Lena Dunham is scheduled to host Saturday Night Live on March 8th and the first thing that springs to mind is whether she’ll be the first person to do her opening monologue completely in the buff. Thankfully, the limitations of network TV won’t allow that. SNL’s Facebook page under this announcement was rife with bickering for predictable reasons: (1) someone makes a joke about hoping she’ll keep her clothes on and (2) in response — “SHE’S A GENIUS! YOU GUYS ARE LOSERS!” and so on and so forth. Fans of Dunham’s will often try to convince you that her nudity on the hit HBO series Girls is either intended to be humorous, intended to be a statement, or both. I, for one, think it’s narcissistic bullshit and a gimmick that Dunham no longer needs to garner attention for the show. Moreover, I think that she’s doing herself, her show, and her cast-mates a disservice by making the show unpalatable and “crutchy” (if you will) for reasons that are only vaguely altruistic.

She’s so brave — No, she isn’t. People have been using nudity to sell stuff and get attention since the beginning of time. In this case, that nudity is selling the novelty of being a nude body most people don’t care to see as opposed to a widely-accepted idea of what’s sexually desirable. The absurdity intrigues people to a degree. The “I’m chubby and I’m not hiding” point is respectable, but how many times does that point need to be made? Do we have to be distracted by Dunham in a string bikini which she wears inexplicably through an entire episode while she and her friends discussed major turmoil within the group (while the other seven people in the house are fully clothed)? Did I miss the part where she had lost her luggage? Is it cold? Were there no one-pieces available to better compliment her shape? These are the kind of questions that nagged at me all while trying to pay attention to a particularly “deep” episode where a lot of issues between the central characters were being brought up. Those folks dead set on labeling her as “so brave” will ignore the fact that this is a serious flaw in the show that keeps a “good” show from being “great”…knowing when to make a statement with your writing as opposed to burying it with sight gags, gimmicks and personal agendas that have nothing to do with the show itself.

Before anyone goes to the obvious rebuttal, I’m a straight, red-blooded American male who actually prefers women with a curvier build. No love for waifs around here. That being said, I don’t find Lena Dunham’s body desirable, which is neither here nor there in the context of the current argument…just giving some background. I think there’s definitely a benefit to making people more comfortable with seeing different body types and accepting them. It’s not the perceived quality of Dunham’s body that makes the gratuitous nudity so irritating to some people like myself, contrary to popular belief of the legions of adoring Dunhamites. What I find annoying is that this crusade Dunham is perceived to be on is selling the show short. She is a talented writer surrounded by some really talented cast members and it really is a disservice to have this same issue plague the show throughout its span. I’m a fan of great writing, but I’ve been disgusted with the main character for quite some time and have been one scene away from throwing my hands up in defeat for a while now. Luckily, Horvath has stopped contracting STDs and urinating in the bathtub long enough to land a job and adopt some semblance of an actual functioning adult. Her boyfriend was even kind enough to wear a shirt throughout most of the second and third season thus far. Granted, her being somewhat of a hot mess throughout the show was intended to be part of its charm, but there was a point where Horvath was the poster child for “overboard”. Lena Dunham herself seems much more tolerable and it’s the character herself who becomes the undesirable whelp who at times you can hardly bear to watch, but ultimately root for if only because she’s central to the show as a whole.

Even if Marnie, who generally embodies the mainstream idea of beauty, was the character who was constantly naked on the show, it would still be tiresome after a point. WE GET IT, Lena. We can refer to old episodes if we want a rehashing of the body image issue. Can we just move forward with an entertaining show without having to witness pointless nudity or Dunham being inexplicably under-clothed in every single episode? I mean, would the show cease to be the show without it? I don’t think so, but I think Dunham’s agenda will keep a show that has so many interesting characters focused solely on one character and will keep it from being recognized as good by people who, sight unseen, as “oh, that show with the chubby girl who won’t get dressed?” And that’s a damn shame.