Filmmaker, writer, and Twitter virtuoso Lena Dunham's #AskLena series unexpectedly premiered on YouTube Tuesday, with 12 videos offering sassy life advice to her fans. The videos — which star Dunham and her adorable dog, bopping around a cartoon office that appears to be located deep within the crevices of Zooey Deschanel's mind — promote her upcoming personal essay collection, Not That Kind of Girl , and see the star weighing in on letters from fans about bad sex, whether feminists can wear booty shorts, jealousy, and uh, more bad sex.
But you don't have to want to be like Lena Dunham in order to benefit from her words of wisdom. Though I was initially a little incredulous about the videos (I wondered what aspects of being a successful actress and filmmaker also qualified you to give life advice to us plebes), I was pleasantly surprised by Dunham's on-the-mark advice, particularly her wise words about sex.
Which shouldn't have come as a surprise — Dunham has always had a deft hand when portraying the small triumphs and horrors that make up our love and sex lives, both in her so-real-it-hurts film Tiny Furniture and on Girls. But it turns out that Hannah Horvath herself also has some great ideas about improving your sex life, picking better partners, and learning to love yourself — tips that may well resonate even if you're not a fan. Who'd of thunk it? Check out her sex and dating advice (and her cute, cute dog) below.
1. Lena takes on "sleeping with garbage trash people"
Advice: Lena's vast body of personal sexual experiences with "van-dwelling monsters" colors her answer: "You have to love yourself [in order] to love someone who's going to love you."
Verdict: 10/10. And not just because of my own vast body of personal sexual experiences with van-dwelling monsters. Lena's advice boils down years of hard-won dating knowledge, and is something I wish someone had told me in college. I wouldn't have listened, but I wish someone would have told me!
2. Lena tells us what to do when you seem to only ever have terrible sex
Advice: Bad sex isn't a question of specific partners, but rather, intention — "there isn't a person who's 'good at sex'...because it's a thing that happens between two people" who are committed to making each other feel good. And it's not something that usually happens when you're so preoccupied with being "good" for your partner that you don't even check in to see if you're enjoying it.
Verdict: 10/10. How many young women must suffer the plight of dating some leg-behind-the-head-sexing goof of a partner before we all say "enough"?!
3. Lena explores the conundrum of dating someone who doesn't make you laugh
Advice: Break up with anyone who doesn't make you laugh, but also examine how and why you ended up with someone that you don't think is funny in the first place.
Verdict: 7/10. Though I do think a sense of humor is a very important quality in a partner, Lena oversells it here. But I added a bonus point for ending the video with "And I don't care if you think I'm fat."
Images: Giphy (1)
