[Encore] Lena Dunham is Autistic

Autistic Culture | Where autism meets identity!

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[Encore] Lena Dunham is Autistic

If you have been watching or thinking of watching Lena Dunham’s new Netflix hit 'Too Much' don’t miss this encore of our Lena Dunham is Autistic episode.

Simon Scott

Jul 29, 2025

Transcript

This episode originally aired on March 11th 2025, but with her new hit show “Too Much” in the spotlight, and #1 on Netflix, it’s more relevant than ever. We're currently on hiatus, but we wanted to bring this one back into the feed for anyone watching the show!

Here’s what’s in store for this episode:

Why Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and POTS often co-occur with autism—and how Lena Dunham’s chronic illness journey mirrors autistic burnout.
How Girls functions as an autistic TV show, created by a mind that doesn’t follow neurotypical storytelling norms—and why that resonates with so many of us.
Lena’s character in Girls exhibits traits like rejection-sensitive dysphoria, clothing sensitivities, difficulty with transitions, and social cue misfires—classic markers of autism.
We explore Dunham’s memoir, Not That Kind of Girl, and how neurotypical audiences misunderstood it, highlighting the risks autistic creatives face when being raw and unfiltered.
The canonical autism of Girls character Shoshanna, and how autistic-coded characters naturally cluster in neurodivergent-created spaces.
How Lena Dunham’s autistic traits were pathologised, her career sidelined, and how a lack of control in creative environments can lead to health crises for neurodivergent people.
We also discuss her marriage to Jack Antonoff, and his neurodivergent-coded songwriting for bands like Fun. and Bleachers, as well as his ties to Taylor Swift, who’s also widely considered neurodivergent-coded.