happen to be from similar background and have similar or at least have relate-able experiences to ones own. I can think about a hundred shows, comedy and dramas that have the same criticism. There's obvious ones like "Friends" and "Sex and the City" or "Frasier", but how about something like "Good Times"; how come you rarely heard complaints from that show about their never be rich upper-class white characters interacting with J.J.? This is maybe an interesting criticism of her work and the show, but it's not really an inherent negative towards her work, and a lack of minorities doesn't equal racist, or anything of that nature. Of course, the people who make this argument probably also believe the tweets that I brought up before, are also racist, even though I thoroughly proved they weren't just now. (Sigh)

Okay, what's next, oh shit about her book that got taken out of context. That's also an attack on how "privileged" she is, supposedly. You know, that has bothered me too; every time I hear these attacks on "Millennials" as a whole, she's somehow become a poster child, for whatever the hell problems people find with "This generation".I have no idea what a millennial is, I presume I'm apart of that class, but, I was born in '85, so maybe I'm too late or too early or whatever; I never fit in to whatever group or class I was supposedly in anyway, but yeah, I've starting to lose my tolerance over that kind of argument too. "Your whole generation thinks everything should just be handed to you?" Okay, first of all, no, don't speak for an entire group of people, who just happen to be born around the same time, 'cause I can say for a fact that's not true of all of any age range. Secondly, Dunham's not apart of that, 'cause clearly she works her ass off or else she wouldn't be this successful and you wouldn't know who she is, or why people like me and many others have written pieces about her like so. (Yeah, I don't care where you supposedly begin, or how much it's supposedly easier to be successful enough to get a cable television show today, if you don't actually do the work in this industry, it don't fucking come.) Thirdly, yeah, things should be handed to us. No, I'm not being obnoxious, we should've had a bunch of shit by now; it appalls us that we're fighting for things like universal healthcare and gay marriage among other things, and frankly seeing a do-nothing Congress just saying no to everything the side that wants to get stuff done, makes us think that you guys are calling the kettle black so, (Blows raspberries) yeah, that tired argument that goes from one generation hating the next generation to the other, it's just as stupid and incorrect as it ever was, 'cause we'd argue you guys we're supposed to promise to do the work and did nothing so..... (Hands with fingers going up and down, representing a guy blabbering but not saying much)

Anyway, her book, "Not That Kind of Girl"; I read it. It was good, I highly recommend it. There's two things that keep getting brought up with that book; only one of which is actually, somewhat a legitimate complaint about her, but we'll start with the stupid one. The claim that she is a child molester; which she's not. In the book, she talks about her sister Grace and bribing her with kisses and purportedly molesting her, when she was seven and her sister was one. Okay, I'm not gonna trivialize actual sexual abuse, but yeah, an unknowing curious seven year old playing and exploring her sister's private parts, it's not great, but this is all about intent. She's seven, and I know quite a few people that young who did some weird stupid shit as they shared in the exploration of their bodies, and yeah, according to some literature there are reports of children as young as four or five who have engaged in sexual molestation behavior; at that age, I would suspect that most of that behavior was probably learned behavior from an adult, or something like this, just weird expressions of curiousness from a quirky and unusual kid. Or as Dan Savage put it in one of his tweets, "My little sister and I took baths together until we were five and six; pretty sure we examined each other's junk closely." Thank you, Dan Savage; if you don't know who he is, look him up; great podcast and his "Savage Love" columns are awesome. And, yeah, that's what this is, little kids, not really knowing what's appropriate behavior or not, finding out the way a lot of kids do, by doing something they don't realize is wrong. If she was doing this today with a one-year-old, or if she was having a relationship with a fifteen-year-old or something like that now, then this would concern me and I'd be all over beating the hell out of her every chance I get, but that's not what this is, and trying to make more out of it than it actually is, yeah, that's really, truly obnoxious and overly presumptive. It reminds me of that time, I got into trouble when I was about Dunham's age, because a neighbor kid convinced me to write things with a felt-tip marker around the neighborhood. I didn't know I was graffiting everything; I didn't even know what the hell the term was; hell, he's the one that drew a bunch of pictures, all I could think to do was write my name. I didn't understand what he was convincing me to do and I sure as hell didn't realize people would be upset and I'd have to go around all night, cleaning everything up. It was terrible, but if you don't know, you end doing stuff like that as a kid, and everybody has those moments that in hindsight can be frightening. The context and intent matters, and this is not a context where this behavior means that one person was molesting another. I know that's not always the en vogue thing to think regarding such behaviors, most of the time, if someone accused someone of sexual assault in some way, and se accuser makes some claim that that wasn't his/her intent, I usually don't necessarily believe them either, and whether or not it was, the fact that there's an accusation, clearly means, assuming the accuser isn't just flat-out lying, that something happened that made one of the people involved uncomfortable enough to make such an accusation. That said, her sister, who is the supposedly the victim of this, thinks all of these complaints are insane, as well, which she's said numerous times. Yeah, she was one at the time, but yeah, if I was a sister and found that out and clearly didn't know such things happened or didn't remember at the time, I would cause some shit, but that's not the case. So, yeah, I don't buy the argument here either that people are going after Lena because they're protecting her sister's rights as an abuse victim.

