“I’m a mix of Marnie and Shoshana, who probably thinks a lot like Hannah, and desperately wants to be like Jessa”.

"Just because I tasted her cum and spit or could tell you her middle name or knew a record she liked, that doesn't mean anything, that's not a connection. Anyone can have that. Really knowing someone is something else. It’s a completely different thing and when it happens you won’t be able to miss it.” – Adam from Girls Series 3 episode 1.

The above is a quote from HBO’s Girls, a show about a group of four twenty-something women living and trying to ‘make it’ in New York. Wait, this sounds familiar right? I originally thought so too. Since Gossip Girl ended, I fully, and might I add proudly, admit that I have been trying to fill a Chuck and Blair size hole in my heart. I can put my hands up and say that “yes, I love American TV shows about girls who wear nice clothes and have a lot of money. Yes, I love shows about girls who are beautiful and have sex with equally beautiful people!” So when a friend recommended Girls to me I was sure I would soon become obsessed. I was right. As soon as I started watching I started relating myself to the characters. I wanted to tell everyone that “I’m think I’m a mix of Marnie and Shoshana, who probably thinks a lot like Hannah, and desperately wants to be like Jessa”.

Now in its third series, Girls follows Hannah, Marnie, Jessa and Shoshana as they try to act like, and hopefully become, successful ‘adults’. However, there is definitely something different about this show. Anyone who watches it will know that it shares almost zero similarities to Gossip Girl apart from the location. The details I have given also make it sound a lot like Sex in the City. It is not. It is not about shopping or fashion. Instead Girls deals with female emotions and contemporary issues in an intelligent, humorous and realistic approach.

The lead character Hannah, portrayed by the brilliant Lena Dunham who is both a writer and producer of the show, cannot be described as anything less than self-obsessed. Hannah is a writer who believes that she is ‘the voice of a generation’. The audience watch as she struggles with mental illness, money troubles and friendships.  She has a turbulent relationship with her (a loose term to use when talking about the first series) boyfriend Adam, and more importantly, herself. In the beginning Adam is horrible to Hannah; he is objectifying, ignorant and controlling. But as the plot develops and the characters grow he turns himself around. Soon he appears to be the wisest, kindest and most romantic man in the world. Even if he does still call her ‘kid’, a pet name that I want to hate but regrettably do not! All of the struggles the characters face on the show are dealt with in a similar way, making audience members, such as myself, relate, laugh and even cry. The writing is so brilliant. You just have to go on tumblr and search #girlsHBO to see all the hilarious and outrageous quotes. There are also lots of amazing guest stars. Including actor, writer, rapper and comedian Donald Glover, or Childish Gambino to fellow hip hop fans, who plays Hannah’s romantic interest in series two.

Although I could talk for ages about how much I love this show, some things I've read on the internet suggest that a lot of people do not agree with me. One thing that really interests me is the way it is approached as a feminist text. For me I think Girls is feminist. Dunham seems to take her clothes off at any given opportunity and this is not because she’s a size 0 and has a conventionally beautiful body. The truth is in fact the opposite of this. Why shouldn't young women be subjected to a body image that is more realistic? Some people tend to think the problem is that Girls tries to be a feminist text and ends up as a representation of ‘post-feminism feminism’, displaying the contemporary white middle-class version of feminism instead. Some people also tend to criticise Hannah and Adam's relationship. 

However, I would have to disagree. For me Girls demonstrates some of the very real issues that we deal with in today's society. I  like to refer to myself as some sort of feminist. But lets face it, we do live in a society where couples meet over the internet or even a phone app, in a tacky club or bar. A society where we do care about what people think about us, enough to post exactly what we think they want to hear within a restricted word limit of 140 characters. For me, the people who dislike Girls most probably don’t like it because it tells them a truth about themselves that they would rather not admit. You are like Hannah, you do want a boyfriend like Adam and you have probably acted like Marnie more times than you care to remember.

Do you think Girls is a feminist text? What do you make of series 3 so far?

And if you don't watch you can make your mind up for yourself and watch Girls on Sky Atlantic on Thursdays at 11pm.

Disclaimer: none of these images are mine and credit should go where it is due and sorry for spoilers I just hope they make you want to watch!