Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s “Learned”. Lena Dunham

      

      

       Copyright

      

      4th Estate

       An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.4thEstate.co.uk

      This eBook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2014

       Updated 2017

      First published in the United States in 2014 by Random House,

       an imprint and division of Random House LLC,

       a Penguin Random House Company, New York.

      Copyright © 2014, 2015 by Lena Dunham

      Lena Dunham asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      Not That Kind of Girl is a work of nonfiction. Some names and identifying details have been changed.

      Illustrations by Joana Avillez

      Edna St. Vincent Millay, excerpt from a letter to Edith Wynne Matthison (July 6, 1917)

       from Letters of Edna St. Vincent Millay, edited by Allan Ross Macdougall. Copyright 1952 by Norma Millay Ellis. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Holly Peppe, Literary Executor, The Millay Society, www.millay.org.

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins

      Source ISBN: 9780007515547

       Ebook Edition © February 2017 ISBN: 9780007515530

       Version: 2017-02-02

       Dedication

      For my family, of course.

      For Nora.

      And for Jack,

       who is just as she said he would be.

       Epigraph

       Deep in her soul, however, she was waiting for something to happen. Like a sailor in distress, she would gaze out over the solitude of her life with desperate eyes, seeking some white sail in the mists of the far-off horizon. She did not know what this chance event would be, what wind would drive it to her, what shore it would carry her to, whether it was a longboat or a three-decked vessel, loaded with anguish or filled with happiness up to the portholes. But each morning, when she awoke, she hoped it would arrive that day.…

      —GUSTAVE FLAUBERT, Madame Bovary

       How quickly you transform the energy life throws you into folded bows of art.

      —MY FATHER, admonishing me

      

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

       Dedication

       Epigraph

Introduction

       Section I Love & Sex

      Take My Virginity (No, Really, Take It)

      Platonic Bed Sharing: A Great Idea (for People Who Hate Themselves)

18 Unlikely Things I’ve Said Flirtatiously

Igor: Or, My Internet Boyfriend Died and So Can Yours

Sharing Concerns: My Worst Email Ever, with Footnotes

Girls & Jerks

Barry

       Falling in Love

       Section II Body

       “Diet” Is a Four-Letter Word: How to Remain 10 Lbs. Overweight Eating Only Health Food

       Sex Scenes, Nude Scenes, and Publicly Sharing Your Body

       15 Things I’ve Learned from My Mother

       What’s in My Bag

       Who Moved My Uterus?

       Section III Friendship

       Girl Crush: That Time I Was Almost a Lesbian, Then Vomited

       The Best Part

       13 Things I’ve Learned Are Not Okay to Say to Friends

       Grace

       10 Reasons I <3 NY

       Section IV Work

       This Is Supposed to Be Fun? Making the Most of Your Education

       Little Leather Gloves: The Joy of Wasting Time

       17 Things I Learned from My Father

       Emails I Would Send If I Were One Ounce Crazier/Angrier/Braver

       I Didn’t Fuck Them, but They Yelled at Me

       Section V Big Picture

       Therapy & Me

       Is This Even Real? Thoughts on Death & Dying

       My Top 10 Health Concerns

       Hello Mother, Hello Father: Greetings from Fernwood Cove Camp for Girls

       My Regrets

       Guide to Running Away

       15 Lessons You’ve Learned from Being Recognized Regularly on the Street

      True