The other account from her book that I actually do think is somewhat suspicious, ironically is Lena Dunham's account of her own rape at Oberlin College, which she describes in her "memoirs". I quote memoirs, there's this one strange thought going around that somehow because she altered names and certain aspects of her memoirs that, therefore, she's lying and is wrong. Well, memoirs or autobiographies of any kind are always subjective and many times they're completely inaccurate. Charlie Chaplin's is a good example, you want to learn about him, don't read his autobiography. Anyway, memoirs are completely subjective anyway, there's one person's account, their viewpoint, and that's the only one you get, and it's not usual for people to retell and re-twist stories to make them look better, like the time I won that Nobel Prize for Literature, on the same day I scored the game winning touchdown for the Eagles in the Super Bowl, yeah, that's not exactly how that happened, but I'm not gonna tell it differently, it's better storytelling. So, anyway, she talks about this, sexual encounter that's ambivalent in terms of whether or not it's consensual or not. It's clear something happened that she wasn't okay with, and...- (Sigh) she describe the person in some detail, but then called the person "Barry". Well, apparently some people looked into the allegation, and they found somebody named Barry who matched the profile, and that person sued for defamation. Well, you see, the name was a pseudonym, 'cause that's what happens in things like that, you change the names, specifically so you don't get sued in cases like this. I'm not gonna reveal the actual guy's name although I've been able to find it myself, and that person's been outed, but yeah, this is a little sketchy. I'm chalking it up to an unfortunate coincidence more than anything, although it's a little weird, Oberlin isn't exactly a large college so, it's a definitely a blame on her part that she picked a name that, one could argue that she used intending to screw over this guy. I wouldn't go that far, just because someone's known on campus doesn't mean he's known to her and blaming somebody for using an accidental pseudonym that matches somebody, it's kinda tough. That's why there's those warning at the end of movies and tv shows about how events that might depict reality are entirely coincidental and unintentional, 'cause some things might be similar to someone else's experience, but it's also just possible that people have parallel thinking, it might not be exactly what somebody else is thinking or how they thought, but... yeah, this is the one thing that's unfortunate that I can kinda see criticism, but really, the worst thing she did is accidentally pick the wrong pseudonym. Yeah, I wouldn't get on her too much for that. I had this teacher that always talked about giving her kids strange names, because she didn't want to see any of her former students in her kids' faces. I understand that, but usually you find names from people you know have met or heard before from somewhere, so when you're writing something and you're making up a name, you come up usually with a somewhat common name, especially if it's a pseudonym, 'cause you don't want a name to be so unusual that almost everyone would presume it has to be a person's real name, and she picked one that ironically matched the description of someone else. It's weird, but I can't say I must bash her for though.

Alright, so, so far, four reasons people hate her, and 3 3/4 of them are total bullshit. What else have people come up with?

(Types "Hating Lena Dunham" into Google)

Redstate.com, it's always these damn conservative sites too, they found eleven reasons. Let's see, she didn't pay entertainers who were at a book signing of hers, where she made $300,000 fr charging, and is therefore a hypocrite, because she criticized a Senatorial candidate who was against the minimum wage? Okay, they were eventually paid, and yeah that was a goof by her and Random House, but still, no, not the worst thing I ever heard happen to performers and lack of payment.

In 2015, she said she was going to dress up as a Planned Parenthood doctor for Halloween. Why is that a reason to hate her, that's a great costume idea, what the hell? Morons.

She's only 28 and wrote an autobiography. That's not a reason to hate someone. She offered money to write a book, she wrote a book? What the-,

They don't like Twitter, and she stopped being on it for awhile. Well, yeah, she puts out these great tweets and she keeps getting insulted for every little thing she says, I'd get off too if that kept happening. That's a reason to hate the asshole who tweet the ugly horrendous thing they say about her, not her! You should check the Twitters of some of the people who do go after her, those are the ones that are scary.

