WARNING: Reader discretion advised. Parents strongly cautioned.
Lena Dunham, a culturally aware celeb, delivered a much-anticipated speech to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, addressing the crowd as “a pro-choice, feminist, sexual assault survivor with a chronic reproductive illness.”
Lena Dunham: "I am a pro-choice, feminist, sexual assault survivor with a chronic reproductive illness. Trump thinks i should be punished…"
— Gabby Morrongiello (@gabriellahope_) July 27, 2016
In her bestselling memoir, Not That Kind of Girl, Dunham described being sexually assaulted by a “mustachioed campus Republican” at Oberlin College named “Barry”— details that, for embarrassing legal reasons, had to be amended.
Also graphically recounted in Dunham’s memoir, but absent from her remarks in Philadelphia, was a childhood episode in which Dunham described probing the genitalia of her younger sister when she was seven and her sister was one. Not That Kind of Girl was billed as a “work of non-fiction.”
Dunham’s shocking admission was first noted by Ben Shapiro of Truth Revolt. After reading Shapiro’s report, Dunham reportedly went into a “rage spiral” and took to Twitter in fury.
The right wing news story that I molested my little sister isn't just LOL- it's really fucking upsetting and disgusting.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 1, 2014
Dunham’s now gender non-conforming sister, Grace, also weighed in on the controversy.
As a queer person: i'm committed to people narrating their own experiences, determining for themselves what has and has not been harmful
— Grace Dunham (@simongdunham) November 3, 2014
Dunham instructed her attorneys to serve Shapiro with a cease and desist letter and threatened to sue the conservative author for “millions of dollars.” She then cancelled a number of overseas book tour appearances and issued a public apology, writing in Time Magazine: “I want to be very clear that I do not condone any kind of abuse under any circumstances.”
