Last week, Lena Dunham’s memoir Not That Kind of Girl became a source of widespread controversy for the second time, when conservative blogger John Nolte claimed to have uncovered evidence that Dunham lied about being raped.
Nolte allowed for the possibility that Dunham had been sexually assaulted while she was in college, but he stated that she’d intentionally misled readers with regard to the identity of her attacker, thus ruining an innocent man’s life in the process.
In response to a lawsuit filed by the unidentified man, Dunham’s publisher agreed to alter the book so that future editions would include a disclaimer noting that the name “Barry” is a pseudonym chosen by Dunham and not the actual name of the alleged rapist.
Through it all, Dunham has remained silent, possibly at the request of her lawyers. Today, however, she wrote a lengthy and powerful essay for Buzzfeed in which she explains her position on the matter:
“Speaking out was never about exposing the man who assaulted me,” Dunham writes. “Rather, it was about exposing my shame, letting it dry out in the sun.”
“I did not wish to be contacted by him or open a criminal investigation…Reporters have attempted to uncover the identity of my attacker despite my sincerest attempts to protect this information…I have been made to feel, on multiple occasions, as though I am to blame for what happened.”
Public opinion seems to be split on this matter. On one hand, shaming or blaming victims of sexual assault is a nefarious, ugly practice that protects rapists and degrades victims of one of the most traumatic crimes a human can endure.
On the other hand, if Dunham intentionally misled readers in hopes of ruining the reputation of an innocent man, then she herself is guilty of diminishing the struggles of rape victims and making the process of convicting their attackers all the more difficult.
Dunham had previously come under fire for an excerpt from her book in which she describes a strange sexual encounter with her younger sister that occurred when the author was 7 years old.
Several websites have posted petitions urging HBO cancel Dunham’s series, Girls.
