Lena Dunham, Molester? Old Rumors Resurface In The Wake Of Milo Controversy

Is Lena Dunham a child molester? Rumors about this began to swirl in late 2014 after right-wing political pundits read Dunham’s book, Not That Kind Of Girl, and publicly highlighted several passages in which it seems Lena is describing engaging in inappropriate sexual activities with her younger sister, Grace Dunham.

Even as a young child, Dunham describes “spreading open” her sister’s genitals to find that the one-year-old had inserted a half a dozen small rocks into her vaginal opening. Dunham writes that her mother wasn’t bothered by her touching her sibling’s sexual parts because it was “within the spectrum of things I did.”

According to Truth Revolt, Lena Dunham did say her publication was “a work of nonfiction,” although she also is reported to have said that she’s the “unreliable narrator” of the book, meaning the reader shouldn’t necessarily take everything Dunham describes as undeniable truth.

The Lena Dunham molester rumors put forth by Truth Revolt were met with threats of legal action from Lena herself.

There are two updates to the TR article. The first one came when Dunham took legal action in response to their interpretation of her accounts. Her attorneys sent a “cease and desist” letter to TR and threatened to sue for millions if the publishers didn’t nix the article and write a new one saying that everything they wrote in the original piece was false. They did not take the article down, but instead, TR’s lead editor Ben Shapiro penned a reply to Lena’s lawyers asserting that they were not falsifying her portrayals, and it was within their First Amendment rights to scrutinize the content of a piece of literature.

Specifically, Shapiro wrote, “quoting a woman’s book does not constitute a ‘false’ story.”

Dunham, upon realizing the descriptions in her book may be painful for some people to read, issued a public apology.

Other outlets jumped on the Lena Dunham molester story put forth by Truth Revolt. People who would never have thought to purchase the book became interested. Some people defended Lena, and some were disgusted by the words of the actress and liberal activist.

Did Lena Dunham Rape Or Molest Her Sister? https://t.co/pyyEQsbAdg pic.twitter.com/mvgkzQQny7

— Empire BBK (@EmpireBBK) December 21, 2016

Joe Concha from Mediaite wrote an article called “Lena Dunham’s Disturbing Passage Deserves All The Scorn It’s Getting.”

Concha brings out into the open other parts of the book that might give people pause, including the fact that Dunham wrote about sexually gratifying herself while in bed with her younger sister and using sweets to trick Grace into kissing her on the mouth.

“If you have brothers and sisters (like me), ask yourself this: Did you ever remotely consider doing these type of things with your siblings? Neither did I.”

Dunham describes bribing her sister by saying Grace could watch whatever show she wanted to if she’d just “relax on me.” Lena then writes, “Basically, anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl I was trying.”

Robin Abcarian of the Los Angeles Times responded to the Lena Dunham molester story by defending the Girls actress, claiming that Lena is a not child sex predator, and if you think she is, you should be ashamed.

Abcarian 100 percent disagrees with Joe Concha’s take on the matter, insisting that it’s perfectly normal for children to do the things Dunham detailed doing as a child, even the things she did to her sister.

What is normal and abnormal regarding childhood sexual curiosity? According to healthychildren.org, in the case of Dunham’s behavior with her sister, “viewing and/or touching peer or new sibling genitals” is considered normal for 2-to-6 year olds as long as the behavior is sporadic, ephemeral, and the child’s attention can easily be diverted from it.

That same source, however, indicates that it’s “rarely normal” for children 4 years apart or more from each other to engage in conduct to satisfy their sexual curiosity. Also considered seldom acceptable are compulsory acts, such as when Lena described bribing her sister with the TV or candy in order to cuddle with and kiss her.

According to Pandora’s Project, sexual abuse between siblings is “sexual behavior between siblings that is not age appropriate, not transitory, and not motivated by developmentally, mutually appropriate curiosity.”

It is repeated here that when sexual behavior takes place between siblings more than a certain number of years apart (this source says 3 years), and there is compulsion and/or trickery involved, it’s sexual abuse.

According to that logic, which is repeated throughout numerous articles on the subject, Lena Dunham did molest her younger sister. Dunham, her sister, and her fans may not view it that way, but some people, professionals included, would classify Lena’s conduct with Grace as not just inappropriate, but downright abusive.

In the wake of the recent controversy surrounding right-wing pundit Milo Yiannopoulos, some are asking the question of why, when the Lena Dunham’s molester story broke, didn’t she receive the amount and degree of backlash he did? After all, even Yiannopoulos’ own people turned against him.

The #irony,#hypocrisy & #doublestandards are to molest for @lenadunham @HillaryClinton @MiloYiannopoul1!! ? #liberallogic #mainstreammedia pic.twitter.com/wxUxyMLvKn

— Dominic Kowalczyk (@TheDomarazzi) February 23, 2017

Is there a double standard here? Is the content of Dunham’s book enough to warrant even her supporters turning against her?

What are your thoughts on the Lena Dunham molester story? Do you believe she sexually abused her younger sister or was she just engaging in harmless childhood curiosity? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.

[Featured Image by John W. Ferguson/Getty Images]