How Has “Girls” Been Controversial?
Even though Girls wasn’t thematically an enormous departure from Dunham’s previous work, it was her first work to be widely distributed for a broad, mainstream audience, and it was met with enormous controversy before it even aired. Much of it revolved around its feminist politics, and critics were polarized. Some praised it for its depiction of women and their relationships, as it was a rare high-profile television show that made the female image, abortion and modern sexual behavior among young women part of its basic fabric. However, others felt its explorations of such topics were narcissistic or possibly undermined by their seeming exclusion of other classes and races.