Even though Dunham sticks her foot in her mouth with alarming frequency, a certain subset of white feminists have remained fiercely loyal to her, erasing her misbehavior as soon as it happens. In 2012, HuffPost Women preemptively declared that they would not “participate in the Lena Dunham backlash,” even praising her “thoughtful” response to criticisms of the overwhelming whiteness of Girls.
And as Dunham’s indiscretions have become more difficult to ignore, it’s become de rigueur for white feminists to acknowledge that she is a polarizing figure while still supporting her on the whole. Feministing, for example, labeled her 2013 Golden Globes win a “top feminist moment,” in a paragraph riddled with more disclaimers than a carton of cigarettes. White feminists have become remarkably effective at apologizing for Dunham; she’s certainly given them plenty of opportunities to practice.
Whether or not her experiences with her younger sister qualify as abuse, Dunham’s cavalier attitude toward her childhood anecdotes is troubling, but apparently not troubling enough to prevent the Dunham defense force from rushing to her side. On Salon, Mary Elizabeth Williams argues that Dunham’s stories about Grace are evidence of “boundary issues with her sister’s privacy,” but not much more. Emma Gannon of Debrief calls it a classic example of Dunham “oversharing,” labeling the reaction to her memoir a simple “backlash” against Dunham’s success. And those who have not yet written articles themselves are currently fighting Dunham’s battles for her on Twitter:
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