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Bad Feminist: Essays Paperback – August 5, 2014
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“Roxane Gay is so great at weaving the intimate and personal with what is most bewildering and upsetting at this moment in culture. She is always looking, always thinking, always passionate, always careful, always right there.” — Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?
A New York Times Bestseller
Best Book of the Year: NPR • Boston Globe • Newsweek • Time Out New York • Oprah.com • Miami Herald • Book Riot • Buzz Feed • Globe and Mail (Toronto) • The Root • Shelf Awareness
A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched cultural observers of her generation
In these funny and insightful essays, 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.
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarper Perennial
- Publication dateAugust 5, 2014
- Dimensions0.76 x 5.31 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100062282719
- ISBN-13978-0062282712
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of the Month, August 2014: "These essays are political and they are personal," Roxanne Gay announces in the introduction of Bad Feminist. "They are, like feminism, flawed, but they come from a genuine place." This place, as displayed throughout the course of her excellent essay collection, is also one of daring intelligence, imagination, and empathy. Gay leads by example. To combat the demeaning stereotype that feminists are humorless, Gay imbues her essays with levity. One of the best pieces comes early in the book when Gay competes in a Scrabble tournament and her success as a beginner angers her male opponents. It's smart and laugh-out-loud funny essay, and in a humbling turn, Gay herself finds a similar unwarranted frustration toward competitors when she begins losing. Bad Feminist represents Gay's body of personal essays and critical work over the past several years, and if the book has a slight misstep, it's that it sometimes feels like these are articles that have been published elsewhere. (For example, Gay's takedown of The Help is extraordinary, but the same arguments return repeatedly in pieces about other films.) Still, this is such a small complaint in a rare collection where each and every piece is vital and the book as a whole feels important. --Kevin Nguyen
Review
“A strikingly fresh cultural critic.” — Ron Charles, Washington Post
“It’s no surprise that Roxane Gay—author, essayist and sharp observer of everything in pop culture we’re supposed to be too cool to like—has written such a winning book. . . . This best-selling collection of essays manages to be both a cultural biography and a deeply personal story of identity. At its best, the book offers Gay’s distinctive voice as both shield and a weapon against social norms just begging for examination. Perfectly imperfect, Gay is an unforgettable voice, coming at just the right time.” — NPR, Best Books of 2014
“Arresting and sensitive. . . . An author who filters every observation through her deep sense of the world as fractured, beautiful, and complex.” — Slate
“[A] touching and crucial essay collection. . . . If you’re interested in critical thinking about culture, this book is a must.” — Newsweek
“There has never been a book quite like Bad Feminist—a sometimes funny, sometimes serious pop-culture-literary-nonfiction-social-commentary hybrid written by a black woman in America. A New York Times best-seller, Bad Feminist establishes Gay as one of our foremost cultural critics and feminist thinkers.” — The Root
“Feisty, whip-smart essays on gender, sexuality, and race.” — Entertainment Weekly
“One of our sharpest new culture critics plants her flag in topics ranging from trigger warnings to Orange is the New Black in this timely collection of essays.” — O, the Oprah Magazine, 10 Titles to Pick Up Now
“Roxane Gay is the brilliant girl-next-door: your best friend and your sharpest critic. . . . She is by turns provocative, chilling, hilarious; she is also required reading.” — Time Magazine
“A trenchant collection. . . . Whatever her topic, Gay’s provocative essays stand out for their bravery, wit, and emotional honesty.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Toss Roxane Gay’s collection of witty, thoughtful essays, Bad Feminist into your tote bag. With musings on everything from Sweet Valley High to the color pink, Gay explores the idea of being a feminist, even when you’re full of contradictions.” — Self, "Smart beach-read alert"
“Gay’s essays are consistently smart and provocative. . . . Her essay collection will give you dinner-party conversation through September.” — Jennifer Weiner's 10 best beach reads, USA Today
“An assortment of comical, yet astute essays that touch on Gay’s personal evolution as a woman, popular culture throughout the recent past, and the state of feminism today.” — Harper's Bazaar
“Roxane Gay may call herself a bad feminist but she is a badass writer. . . . Reading Bad Feminist is like having a fascinating (one-way) conversation with an extremely smart, well-read, funny and thoughtful party guest. Here’s hoping we have another encounter soon.” — Associated Press
“Roxane Gay is the gift that keeps on giving. . . . An entertaining and thought-provoking essay collection.” — Time
“Bad Feminist collects the very good essays of ‘It girl’ culture critic Roxane Gay.” — Vanity Fair, Hot Type
“Fascinating. . . . An important and pioneering contemporary writer . . . Readers will immediately understand the appeal of Gay’s intimate and down-to-earth voice. . . . An important contribution to the complicated terrain of gender politics.” — Boston Globe
“Alternately friendly and provocative, wry and serious, her takes on everything from Girls to Fifty Shades of Grey help to recontextualize what feminism is--and what it can be.” — Time Out New York
“Roxane Gay is so great at weaving the intimate and personal with what is most bewildering and upsetting at this moment in culture. She is always looking, always thinking, always passionate, always careful, always right there.” — Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?
