'Bad Feminist' by Roxane Gay is a collection of essays that covers a wide range of topics including race, gender, sexuality, feminism, pop culture, politics, and personal experiences. The author shares her opinions on various issues and presents a thought-provoking exploration of societal expectations, politics, and feminist literary criticism. Gay's writing style is described as erudite, smart, insightful, and thought-provoking, with a mix of personal anecdotes and critical reflections on current events and trends in entertainment.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Triggers include discussions of sexual violence, rape culture, racism, and personal trauma.
From The Publisher:
From the author of Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, the New York Times Bestseller, Best Book of the Year at NPR, the Boston Globe, Newsweek, and many more, and instant classic
A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay.
"Pink is my favorite color. I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink-all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I'm not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue."
In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of color (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.
Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better, coming from one of our most interesting and important cultural critics.
Ratings (18)
Incredible (6) | |
Loved It (3) | |
Liked It (6) | |
It Was OK (3) |
Reader Stats (48):
Read It (21) | |
Want To Read (22) | |
Did Not Finish (1) | |
Not Interested (4) |
3 comment(s)
Haven't read much feminist books but I figured out this would be a good place to start, and I was right. I found that Roxanne Gay gave many valid points in a talented and fun way and while I don't agree with absolutely everything I agreed on most. She highlighted topics I might not have thought my self but was glad she gave an opinion on. This is not my last Roxanne Gay book for sure
I don't like books of essays, but this was wonderful.
To be honest, I almost DNF'ed this. I found the first half of the book to be kind of annoying. The Scrabble essay was funny, but seemed derivative of David Foster Wallace. There is one point where I can only imagine she deliberately misread Caitlin Moran's
How to Be a Woman (admittedly, itself not a perfect feminist text) in order to make a point. But once she got further into the cultural criticism I started to enjoy it more. Gay's point behind the title
Bad Feminist is that no one who defines themselves as a feminist does "feminism" perfectly. It is a struggle, a journey, and an ongoing conversation.
That said, in the final pages of the book my cat just wouldn't stop walking in front of my face and I just put it down, thinking "I'm done with this anyway."
What can you read after
Bad Feminist?
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