Lena Dunham's Not That Kind Of Girl And The Burden Of Female Celebrity

Lena Dunham's Not That Kind Of Girl And The Burden Of Female Celebrity
Lena Dunham poses in the press room with her Best performance by an actress in a television comedy or musical series award for 'Girls' at the Golden Globes awards ceremony in Beverly Hills on January 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO/Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)
Lena Dunham poses in the press room with her Best performance by an actress in a television comedy or musical series award for 'Girls' at the Golden Globes awards ceremony in Beverly Hills on January 13, 2013. AFP PHOTO/Robyn BECK (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

Early this week, I opened an envelope that had arrived at my door to find inside Lena Dunham’s new book, Not that Kind of Girl. I love getting free books in the mail, I admire Dunham’s television show, "Girls," and I'm a big fan of her movie, Tiny Furniture. I should have been curious and excited to read her book.

Instead, I felt a nearly incapacitating exhaustion. I could barely bring myself to open its cover, so paralyzed was I by the feeling that once I did, I would be responsible for feeling something important, defining, or culture-shaping about this attractively designed, 264-page collection of essays and personal advice from a young writer, actor and television creator.

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