The award-winning HBO series 'Girls,' which follows a group of friends in their early 20's living in New York City, is known for frequently depicting the awkward and sometimes romantic sex lives of the show's characters.

Lena Dunham
Dunham defends the frequent sex scenes in 'Girls'

Although the series is critically acclaimed, there are a few viewers who seem to think the sex scenes occur too often, especially for a television show. However, the series' creator, Lena Dunham, insists that the racy scenes play a very important part within the plot.

"We really do try to show -- and people may laugh at this -- but we do sex scenes that we think really do push the characters and the plot forward, and that doesn't feel gratuitous," the 28-year-old actress told reporters at Paleyfest on (Sunday March 8th).

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For an example, Dunham referred to a sex scene in season five that was used to inform the viewers on Marnie's current relationship status. "I'm sure that someone would have a quibble with that, but what we really saw in that first episode was that Marnie was the most vulnerable that she has ever been," she explained.

Dunham's 'Girls' co-star Allison Williams also explained why she thought the raunchy scene was used as a way of keeping audience's up-to-date with the storyline in the simplest way possible.

"The dialogue [in the sex scene] was that Dezzy said, 'I love that' and Marnie said, 'I love you too,'" Williams said. "And I know that people may not have heard the dialogue, but it was everything we needed to know in like 12 seconds to bring the audience up to speed about Marnie's entire love life, and where she physically and emotionally is."

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"The ultimate [shock] to me was that a masturbation scene of mine this season got cut," she added. "We're at the point now where me masturbating is so boring."