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Bad Feminist

Bad Feminist

Essays
EssaysEssaysPolitics & Society
Pages
336
Published
2014
Language
English

Synopsis

Roxane Gay offers a sharp and honest look at her experiences as a woman, a writer, and a person of color in contemporary America. Through a collection of essays, she tackles everything from her love of 'The Bachelor' to the complexities of feminism and race. Gay's writing is accessible and often humorous, even when discussing difficult topics.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

Thought-ProvokingReflectiveFunnyIntellectual

Genres

Essays Politics & Society Sociology

About the author

R
Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay's writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, Harper's Bazaar, A Public Space, McSweeney's, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and New York Times bestselli...

Frequently asked questions

  • Is Bad Feminist a memoir?

    Not a straight memoir. Bad Feminist is a collection of standalone essays of cultural criticism mixed with personal narrative, organized into five thematic sections (Me; Gender & Sexuality; Race & Entertainment; Politics, Gender & Race; Back to Me). Roxane Gay's more chronological memoir about her own life is a separate, later book, Hunger (2017).

  • What topics does Bad Feminist cover?

    The essays range widely: pop culture (reality TV like The Bachelor, Sweet Valley High, The Hunger Games, Django Unchained), competitive Scrabble, race and being a Haitian-American woman in the U.S., and more serious subjects including rape culture and media coverage of sexual violence. The title refers to Gay's argument that a feminist can hold contradictions -- enjoying things that seem at odds with feminist ideals -- without that making her any less a feminist.

  • Does Bad Feminist discuss sexual assault?

    Yes. The essay "The Careless Language of Sexual Violence" critiques how media coverage (using the 2012 Cleveland gang rape case as an example) minimizes and victim-blames in reporting on rape, and "Some Jokes Are Funnier Than Others" addresses rape jokes in stand-up comedy. Readers sensitive to discussion of sexual violence should be aware going in.

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