Let's Talk About Girls

HBO, the network solely responsible for perpetuating a massive worldwide misunderstanding of sex and New York City, is attempting to make restitution with Girls. The show follows Hannah (portrayed by creator and writer Lena Dunham) and her fresh-out-of-college cohorts as they take on Brooklyn, the borough decidedly overlooked in most New York-based TV dramas.

Find out why I take offense after the break.

I love the voice of Hannah, but I hate how self-deprecating and insecure her character can be.  This is especially evident in her “relationship” with Adam: an aspiring actor slash carpenter that couldn’t discern Hannah from a jerk-sock.  His scuzzy appearance and dwindling intellect make him inexplicably attractive to Hannah, and she allows him to demean and degrade her sexually.  For example, in the second episode he instructs her to role play as an eleven-year old heroin junkie as he ejaculates over her.  Wide-eyed and obedient, Hannah seems more intent on ‘doing it right’ than making the act mutually beneficial.  In another episode, she finally manages to break things off with Adam, only to wind up in his bed moments later.

While I deeply sympathize with Hannah’s plight (I think we all know an ‘Adam’), I can’t help but feel conflicted.  Girls is being hailed for it’s courageous and realistic approach to sex… but if that’s the kind of sex girls are having, I think there’s something wrong with the bigger picture here.

When it comes to on screen sex scenes, I’m really not sure what’s worse: the over-the-top broads that scream in orgasmic ecstasy after exactly 3.2 seconds of missionary penetration or this new breed of weak-willed, sexually unresponsive femmes passifs that let their head knock against the headboard while being had.  Either way, female sexuality is being horribly misrepresented in media.  And while I appreciate Girls attempts to capture the awkward idiosyncrasies of sex in young adulthood, I feel disappointed that with four bold and diverse female protagonists they fail to depict a sexually healthy and confident character.