Abortion Parties and Rape Jokes. Yes, I Just Wrote That Thanks To HBO’S Girls

I can’t believe I’m disagreeing with Miri, because I don’t think we’ve ever disagreed, but HBO’s Girls, to me, is funny. As in LOL fucking laugh out loud uncomfortable disgustingly funny. Granted, I’m more with the gyno at the end who said “You couldn’t pay me enough to be 24 again.”–Lena Dunham shows the nasty side of 20s, kind of like ass zits. Everyone has them (right, right? tell me right) but we don’t exactly talk about them. Or show them off. And somehow, I still relate to it. Because, well, I looked in the mirror this morning, and let’s just say my ass isn’t exactly zit free.

First, let’s talk about the uncomfortably funny (is funny the right word?) scene where her I’m-all-that-boyfriend-but-I’m-really-not-your-boyfriend is fantasizing about a somewhat pedophilia scenario with Hanna and she’s totally not enjoying it, but is going with it because she just desperately wants her to like him. As Aisha Harris in the XX Factor discussion about this writes: “I would argue that a lot of, if not most, younger guys are oblivious to the fact that they are horrible in bed, and I think that is because most younger women won’t tell them so. ” Oh so true.

Let’s get to the condom reference. “Most girls ask me to take off my condom,” Adam Driver’s character with such confidence says. Oh my god–I DATED YOU! Can you believe that I actually fought with an ex-boyfriend about a condom and then to my avail, gave up the fight? Why? My desire to look cool and nonchalant. Condom? Who needs a condom. I’m so cool and wild and sexy! (And oh so stupid because my no-condom guy gave me a genital wart. Thank you Planned Parenthood for burning it off–ouch–twice. (Ah, Rush was right! We’re all sluts.) Kudos to Dunham for showing this while completely humiliating herself in the most realistic way.

Rape jokes? Rape jokes. Not funny. Making a potential boss uncomfortably funny because you’re on the inside of the joke? E.g., “Oh, that date rape school. Or when you left, the date rape stats went down” –I mean, who hasn’t described a party college that way? I have. And the beauty of Hanna’s humor isn’t in the rape itself, of course, it’s Hanna’s inability to have any boundaries. Aren’t all of our comedians testing the limits this way?

The abortion “party”must be discussed because–abortion party?? Of course, it wasn’t an abortion party. Dunham was calling Marnie out on her self-centeredness. This isn’t about you, she was saying. Her beautiful abortion party where Zosia Mamet, whose zingers were near perfect, came prepared with her Dylan’s Candy Bar treats was about the funniest and most raw moment I’ve ever seen…anywhere.

Lastly, have you ever seen a man with bloody fingers on television? Double lastly, have you ever seen a woman ecstatic to see her own blood on a man’s fingers? That bathroom scene reminds me of another wholly inappropriate scene from Heather’s, except that scene is about bulimia. Heather Sawyer calls to Veronica from the bathroom stall where she’s unsuccessfully attempting to vomit. Veronica wiggles her index finger and says “A best friend’s work is never done.”