Lena Dunham: Twitter is not a safe space

Earlier this year, Lena Dunham revealed that she no longer had Twitter on her phone but did still send tweets to a friend to post on her account. “We gotta create systems that make us feel safe,” she explained at the time.

Speaking to Kara Swisher during an episode of Re/code Radio this week, Dunham elaborated on her relationship with the social media platform.

“I don’t look at Twitter anymore. I have a really great person [who tweets]. I tweet, but I do it through someone else,” Dunham said. “I don’t even know my Twitter password. Which may make me seem like I’m no longer a community user, and that would be true.”

Dunham noted that she no longer responds to fans on Twitter, but appreciated that people still followed her there. “I didn’t want to cut off my relationship to it completely, but it really truly wasn’t a safe space for me,” she said. “I think even if you think you can separate yourself from the kind of verbal violence that’s being directed at you, that it creates some really kind of cancerous stuff inside you. Even if you think, ‘Oh, I can read like 10 mentions that say I should be stoned to death,’ and kind of laugh and move on. That’s verbal abuse. Those aren’t words you’d accept in an interpersonal relationship. And those aren’t words that should be directed to you, ever. For me, personally, it was safer to stop.”

On Wednesday, Dunham’s account posted two tweets as a follow-up to the comments. “Not that it’s anything to be so proud of, but I do still compose my own tweets,” Dunham wrote. “I still appreciate your time and love, even if I’m not checking my replies. Isn’t this fascinating? How’s your day? Cool!”

Dunham and Girls executive producer Jenni Konner launched Lenny this week, a newsletter targeted at young women.