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Page 3 Profile: Lena Dunham, actress, writer and producer

 

Monday 20 January 2014 01:00 GMT
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Lena Dunham, actress, writer and producer
Lena Dunham, actress, writer and producer (Getty)

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Ah, the voice of a generation.

Since it first aired in 2012, Girls, the comedy-drama about the lives of a group of 20-somethings, created by and starring Lena Dunham, has attracted media attention like nobody’s business. Most specifically, it’s her positive body image that’s been generating headlines globally.

But she’s got no thigh-gap.

What’s more, she’s happy with it and refuses to bow to expectations and conceal her non-skeletal frame on-screen. Dunham’s been hailed as a poster girl for empowered young women and has embraced her nude scenes with gusto.

Immodesty, thy name is Lena!

Not really. “It’s a realistic expression of what it’s like to be alive,” she said.

I like her style.

Hold on. When Dunham appeared on the cover of US Vogue looking more glamorous than usual and slightly slimmed-down, feminist blog site Jezebel took umbrage and offered $10,000 to anyone who could provide the original unaltered images, which it then published.

What does Dunham say about that?

Unrepentant. She said: “Vogue isn’t the place that we go to look at realistic women, Vogue is the place that we go to look at beautiful clothes and fancy places and escapism… If [people] want to see what I really look like go watch the show that I make every single week”.

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