Lena Dunham: Online abuse to women is like 'people screaming at prisoners in Guantanamo'

Speaking with Amy Schumer and other female comics

Dunham speaking at Variety's Power of Women conference (Getty )

Lena Dunham has compared the abuse she receives on social media to that of prisoners in Guantanamo.

The US comic and writer, made the comments as part of a discussion on The Hollywood Reporter with comics Amy Schumer, Tracee Lee Ross, Gina Rodriquez, Ellie Kemper, and Kate McKinnon.

“The way women are spoken to in social media is truly shocking,” said Dunham, 29, who won two Golden Globes for hit show Girls. “It's how you imagine people screaming at prisoners in Guantanamo.”

Dunham has faced her share of online criticism and abuse. Most infamously last year after a number of right-wing news outlets claimed she had sexually abused her younger sister, based on certain passages from her bestselling collection of essays Not That Kind of Girl.

The vitriol caused Dunham to cancel a number of appearances promoting the book, as well as issue a statement clarifying her “comic use” of language and apologising if any readers found the situations “triggering”.

Schumer, 34, star of Comedy Central show Inside Amy Schumer, also observed in the discussion: “I think people hate women. I don’t think they want to hear a woman talk for too long.”

She added: “I heard this heated debate once between two male comic friends of mine about whether [actress] Michelle Williams was hot. One was like, "I don't think I'd have sex with her." I'm looking at them, both in their 40s …

“And I'm like, ‘You guys would both die to f*** her,’” Schumer comments.