Lena Dunham, Millenial actress and writer/creator of the HBO show Girls, has just published a memoir. In her book, she details a sexual encounter that she later comes to believe was rape while she was at Oberlin College in Ohio. She also admits that she was drunk and and high on Xanax and cocaine, and freely says that she is an “unreliable narrator.”

While the media talks about her bravery in coming out as a rape survivor, others are asking “what about the rapist?” Dunham herself alleges that this same man (who she describes in her book as “Barry, a mustachioed campus Republican“) also injured one other woman during sex, and assaulted another woman. And yet it never occurred to Dunham to file a police report about what happened to her – because she did not “realize” or believe that what had happened to her was actually rape, instead of drunk and high college students having drunk and high sex.

However, now that she has come forward with her story, and the allegations that she heard that “Barry” had also assaulted two other women, Lena Dunham SHOULD be filing a police report. Breitbart News has confirmed that she has not done that.

Speaking to Breitbart News, Lieutenant Mike McCloskey of the Oberlin Police Department said, “Information published in a memoir is not enough to pursue an investigation. Unless Ms. Dunham comes forward, there can be no active case.”
Lt. McClosky, the Department’s Public Information Officer, said that the department is aware of Dunham’s rape allegation. In accordance with Oberlin College policies, upon hearing about the rape allegations through the media, the school notified local law enforcement.
Lt. McCloskey added that there was “No report or incident report filed at the time” the raped allegedly occurred, and that if the “victim doesn’t come forward, criminal charges are impossible to file.”

Breitbart News also points out the salient fact that per a study from the University of Michigan, the odds are as high as 80% that “Barry” has most likely committed other rapes since 2005 (when this attack allegedly took place). And the statute of limitations for rape in Ohio, according to RAINN, is 20 years. If Dunham files a police report, and identifies who “Barry” actually is (she does seem to acknowledge that she knows his full name, and was able to identify him later), the police would be obligated to investigate. But until she does that, the police have nothing but an allegation.

So, Lena Dunham, what will it be? Are you going to let a predator, who you allege harmed others besides you, roam freely in real life and as a phantom of your memoirs? Or are you now sufficiently convinced that what happened to you was unacceptable and are willing to pursue criminal charges? Was this story designed to titillate and give you some kind of victim cred, or was it the beginning of a police investigation into a repeat offender?

Your entire feminist cred should hang on your answer. At the very least, if you are telling the truth, other women’s health and dignity are. So make up your mind. You put this story out there. If you don’t follow through and at least file a police report identifying your attacker, then we will all know exactly what kind of person you are. And we will know never to believe anything you ever say again.