Lena Dunham’s Women Of The Hour Podcast Is Not As Pretentious As You’re Expecting

Lena Dunham’s Women Of The Hour Podcast Is Not As Pretentious As You’re Expecting


I can’t bloody well make up my mind about Lena Dunham.

No matter how hard I try to shake it I feel like her character Hannah in Girls is autobiographical. Which is the most mean, unrealistic and presumptuous idea to run with, but it’s cemented in my brain. It’s just that she seems incredibly intelligent but perhaps due to her age, completely oblivious at the same time. Her book Not That Kind Of Girl did little to dispel this impression. Again, very clever, and definitely fascinating, but with an underlying arrogance.

There’s every chance it’s my own deep-seeded prejudices dictating this entire belief. I find it difficult to trust someone of that age, and with that degree of privilege, in their creative endeavours. Do I think her degree of success is not well-earned because she seems to have stumbled upon it with such doe-eyed naivety? I dunno, I’m probably (definitely) just a dick.

Either way, this has not deterred me from pretty much seeking out everything Dunham creates (which, in itself, is saying something of the quality of her output). Her new podcast via Buzzfeed is called Women Of The Hour and it will include five episodes on “love, sex, work, bodies, friendship and more”. The first episode on friendship dropped last Thursday and it and the ‘Friendship Bonus Episode‘ both deserve a listen when next you’re perusing your podcasting options.

Dunham’s bravery is her biggest asset here. She asks some seriously interesting and at times invasive questions of the friends in her life (especially in the bonus episode in which her and friend and Girls co-star Jemima Kirke quiz each other on their most infuriating attributes and recall the most testing times in the friendship). She’s not afraid to let other take the mic either, Amy Sedaris and Todd Oldham laugh about their bizarre friendship for a brief, but beautiful five minutes.

Ladies, this one is particularly pertinent for you. We all know female friendship can be a fucking complicated beast, and Dunham has a red hot crack at exploring it in all it’s ugly, complex forms. It’s really refreshing…

Episode Two of Women Of The Hour drops on November 12. Though plenty to sink your teeth into until then.