It's not often aka ever that Lena Dunham shies away from important topics. On Sundance 2015's 'Power Of Story: Serious Ladies' panel this weekend, the GIRLS star and creator and all 'round absolute G spoke her piece on campus rape, abortion and director Woody Allen, even calling him a perv following recent allegations.
Discussing how she is very different from the character she portrays in GIRLS, Lena explains how some actors are often just playing a version of themselves or, hiding in plain sight. "I don’t think that Larry David or Woody Allen or anyone else playing some version of themselves is walking around with a million people who think they know and understand them on a deep abiding level," she explains, adding: "Woody Allen is proof that people don’t think everything he says in his films is stuff that he does. Because all he was doing was making out with 17 year olds for years and we didn’t say anything about it... No one went that Woody Allen is making out with a 17-year old in Manhattan and I guess he’s a real perv."
Those of you who follow Lena Dunham world as closely as we do and / or have read her bestselling book 'Not That Kind Of Girl' may recall how Dunham herself was date raped while in college.
Speaking on a panel which included Kristen Wiig, Mindy Kaling and Orange is the New Black creator Jenj Kohan, Lena touched upon the ordeal and the importance of giving women a voice: “"One of the reasons it is important to talk about campus assaults is that that these women in positions of incredible privilege are still being forced every day to fight for their truth and that is indicative of the fact that sexual assault is an epidemic and so many people are voiceless. I think campus’ are a great place to start because that’s where we’re being educated and that’s where we’re told we’re going to be safe."
"'The fact is people are forgetting that humor is a tool for debate... That boycott, censorship, shut 'em down approach to humor shows a very basic lack of understanding of what humor can do for us culturally and what it has always done."
Already, Lena and her brand of conscious humour have instigated debate about all manner of important discussions, and she (nor her legion of loyal fans, us included!) won't let anyone take that away from her.
Watch the entire 'Serious Ladies' panel below.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.