In the past five seasons of HBO's "Girls", theres been no shortage of controversy surrounding the show's content and of course, its writer/director/leading lady Lena Dunham. Beginning in the show's first season, "Girls" encountered its first major criticism surrounding the concerning lack of characters of color outside of a few cameos, most notably that of Donald Glover. Dunham responded by claiming she hoped to avoid tokenism and that the show is meant to be representative of her life has a "half-jew, half-WASP".
Aside from more minor critiques of the hit HBO series surrounding Lena Dunham's awards show foot wear choices and character likability (or the lack there of), the internet had a field day after the publication of Lena Dunham's book "Not That Kind of Girl", and twitter debates galore ensued over whether or not Dunham's childhood interactions with her sister should be considered sexual assault or simply normal instances of childhood exploration of sexuality and anatomy. Prior to that, Season 2 featured a disturbing scene between Adam's and his girlfriend Natalie in which Adam pressures her into numerous sex acts she's clearly uncomfortable with. While the show never refers to it as such, lets call it like it is: sexual assault.
While the episode at first presented an excellent opportunity to discuss the nuances behind consent and the issue of sexual assault in relationships, much of this potential was wasted when Dunham took a less-than-firm stance of the scene, referring to it as "a terrible miscommunication between two people who didn't know what they really wanted." The following episode also depicted Adam in a very flattering light as Hannah's "Knight in Shining Armor" of sorts as he sprints shirtless through the city to come to Hannah's rescue. While the inclusion of this scene could have served as an opportunity to discuss the way rapists' actions are overlooked in favor of their more flattering personality traits, Dunham's comments and the lack of further discussion of the issue in the show seems to erase any such possibility.
Flash forward to Season 5 Episode 8, after Hannah's breakup with Fran when Ray rescues her off the side of the road. In order to "thank" Ray, Hannah gives Ray a blow job which he clearly does not want, ignoring Ray's visible discomfort (and flaccidity). While Hannah's problematic commodification of her body is at least portrayed as irrational by the show, there seems to be no mention, however subtle, that Hannah committed an act of sexual assault.
Dunham's comments on the episode reveal little about whether or not the show will eventually frame the indigent for what it is, stating that "It seemed inevitable that at some point Hannah and Ray would have some kind of sexual interaction."
Given the lack of media attention to stir up controversy over the episode, its no wonder Dunham has been silent on the issue. Thus far, all the articles I've read on the episode haven't even mentioned a vague possibility of sexual assault, instead focusing on other critiques of the episode and season. One article (http://www.refinery29.com/2016/04/108082/girls-ray...) even makes direct reference to the scene and its critiques of the lack of platonic male-female friendships make no mention of sexual assault.
What does it say about "Girls", and its viewers, and the media that there has been limited conversation surrounding Ray's sexual assault but that conversations over seemingly more trivial controversies, such as nepotism accusations, are constantly trending?