“With prodigious bravery and eviscerating humor, Roxane Gay takes on culture and politics in Bad Feminist--and gets it right, time and time again. We should all be lucky enough to be such a bad feminist.” — Ayelet Waldman, author of Love and Treasure and Bad Mother
“Smart readers cannot afford to miss these essays, which range from socially significant art (Girls, Django in Chains) and feminist issues (abortion) to politics (Chris Brown) and why Gay likes pink.” — Library Journal
“Pre-order it, put it on the library hold list, whatever. Just get ready to read it and quote it and share it and be challenged by it.” — Book Riot
“There are writers who can show you the excellence of their brains and writers who show you the depths of their souls: I don’t know any writer who does both at the same time as brilliantly as Roxane Gay.” — Elizabeth McCracken, author of Thunderstruck & Other Stories
“Trailblazing.” — Salon
“Praise Roxane Gay for her big-hearted self-examining intelligence, for her inclusive and forgiving stance, for her courage and determination . . . for saying out loud the things we were thinking, for guiding us back to ourselves and returning to us what was ours all along.” — Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted
“She had me at Sweet Valley High. Gay playfully crosses the borders between pop culture consumer and critic, between serious academic and lighthearted sister-girl, between despair and optimism, between good and bad. . . . How can you help but love her?” — Melissa Harris-Perry, Wake Forest Professor and MSNBC host
“As Bad Feminist proves, Gay is a necessary and brave voice when it comes to figuring out all the crazy mixed messages in our mixed-up world.” — "20 New Nonfiction Books That Will Make You Smarter," Flavorwire
“Gay writes with probing intelligence about pop-culture topics from the morality of Tyler Perry to how much the Sweet Valley High books mattered to her.” — Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“Bad Feminist places pop culture under her sharp, often hilarious, always insightful microscope.” — GQ.com
“A collection of sharp, Sontag-ianly searing pieces on everything from Orange Is the New Black to likability in fiction to abortion legislation. . . . Her pieces manage to be at once conversational and full of pithy aphorisms.” — The L Magazine
“Gay is poised to hit the big time.” — Nylon Magazine
“As a feminist who has been around a while I have a message for these girls: it’s okay — you can skip the rigors of Betty Friedan and Andrea Dworkin and go straight to Roxane Gay, where feminism is not just friendly, but more relevant than ever.” — Erika Schickel, Los Angeles Review of Books
“What’s so special about this collection is its accessibility - Gay is nothing short of a critical genius, yet every essay is approachable and open while still being thorough. Her writing is rare, and at that, not to be missed.” — Bustle
“I’m pretty sure Gay is incapable of writing anything boring. . . . Even better: It’s an essay collection, so you can parse it out, maybe save a couple for days when the Internet is particularly infuriating.” — Jezebel
“With trenchant thoughts on Sweet Valley High, The Help, abortion, and Chris Brown, Gay isn’t really a bad feminist, just an uncommonly entertaining one.” — Vulture, "8 Books You Need to Read This August"
“A meaty volume of personal essays and criticism from one of the great storytellers and smartest cultural observers out there. . . . Gay is as critical and as she is admiring. That balance is what actually makes these essays so enjoyable and honest.” — Feministing.com
“One of the liveliest, most joy-inducing books of the year. . . . Bad Feminist is a tour de force and Roxane Gay is a writer of considerable power, intelligence and moral acuity.” — Huffington Post
“A broad, compelling book. . . . It’s a book that feels like it needed to be out in the world . . . a book that feels vital, alive, and engaged with the world, and we need more writers as passionate as Roxane Gay.” — Flavorwire
“Powerful, and its winsomeness is due entirely to Gay’s fearless, inclusive and accessible prose.” — Shelf Awareness
“Read Bad Feminist to feel good about reading Vogue.” — New York Magazine, "Approval Matrix: Highbrow and Brilliant"
“Gay’s writing is thoughtful and funny, compassionate and bold, and she’s just as likely to discuss Sweet Valley High as Django Unchained or Judith Butler.” — Refinery29
“Gay’s essays expertly weld her personal experiences with broader gender trends occurring politically and in popular culture.” — Huffington Post
“What makes Bad Feminist such a good read isn’t only Gay’s ability to deftly weave razor-sharp pop cultural analysis and criticism with a voice that is both intimate and relatable. It’s that she’s incapable of blindly accepting any kind of orthodoxy.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Blunt and funny. . . . [Gay acknowledges] ‘I am a mass of contradictions.’ For Gay, though, these contradictions are less a condition to be remedied than a source of greater strength.” — Washington Post
“A prolific and exceptionally insightful writer. . . . Bad Feminist doesn’t show us how Gay should be, but something much better: how Roxane Gay actually is. . . . Gay unquestionably succeeds at leading us in her way.” — Globe and Mail (Toronto)
“I know there are still four and a half months left, but I’m calling it now: 2014 is the year of Roxane Gay. I just devoured her book, Bad Feminist . . . Amazing.” — Rookie
“Incisive, self-aware, risky, and often funny, the author’s writing is reminiscent of Nora Ephron’s 1975 collection of feminist essays, Crazy Salad. . . . Gay possesses a distinct perspective and singular voice.” — Library Journal
“A thoughtful and often hilarious new collection of essays.” — Chicago Tribune
“”[Gay’s] energetic and thought-provoking first essay collection will become as widely read as other generation-defining works, like Nora Ephron’s Crazy Salad and Joan Morgan’s When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost.” — Essence
“Roxane Gay delivers sermons that read like easy conversations. