I am mildly interested in following this issue. I’m interested because I’ve watched Girls, I read Jezebel, and Vogue is this weird thing that I’m aware exists. As for Girls, I’m completely incapable of relating to the show so far and therefore hate it because I’m selfish. Oh wait, I did sort of relate to the OCD thing, but again, it felt contrived and inauthentic, and I wish that Hannah had actually had trichotillomania and spent a month pulling out her own eyebrows and eating her hair instead of jamming q-tips in her eardrums. But I assume that doing something as gnarly as puncturing your own eardrum had to come from a place of experience and I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt. But mostly I thought Girls was a mess of white Garbage Pail Kid caricatures filmed through an ugly Instagram filter to intentionally make the whole show feel dreary and dull. Like in the way that models hunch over in ugly poses trying to look like broken down dolls. It’s uglypretty.

In spite of hating the show, I love me some Lena Dunham. She’s smart, she’s squishy, she’s ambitious, I love it. But Lena Dunham isn’t my feminist hero. She doesn’t seem to have any interest in being a feminist hero. So then who fucking cares if she photoshops her saddlebags in Vogue? Jezebel. Jezebel super cares. I think they have this expectation that because Dunham’s got chubby cheeks, she likes being naked, and she has a hit show, that she’s obligated to lead some kind of feminism charge. And Dunham’s like, ‘isn’t it just a victory that I got my size 12 biscuits into Vogue in the first place?’ (I actually have no idea what size she is, nor do I particularly give any fucks. And I think most of the women I know give about as many fucks as I do. So combined, total fucks, we probably give about 5 fucks all together. Most of them are mine, otherwise I wouldn’t have wasted 10 minutes writing this.)

So should Jezebel apologize? Maybe, but for sure they should adjust their expectations when it comes to Lena Dunham. Feminism doesn’t seem to be her jam right now and you can’t endear somebody to your point of view by prying their eyelids open with a crowbar. Antagonistic challenging attitudes will just cause defensiveness and further entrench somebody in their beliefs. Besides, fuck converting Lena Dunham, there are so many amazing women opening ordinary eyes like mine every day. Strangers calling out privilege with genuine elegance and authority. Confident women that nobody’s ever heard of, speaking out and supporting each other in droves. Jez should turn the Eye of Sauron inward and reevaluate their mission. Other people should follow my friend @theVaginalist on Twitter or do some hashtag exploring (like #blacktwitter) if they’re interested in dipping their toes into the feminism conversation.