We recently heard from author and actress Lena Dunham when Buzzfeed offered her extensive space to issue a “steaming load of faux victim bullcrap.” Thursday afternoon, it was Gawker that published a lengthy piece on her book, clearly unhappy with the existing coverage by “Dunham’s antagonists,” particularly the “right-wing press.”
Writer J.K. Trotter clearly was unimpressed with the efforts of Breitbart’s John Nolte, who visited Oberlin College in a search for Dunham’s alleged rapist, “Barry.” Nolte “could not find a Republican named Barry who attended Oberlin during Dunham’s time there who came anywhere close to matching her description of him. In fact, we could not find anyone who remembered any Oberlin Republican who matched Dunham’s colorful description. Under scrutiny, Dunham’s rape story didn’t just fall apart; it evaporated into pixie dust and blew away.”
The narrative must stand, though, and Gawker looked to a 64-page book proposal for “Not That Kind of Girl” to “out” Dunham’s rapist.
His name is Philip Samuel Ungar, a 2006 graduate of Oberlin. Now 30, he’s the son of former All Things Considered host and retired Goucher College president Sanford J. Ungar. Dunham has never explicitly named him, but his biography closely aligns with her characterization of her alleged rapist — “His father was actually the former host of NPR’s All Things Considered” — in an early draft of the chapter where she describes being assaulted.
The final manuscript of Not that Kind of Girl contains a significantly altered version of Dunham’s original account. It was this modified narrative, which used a new pseudonym for the alleged rapist (“Barry”), that jump-started a months-long effort to discredit Dunham’s claims.
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/550050066493632512
Not surprisingly, “Ungar did not acknowledge multiple and detailed requests for comment via email; his current whereabouts are unknown.” Through public records, Gawker uncovered that Ungar registered as a Democrat in 2012.
The proposal also recounts Dunham’s “rape” in more detail, which she calls “an ill-fated evening of love-making with our campus’ resident conservative,” during which “All Things Considered had purposely flung the prophylactic into our tiny palm tree, thinking I was too dumb or too drunk or too eager to please to call him on it.”
note that @lenadunham's book version of her "rape" DELETES DETAILS found in the proposal that would make it clear it wasn't a "rape."
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
.@lenadunham deliberately makes the facts more obscure than she remembers them to cover up the the weakness of her allegation.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
In her book proposal, it's clear that what @leandunham was saying was non-consensual was the guy taking off the condom — not the sex itself
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
but in her book, now writing to justify that $3.7 million advance, her writing becomes vague on her allegation–vague enough to suggest…
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
…she was unconscious during the "rape." Um, in her book proposal, it's clear she's 1, conscious, 2, consenting.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
So I guess Oberlin is just really fucking big on fake hate crimes and fake rape hoaxes. They must be so proud of their @lenadunham.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
.@lenadunham why was your book proposal clearer on your allegations/the facts of the incident than the book you ultimately wrote?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
.@lenadunham why did your story actually become vaguer and more oblique from the Proposal to the Book?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
.@lenadunham Was it because your publisher told you that if you relayed those facts, then called it "rape," people would say you're mental?
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
I think every writer understands that when facts are written to be shadowy or omitted entirely, there's a reason why that was done.
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
So when I see the facts relayed clearly in the proposal, then made vague and elusive in the book, I know that was a *choice*
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 30, 2014
2014 was the year we learned that Lena Dunham was raped in college by a Republican and that she wasn't raped and he was a Democrat.
— Arthur Kimes (@ComradeArthur) December 30, 2014
2014 is the year when rape changed from a major crime to the the hot new fad (charging of fake rape, that is)@AceofSpadesHQ
— Arthur Kimes (@ComradeArthur) December 30, 2014
https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/550072734571827200
@redsteeze @NoahCRothman And "accidentally" smeared the most well known Republican during her time there. I hope she is sued into oblivion.
— Christy Lynn (@ChristyLynnLSU) December 30, 2014
AirAsia crash investigators now taking a suspicious look at "Barry," the mustachioed, snakeskin-booted "campus Republican"
— Ursus, Director of Weather and Banana Programming (@AceofSpadesHQ) December 31, 2014
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