Lena Dunham confesses to preying on her younger sister.

November 4, 2014 5:57 PM

"As she grew, I took to bribing her for her time and affection: one dollar in quarters if I could do her makeup like a 'mortorcycle chick.' Three pieces of candy if I could kiss her on the lips for five seconds. Whatever she wanted to watch on TV is she would just 'relax on me.' Basically, anything a sexual predator might do to woo a small suburban girl I was trying. Maybe, I thought, she would be more willing to accept kisses if I wore the face mask my grandmother had for when she did her dialysis. (The answer was no.) What I really needed, beyond affection, was to feel that she needed me, that she was helpless without her big sister leading her through the world. I took a perverse pleasure in delivering bad news to her- the death of our grandfather, a fire across the street- hoping that her fear would drive her into my arms, making her trust me. 'If you don't try so hard, it'll be better,' my father said. So I hung back. But once she was sleeping, I would creep into her room and listen to her breathe: in, out, in, out, in again, until she rolled away"
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