Body Talk: Reconsidering the Post-Feminist Discourse and Critical Reception of Lena Dunham’s Girls

Abstract

This paper will address the ways in which Lena Dunham, the creator, head writer, producer, sometimes director, and star of the television series Girls, defies the glorification of traditional femininity and denounces the representations of what Angela McRobbie named the 21st century “postfeminist masquerade.” She also defies the televisual male gaze, as first posited in film theory by Laura Mulvey, by establishing a new form of authorship in TV. Flawlessly sculpted, sexualized female bodies from every era have long populated the landscape of HBO, the premium cable channel that airs Girls. Contrasting many depictions of twenty something women on television, Dunham chooses to bare the imperfections of her body in her performance. Shots of her naked figure often highlight her hardly flat stomach, double chin, and knickers not purchased from any lingerie shop. Although her character is not sexualized in the typical sense, her weight does not render her asexual or deter her from being both desired and desirable. And lastly, although the series frequently relies on romantic relationships, it is essentially about the friendships and bonds between the four Girls, and the ritual of undressing is not sexualized, but shows the intimacy of the characters.