All right, I just read a review that made me physically “UGH” numerous times, so I have to include a part two to that original review.
…I just deleted fifteen minutes of writing. Not because I didn’t think it was well written, but because I don’t want to emphasize any more negativity surrounding this episode (One Man’s Trash) that I feel like I really strongly want to defend, for some reason.
The two men who wrote the review that I will now only briefly comment on clearly can’t be of sound mind considering how it reeks of misogyny. These writers are not very well known, which leads me to believe that they’re each just really trying to make a name for themselves. And I’m not saying that no one is allowed to say anything bad about the show - but the review is so wretchedly hateful towards women that I can’t fully take it seriously and must force myself to believe that it was meant as some kind of farce. And honestly, to write something that would clearly upset a lot of people (women, specifically) and have people be outraged enough to talk about constantly - would make these guys even more relevant and noted. And I don’t want to do that, so I’m not gonna tell you where I read it or who they are, since it’s really the ideas put forth that made me so angry - and not the two who wrote it. So I’m only going to say a few things.
Excerpt from the review:
Hannah’s rude (“what did you do?” she asks Joshua, referring to his broken marriage), self-centered (“I’m too smart and too sensitive”), sexually ungenerous (“no, make me come”), and defiantly ungraceful (naked ping-pong).
“Sexually ungenerous”?!?! I could write pages and pages on why that phrase alone is abominable. But I won’t. If a man says, “Make me come first,” that is typically seen as assertive and so fucking commonplace that no one raises one question about it being uttered. But a woman says it and she’s fucking SEXUALLY UNGENEROUS?! Wow. That’s so far beyond fucked that I don’t want to get into it too deep because the foam frothing at my mouth from anger will short circuit my keyboard.
I gotta say that when I heard Hannah say that to Joshua in the episode I thought, “Fuck! Yeah!” - ESPECIALLY for her character to say that considering past situations when she has just done whatever the man she’s with wants to do, in whatever position he wants, etc.
Her character is said to be “defiantly ungraceful” while playing ping pong naked? Personally, I didn’t find that scene unrealistic. I like to do stuff naked. I’d be fucking naked all the time if I didn’t have roommates. It’s obvious that the men who wrote that just have such an issue with the constant sight of her body combined with the fact that, SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKS, she’s actually pretty comfortable with her own fucking body, too.
The review goes on to mention how unbelievable the whole episode felt and how ludicrous it was for Hannah to get with such an intensely attractive man. Honestly, I didn’t find any of the episode unrealistic at all. I’ve been with men ten times better looking than me. IT HAPPENS, assholes. Get over it. And I absolutely have over-shared with emotional ramblings in a situation when I maybe shouldn’t have — and then was met with a brick wall-type face of, “Umm ok…” or even just silence.
And the thing that really pisses me off is that I have yet to read a review written by a woman who’s hated it. I’m sure they’re out there, I’m not saying that some women won’t hate it. It’s just the fact that, a day later, the majority of my Google search came up with a dozen reviews/articles written by different men condemning the whole episode and talking about how they “didn’t believe any of it” or “tuned out after the first five minutes”. That bugs me immensely because man… maybe it wasn’t fucking written for you to enjoy? Maybe the fact that you aren’t a woman in your twenties might hinder you JUST A FUCKING BIT? Or maybe, God forbid, you get a little bit of insight into the horrors of how it feels to BE a goddam woman in your twenties who hasn’t quite figured out her life yet. And maybe I wouldn’t be so mad about any of this if I weren’t also hit with a mountain of musings on Lena Dunham’s fucking weight or beauty or how ugly her clothes are. If you’re going to negatively criticize something, please don’t start with, “What was with that romper??” ‘cause you’ll likely sound like a simple moron. I’m not asking anyone to enjoy this episode. I just don’t understand why the criticism has to be a personal attack on someone who’s really fucking talented.
I know I said I wasn’t gonna get negative, but then it happened. I really should’ve just spared you and wrote this in a journal or something. Next time.