Oh, her "Dog vs. Jewish Boyfriend," that's a problem! That was funny you dumbass! Jesus Christ,-, okay, Gene Wilder just passed away, does anybody think him and Mel Brooks were total racists after "Blazing Saddles". Talking about race, in comedy isn't inherently racist. It's a joke, it was funny, here's a link to it:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/30/dog-or-jewish-boyfriend-a-quiz

Saying "Jewish Boyfriend" is funnier than just saying "boyfriend," it just is, anybody who's ever been in a comedy writers room would get that.

Her constant nudity in public and in her show. (Sigh) Okay, now they're really just bashing somebody specifically because they're "Not like me". So she portrays herself naked and is fine doing that. Why is that a reason to hate her? Cause she's not a typical model, what is this argument?

Brought up that one. #3 on this moron's list, I'm not even gonna mention 'cause of how stupid it is. And I'm not posting a link to it either, you can search for it.

Brought up number 2. Oh, and his number one reason is that she's a pro-Obama Democrat. Yeah, that's a reason to hate somebody, they're political association, thanks Redstate.com, there's a reason your party's the minority that's lost five of the last six popular votes in Presidential elections.

A few more funny tweets that people somehow found offensive, for no reason. Ugh.

Let's see, what else. A bunch of stuff about her using her fame to be a "Feminist icon", and criticism about that, I don't know, It seems like all any of these people do is critique her behaviors, and frankly, her show probably critiques them better than any of these morons would. She's not perfect, and she's not the voice of our generation, she's never claimed that she is. (Sigh)

Yeah, the more I look into Lena Dunham, or any of similar performers who get this much ire and vitriol hatred from fans, all of them women, I find myself thinking that she's not the one at fault and deserves none of this bullshit, and she doesn't. Neither does Amy Schumer, neither does Margaret Cho or Sarah Silverman or Taylor Swift or hell, even Hillary Clinton. This is basically, rampant sexism disguised as opinion. And frankly, I'm not interested anymore in tolerated it from these, "fans", who are just out to humiliate others because of whatever their own insecurities are. They find a lightning rod, and therefore they find every reason to make themselves feel better. I've yet to see a legitimate excuse to hate any of them, and those who do, can go ahead, and keep trying to convince me. I'm open, but you gotta actually have a reason, other than, "You don't like her personally." Believe me, the actual horrible people in the industry, eventually I can find legitimate sources about them and their actions and honestly find real reasons to despise them, even the really talented ones. But I am so sick and tired of seeing people just talk about how trashy or sick or gross or how horrible Dunham and some of these other contemporaries are, when there's absolutely no justification for it. It's misogyny, it's slut-shaming, it's belittling those who didn't grow up as you did, there's so much wrong with this behavior, that it's really some of the most disgusting group fan behavior I've ever seen, and it goes all across the entertainment spectrum. She's not alone, I'm just focusing on her, 'cause she's clearly the biggest lightning rod, and frankly it's insulting to me that I have to write a piece like this, where I actually have to explained how unjustified other people's behaviors towards them are.

And I'm sorry, she's the one who's too elitist to live, and be this successful at this young an age and look like she does and portray herself and her characters the way she does, through her own perspective, so let's find every way to superficially cause her pain and feel superior by insulting her every chance we get? (Sigh)

Yeah, and people wonder why I'm not a fan. Yeah, fuck all of you who do this, and seek out new reasons to diminish and hate.

And Ms. Dunham, if you ever happen to read this, strongly consider not apologizing the next time somebody accuses you making some horrific gaffe that's really just overblown and out-of-context by people who have nothing better to do then be out to get you. If they don't understand or see the place where you come from, that's their problem, not yours and you don't have to justify yourself to these trolls as long as you know who you are, and as far as I can tell you know yourself better than probably 99% of everybody I've ever known. Just consider it, seriously, not saying it's something you must do, but the more I see where they come from, the less their actually worth trying to appease especially since they're just gonna find a reason to attack anyway, no matter what it seems like you do.

(Deep breath)

Anyway, if you think I'm alone in this crusade, I'm not; while I found a bunch of blurbs about how horrible Dunham was, there was just as many who like me, were completely baffled by all this hate and criticism, my favorite was this one by Kristen Field for "F is for Feminism".

http://fisforfeminism.com.au/why-do-so-many-people-hate-lena-dunham/

and there's plenty of others repeating what I'm saying here, in a much more eloquent manner than I ever would, (Or feel like writing today anyway) but yeah, this condemnation of spewing ugliness and hatred towards young successful female celebrities, that have absolutely nothing to do with the quality of their work and from people who lack the nuance to understand what they're actually doing, I'm not tolerating it anymore.