Book Review: Bad Feminist

Bad Feminist is a book of essays written by Roxanne Gay. The title explains it all. Gay says she is a feminist, but often times a bad one. She listens to music with lyrics that are anti-woman and doesn’t desire to be placed on a Feminist Pedestal. She says it best in her own words. The passage below appears in a slightly edited version of the introduction to her book on Buzzfeed:

“I disavowed feminism because I had no rational understanding of the movement. I was called a feminist, and what I heard was, “You are an angry, sex-hating, man-hating victim lady person.” This caricature is how feminists have been warped by the people who fear feminism most, the same people who have the most to lose when feminism succeeds. Anytime I remember how I once disavowed feminism, I am ashamed of my ignorance. I am ashamed of my fear because mostly the disavowal was grounded in the fear that I would be ostracized, that I would be seen as a troublemaker, that I would never be accepted by the mainstream.”

 

In the essays that follow, Gay uses her point of view as a bad feminist to talk about gender roles, race and diversity in popular culture. She breaks down television shows like GIRLS and mega-hit book series including the Fifty Shades trilogy.

Gay explains in the same Buzzfeed article that, “The essays are political and they are personal. They are, like feminism, flawed, but they come from a genuine place. I am just one woman trying to make sense of this world we live in. I’m raising my voice to show all the ways we have room to want more, to do better.”

I learned a lot from Gay’s essays. Perhaps more than anything, Gay helped me to see that the dysfunction is real. For example, it’s not like I wasn’t thinking about the way Fifty Shades disempowers women, but I didn’t stop and discuss it with anyone. I took it in, accepting it as normal.

I think Gay is starting a conversation with these essays. She’s empowering readers to talk to their friend circles about the ways we are missing the mark and failing to create an inclusive culture. When I finished the book, I vowed to start questioning for myself and discussing those questions with others. Because, like Gay, we should be raising our voices to see change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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