7-Year-Old Lena Dunham Wasn’t A Child Molester, But Adult Lena Is A Boundary-Crossing Creep

Lena Dunham‘s new book, Not That Kind Of Girl, is raising some eyebrows, and probably not for the reasons Dunham intended. In this memoir, Dunham included a number of passages that describe her having some pretty questionable interactions with her younger sister Grace Dunham. Is it within the realm of weird stuff little kids do? Maybe. But what isn’t within the realm of normal is a grown-ass woman thinking it’s okay to write about spreading open her one-year-old sister’s vagina to take a look. As a child maybe Dunham really didn’t know any differently, but at 28, it’s well past time to figure out how boundaries work.

Note: The following details of Dunham’s behavior might be triggering for people with experience with child molestation, or who have worked with victims. During the events she wrote about, Dunham was seven years old; Grace was only one. The key passage is this one, although Dunham later writes about bribing her sister with candy for several-second-long kisses, giving her control of the TV remote to lay on top of Dunham on the couch, and even, as an older child, masturbating next to her in bed:

“One day, as I sat in our driveway in Long Island playing with blocks and buckets, my curiosity got the best of me. Grace was sitting up, babbling and smiling, and I leaned down between her legs and carefully spread open her vagina. She didn’t resist and when I saw what was inside I shrieked…. My mother didn’t bother asking why I had opened Grace’s vagina. This was within the spectrum of things I did. She just on her knees and looked for herself. It quickly became apparent that Grace had stuffed six or seven pebbles in there. My mother removed them patiently while Grace cackled, thrilled that her prank had been a success.”

Pages: 1 2