Lena Dunham at SXSW says she appreciates criticism

Girls star Lena Dunham was at the 2018 South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin this week and took part in a special panel over “authenticity in the media.”

At Saturday’s South by Southwest panel event, actor/writer/producer/director Lena Dunham spoke with Glamour Magazine editor-in-chief Samantha Barry about her career and facing audience criticism associated with her work.

Dunham obviously feels two ways about criticism aimed at her and her work. On one hand, criticism of any kind can be difficult to bear and for Dunham can come with it either a feeling of worthlessness or one of anger.

This is especially true when it comes to the oft-repeated criticism of Dunham’s frequent nudity in her TV series Girls — as if women like Dunham aren’t as frequently nude as more glamorous actresses, or any less allowed to be nude.

These are perhaps criticisms that aren’t all that constructive. However, Dunham recognizes the benefit of constructive criticism and uses it to improve the impact of her work.

Dunham pointed out that she has seen firsthand the “vitriol” from women with the same body type as herself. She said it was almost like they were ashamed that she let people see the secrets they hide. It seemed interesting that it was women such as herself that were sending the move vitriol her way.

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At the same time, while Girls did represent a certain under-exposed demographic of women and society, it came under fire for lacking diversity. Dunham took that criticism to heart. She said that the nudity was a way to show what the world really looks like, but realizes there were other areas that were not as successful.

“Those are the moments that criticism teaches you about yourself, and your blind spots, and the ways you’ve been problematized by the culture you’ve been raised in,” Dunham said. “So, there was a lot of criticism I felt grateful for.”