6 Times Lena Dunham Has Challenged the Accepted Stereotype of Beauty

Whether she’s walking around practically naked in her hit HBO show or shamelessly rocking bikinis in Instagram shots, Lena Dunham has absolutely no problem with showing a little skin and embracing her curves.

The 30-year-old Girls star and co-creator is of Hollywood’s leading ladies when it comes to promoting body positivity.

Here are 6 times Lena Dunham has challenged the stereotype of beauty:

1. Dunham has been vocal on social media when it comes to her journey to body positivity and has never shied away from posting bikini snaps or using the medium to express her thoughts on the topic . Just yesterday, she posted a short, candid essay on her Instagram page, reminding people that her body isn’t “fair game.”

Okay, here goes: throughout my teens I was told, in no uncertain terms, that I was fucking funny looking. Potbelly, rabbit teeth, knock knees- I could never seem to get it right and it haunted my every move. I posed as the sassy confident one, secretly horrified and hurt by careless comments and hostility. Let’s get something straight: I didn’t hate what I looked like- I hated the culture that was telling me to hate it. When my career started, some people celebrated my look but always through the lens of “isn’t she brave? Isn’t it such a bold move to show THAT body on TV?” Then there were the legions of trolls who made high school teasing look like a damned joke with the violent threats they heaped on, the sickening insults that made me ache for teen girls like me who might be reading my comments. Well, today this body is on the cover of a magazine that millions of women will read, without photoshop, my thigh on full imperfect display. Whether you agree with my politics, like my show or connect to what I do, it doesn’t matter- my body isn’t fair game. No one’s is, no matter their size, color, gender identity, and there’s a place for us all in popular culture to be recognized as beautiful. Haters are gonna have to get more intellectual and creative with their disses in 2017 because none of us are going to be scared into muumuus by faceless basement dwellers, or cruel blogs, or even our partners and friends. Thank you to the women in Hollywood (and on Instagram!) leading the way, inspiring and normalizing the female form in EVERY form, and thank you to @glamourmag for letting my cellulite do the damn thing on news stands everywhere today ❤️ Love you all.

A photo posted by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Jan 3, 2017 at 9:00am PST . Dunham shines in all her raw glory on the latest cover of . Yesterday, she thanked the magazine for not photoshopping out her cellulite, and rather letting her cellulite “do they damn thing.”

2. Dunham shines in all her raw glory on the latest cover of Glamour. Yesterday, she thanked the magazine for not photoshopping out her cellulite, and rather letting her cellulite “do they damn thing.”

Image: ET Canada

3. In August 2016, Dunham stripped down for a body positive lingerie campaign by Lonely Label lingerie. Called the Lonely Girls Project, the ongoing campaign features unphotoshopped women in natural settings.

Image courtesy of Lonely Girls.

4. In April 2016, Dunham proudly jumped on the #nothighgap bandwagon, proudly posting a photo of her LEG with the accompanying caption, “springtime means shorteralls. #nothighgap.”

springtime means shorteralls #nothighgap A photo posted by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Apr 22, 2015 at 5:14am PDT

5. In the March 8, 2016 edition of her female-centric newsletter Lenny Lena Dunham announced that she would no longer allow magazines to photoshop images of her in an essay called “Retouched by an Angel.” The gap between what I believe and what I allow to be done to my image has to close now,” she wrote.

Image courtesy of Lena Dunham.

6. Back in 2013, she graced the cover of Marie Claire for their 25^th anniversary issue, opening up about her body confidence in an exclusive interview. “My parents both have really healthy attitudes about their own bodies but also about the range of things that can be beautiful,” she said.