Girls Writer Jenni Konner on Why She Didn’t Think That Scene Was Rape

In an interview with TIME about how television is evolving to show different types of sex, Girls showrunner Jenni Konner admitted that she can never predict which racy scenes from the show will go viral and which will not. “I literally always get it wrong,” she said, laughing. For example, she had no idea the Internet would react so strongly to Allison Williams’ anilingus scene earlier this year.

Nor did she expect people to call a season two scene in which Adam gets aggressive with his then-girlfriend Natalia rape. In the show, he demands that Natalia crawl on her knees to the bedroom before he pulls her off the floor, has sex with her from behind and finishes by masturbating on her chest.

“I knew that that scene was ambiguous and played with ideas of consent, but I never, ever thought it would be interpreted as rape,” Konner says. She points out that Shiri Appleby’s character never says, “No.”

Read writers’ takes on other controversial sex scenes from The Americans, Transparent, How to Get Away With Murder and House of Cards here.