--- description: "It was the most minimal retouching." title: Lena Dunham Slams Jezebel Over Un-Retouched Vogue Photos image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Lena Dunham Slams Jezebel for Publishing Her Un-Retouched Vogue Photos  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Feb 20, 2014 11:47 PM CUT  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Feb 20, 2014 11:47 PM CUT In an [interview](http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/b-s-report-lena-dunham-2/ "undefined") with Bill Simmons for Grantland, _Girls_ creator Lena Dunham skewered Jezebel for publishing her un-photoshopped photos from her _Vogue_ shoot: “They made such a monumental error in their approach to feminism… It felt gross.” (Fast forward to 52:15.) The call-out was well-deserved. To recap: After Lena Dunham landed on the cover of _Vogue_‘s February issue, Jezebel [offered a whopping $10,000](http://jezebel.com/were-offering-10-000-for-unretouched-images-of-lena-d-1502000514 "undefined") for un-retouched versions of the photos shot by Annie Leibowitz. At the time, Jezebel wrote, “\[Dunham’s\] body is _real_. She is _real._ And for as lovely as the _Vogue_ pictures are, they’re probably not terribly real.” Two hours later, Jezebel got their wish and [published the unaltered photos](http://jezebel.com/here-are-the-unretouched-images-from-lena-dunhams-vogu-1503336657 "undefined") on their site. Dunham was a staunch defender of how she was treated by _Vogue_. As the actress [told](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/17/lena-dunham-defends-vogue-photo/ "undefined") [Slate France](http://www.slate.fr/culture/82439/lena-dunham-photoshop-vogue "undefined"): --- > “” --- Jezebel’s agenda was tentative to begin with: _Vogue_‘s job is to sell a certain image of beauty. Any celebrity gracing the cover of _Vogue_ — tall, short, fat, thin — can expect to be retouched. But — as they themselves noted — Dunham’s body is on full display on HBO every Sunday night, which made the stunt seem pointless; they didn’t need to provide that public service of revealing Dunham’s true figure to the public. The site’s big reveal wouldn’t have made waves, but the $10,000 offer did (just as the same gambit did in 2007 when the site offered a cash reward for Faith Hill’s un-retouched _Redbook_ cover). And then the photos turned out to be barely retouched at all. Sure, they pulled up the neckline of her dress and skimmed a little off her hips, but Dunham looks like herself in the shoot — curves and all. The biggest change in the photo is the filter, and that’s an alteration millions of people make to every one of their photos, thanks to Instagram. The problem? Jezebel didn’t admit that they had been wrong in assuming that Dunham’s image had been drastically altered. Instead, they wrote, “While Dunham has not been _radically_ Photoshopped, it’s clearer than ever what kind of woman _Vogue_ finds _Vogue-_worthy: The taller, longer-limbed, svelter version of reality. _Vogue_ is not interested in reality, of course.” But it _wasn’t_ clearer than ever. If anything, this shoot represented a sea change at _Vogue_: a publication that routinely changes people’s bodies to fit an ideal chose to feature someone on their cover who is unerringly confident in her body the way it is. In the interview with Simmons, Dunham makes this exact point: --- > “” --- Dunham is being diplomatic: The posts and the reward were a bid for clicks, and they worked. But Dunham, not _Vogue_, became a casualty as the conversation turned ([yet again](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/10/girls-and-nudity-why-naked-women-dont-have-to-be-titillating/ "undefined")) to her body, with which the public has a seemingly endless fascination. There’s certainly a greater point to be made about [how fashion magazines treat curvy celebrities — not just Dunham — on their covers](http://entertainment.time.com/2014/01/07/wheres-mindy-kalings-body-elle-crops-out-stars-curves/ "undefined"). But Jezebel didn’t make that point, choosing instead to stick to their guns with a failed publicity stunt that didn’t prove anything at all. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/9227/lena-dunham-on-jezebel-and-the-vogue-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/9227/lena-dunham-on-jezebel-and-the-vogue-photos/"},"headline":"Lena Dunham Slams Jezebel for Publishing Her Un-Retouched Vogue Photos","datePublished":"2014-02-20T23:47:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:54:57.731Z","description":"\"It was the most minimal retouching.\"","url":"https://time.com/9227/lena-dunham-on-jezebel-and-the-vogue-photos/","keywords":["celebrities","Living","girls","lena dunham","Vogue"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/9227/lena-dunham-on-jezebel-and-the-vogue-photos/","name":"Lena Dunham Slams Jezebel for Publishing Her Un-Retouched Vogue Photos"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Get Caught Up With 'Girls' Season 2 in Three Minutes","description":"Prepare for the Season 3 of 'Girls' with a recap of Hannah, Marnie, Shoshanna and Jessa's most important Season 2 moments.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1Am8jsEc/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-01-10T23:14:22.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1Am8jsEc.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/9227/lena-dunham-on-jezebel-and-the-vogue-photos/","duration":"PT3M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/9227/lena-dunham-on-jezebel-and-the-vogue-photos/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```