Where did Lena Dunham source material for her kooky dramedy Girls? Maybe from the two existential crises she endured as a teenager, the times she couldn’t tolerate her awesome friends or from her reckless experiments with veganism. By letting the world in on her many encounters with shame in Not That Kind Of Girl, Dunham attempts to “make one treacherous relationship or degrading job easier for you”.
“I’m definitely not the kind of girl for whom life is a ‘piece of cake’, who has it all figured out; I’m no superwoman. I’m also not the kind of girl who is territorial, meek or easily shaken.”
— Pooja Dhingra, pastry chef
“With Kaneez there is no filter. There is no mystery to Kaneez (I don’t know why I referred to myself in the third person there. Weird). I am not a coy girl. I embrace sex. I laugh loudly and heartily, and I speak and behave the same way. I am not a girl who is scared to try new things – or scared to love – because if nothing else, I’ll get the T-shirt (Been there, done that, etc).”
— Kaneez Surka, comedian
“I’m not conservative, but I’m not a girl who likes to show skin – I have nothing against girls who do; it’s a personal choice. I work in a social industry, but I’m not a big fan of people – I can have too much of them very quickly. I prefer plants.”
— Ruchika Sachdeva, designer
“I am not a girl who eats self-consciously. I’m not a girl who takes no for an answer, who runs away from challenges. I’m not a girl whose days are filled with shopping and kitty parties. I’m not a girl who gets intimidated by strong men, or who can’t defend herself.”
— Anjali Mody, designer
“I’m not the kind of girl who can watch people being racist and sexist and not call them out on it. I’m not the kind of girl you can shush and dismiss because of my gender. I’m not the kind of girl who needs to ‘lean in’ or who can’t have it all or who needs to act like a woman or a man to get something done. I don’t need to validate myself by my womb or wallet – I’m just not that kind of girl.”
— Saba Imtiaz, journalist and author
Not That Kind Of Girl (Random House) is out this month
Photograph: Autumn de Wilde
You may want to watch: Lena Dunham gives advice
