To find more information about Roxane Gay and Bad Feminist, visit her website.
It calls on the reader to do better in his or her life, to work to examine his or her prejudices and privileges.īad Feminist is a fantastic read that everyone should check out. It causes the reader to think about their own beliefs, their own experiences. Her writing is smart, funny, and thought-provoking. Gay writes about the problems in feminism, racism, and everyday life with finesse. I would not want to live in a world where such was the case.” (295, 300) We pretend we are somehow different from those we otherwise condemn … I have never considered compassion a finite resource. Most people are simply at the mercy of centuries of cultural conditioning.” (290)
She said some incredibly important things and I’m going to let her words do the talking here. Her words are as relevant now, during the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, as they were in 2014. Gay also discusses politics and racial injustice. They often serve as the butt of jokes and are told, however subconsciously, that “You should be grateful for what you’ve got” (234). Black women are often not much more than a plot point, someone to help the white characters or Black male characters on their journey. Many of the points she brings up, about how Black women’s roles are treated in these movies, are things I have not thought about before (sadly).
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Gay also writes about race and the struggles of Black women (and men) in film and popular culture, analyzing many of Tyler Perry’s movies as well as the movie The Help. I would rather e a bad feminist than no feminist at all” (318). At the end of the book, after comparing the merits and shortcomings of feminism, as well as its “rules,” she concludes, “I am a bad feminist.
She reminds us of the different ways women are treated in popular culture and how that treatment is different based on race. She discusses this issue throughout the book – the “right way” of feminism is designed for the heterosexual white woman and anything that does not follow those standards, aka much of the experience of women of color, is ignored. Gay discusses the broad definition of feminism and why so many women “fall short.” She reminds us of the “idea that there is a right way to be a woman, a right way to be the most essential woman.there are right and wrong ways to be a feminist and there are consequences for doing feminism wrong” (303-304). It is brilliantly written and draws you in with every word. It interweaves personal stories with news and culture it blends facts with thoughtful commentary. This collection of essays discusses racism, gender equality, and feminism. The first book from this list that I read was Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (2014). I’m reading through this list in no particular order – I’m just reading them in the order that I get them. I’m working on reading through the list to educate myself about any racist tendencies I harbor in my life, about life experiences I know nothing about, and to work to be a better ally for the Black community. In June, I made a list of books that discussed being antiracist, the Black experience, and being a better ally.