Abstract
Thomas examines the ambivalent postfeminist cultural politics of Lena Dunham’s nudity in Girls. Dunham has attracted both criticism and admiration for her exhibitionism and resolute refusal to adhere to the erotic finesse of the sexualised female body. This has been compounded by the way Dunham’s body is exposed in a series of relatively graphic sex scenes juxtaposed with a surfeit of casual nudity situated in everyday, public locations. In doing so, the show invites questions about the representation and consumption of female nudity on the screen. Thomas also examines how nudity in Girls functions within the contingencies of the medium of television itself; its particular generic, aesthetic and creative inclinations, and how this cultivates productive tensions between realism, comedy, and authorship.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bailey, J.L. (2015). The body police: Lena Dunham, Susan Bordo, and HBO’s Girls. In E. Watson, J. Mitchell, & M.E. Shaw (Eds.), HBO’s Girls and the awkward politics of gender, race and privilege (pp. 27–42). Lanham: Lexington Books.
Cardwell. S. (2005). Andrew Davies. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Cover, R. (2003). The naked subject: Nudity, context and sexualization in contemporary culture. Body & Society, 9(3), 53–72.
Dean, M. (2014, January 10). Girls whiplash report: Why despite everything, Lena Dunham’s nudity is radical. Flavourwire. Retrieved from http://flavorwire.com/432925/girls-whiplash-report-why-despite-everything-lena-dunhams-nudity-is-radical/.
Dunham, L. (2014). Not That Kind of Girl: A young woman tells you what she’s ‘learned’. New York: Random House.
Flowers, C. (2014, February 23). Girls, Dunham, a poor choice for television. Delaware County Daily Times. Retrieved from http://www.delcotimes.com/article/DC/20140222/NEWS/140229863.
Gill, R. (2008). Culture and subjectivity in neoliberal and postfeminist times. Subjectivity, 25, 432–445.
Gill, R., & Elias, A.S. (2014). Awaken your incredible: Love your body discourses and postfeminist contradictions. International Journal of Media & Cultural Politics, 10(2), 179–188.
Gray, J. (2010). Shows sold separately: Promos, spoilers, and other media paratexts. New York: New York University Press.
Hughes, S. (2012, October 7). Lena Dunham: Girls talk. The Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/features/lena-dunham-girls-talk-8200560.html.
Jacobs, J. (2000). The intimate screen early British television drama. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jacobs, J., & Peacock, S. (2013). Introduction. In J. Jacobs & S. Peacock (Eds.), Television aesthetics and style (pp. 1–20). London: Bloomsbury.
Julie. (2013, January 20). If Lena Dunham gets naked and no one’s there to see it. Put Your Clothes on Lena Dunham. Retrieved from https://putyourclothesonlenadunham.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/if-lena-dunham-gets-naked-and-no-ones-there-to-see-it/.
Lena Dunham addresses criticism aimed at Girls. (2012, May 7) NPR.org. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2012/05/07/152183865/lena-dunham-addresses-criticism-aimed-at-girls.
Linklater, R. (1991). Slacker.
Lotz, A. (2001). Postfeminist television criticism: Rehabilitating critical terms and identifying postfeminist attributes. Feminist Media Studies, 1(1), 105–121.
Lunceford, B. (2012). Naked politics: Nudity, political action, and the rhetoric of the body. New York: Lexington Books.
Malloy, T. (2014, January 9). Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham get mad at me for why she’s naked so much on Girls. The Wrap. Retrieved from http://www.thewrap.com/judd-apatow-lena-dunham-get-mad-asking-shes-naked-much-girls/.
Marghitu, S., & Ng, C. (2013). Body talk: Reconsidering the post-feminist discourse and critical reception of Lena Dunham’s Girls. Gender Forum. 45. Retrieved from http://www.genderforum.org/issues/special-issue-early-career-researchers-i/body-talk-reconsidering-the-post-feminist-discourse-and-critical-reception-of-lena-dunhams-girls/.
Maughan, P. (2013, February 3). Why is there so much nudity in Girls? The New Statesman. http://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2013/02/why-there-so-much-nudity-girls.
Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Screen, 16(3), 6–18.
Nally, C., & Smith, A. (2013). Naked exhibitionism: Gendered performance and public exposure. New York: I.B.Taurus.
Nussbaum, E. (2013, February 11). Hannah barbaric. The New Yorker. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/02/11/hannah-barbaric.
Perren, A., & Schatz, T. (2015). Theorizing television’s writer-producer: Re-viewing The Producer’s Medium. Television & New Media, 16(1), 86–93.
Resin, D. (2013, March 14). 20Q with Lena Dunham. Playboy. Retrieved from www.playboy.com/articles/20q-lena-dunham.
Rogers, M.C., Epstein, N., & Reeves, J.L. (2002). The Sopranos as HBO Brand Equity: The art of commerce in the age of digital reproduction. In D. Lavery (Ed.), This thing of ours: Investigating the Sopranos (pp. 42–57). New York: Columbia University Press.
Rowe, K. (1995). The unruly woman: Gender and genres of laughter. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Sconce, J. (2002). Irony, nihilism and the new American ‘smart’ film. Screen, 43(4), 349–369.
Spencer, K. (2013, February 13). Stay naked, Lena Dunham. The Daily Beast. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/13/stay-naked-lena-dunham.html.
Stasi, L. (2013, January 4). New girl on top. New York Post. Retrieved from http://nypost.com/2013/01/04/new-girl-on-top/.
Video: Lena Dunham on creating characters. (2012, October 7). The New Yorker. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/new-yorker-festival/video-lena-dunham-on-creating-characters.
Woods, F. (2015). Girls talk: Authorship and authenticity in the reception of Lena Dunham’s Girls. Critical Studies in Television, 10(2), 37–54.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Thomas, D.J. (2017). ‘You Shouldn’t be Doing That Because You Haven’t Got the Body for It’: Comment on Nudity in Girls . In: Nash, M., Whelehan, I. (eds) Reading Lena Dunham’s Girls. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52971-4_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52971-4_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-52970-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52971-4
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)