
Not That Kind of Girl
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An important female voice of our generation
wolkenbruch
14. April 2016 um 14:30Much has been said and written about the phenomenon of Lena Dunham and especially her first book, "Not That Kind of Girl", led to much controversy. Aged 29, she is a Creating Writing-graduate from Oberlin College, director of and actress in a number of movies as well as the much acclaimed TV series "Girls". "Not That Kind of Girl - A young woman tells you what she's learned" can be regarded as a collection of essays on contemporary, female issues and as Dunham's autobiography at once. Divided into five sections, Love & Sex, Body, Friendship, Work and Big Picture, Dunham shares her personal experiences and numerous anecdotes on the corresponding topics. Both among friends and in social media I heard many people complain about her "neurotic", "self-centered" way of writing or that she was "desperately demanding attention." In a way I understand that criticism. During the first chapters on "Love and Sex" I was a little annoyed, too. Not due to prudishness, but because the perpetual change of sexual encounters provided little depth from a literary perspective. Nevertheless, and escpecially in the course of the following sections, I began to appreciate the reading and, I think, learned to understand both Dunham and her way of acting in e.g. "Girls" better. Her exhibitionistic nature seems, to a great deal, a consequence of her upbringing. Furthermore, I sympathised with the worries a liberal arts college-graduate has, as well as her feminist attitude in general. Dunham, in my opinion, is an important female voice of our generation who is brave and, in an eventually positive way, painfully honest. Through her honesty and imperfection, she progressively abandons perfection-ridden postfeminist ideas.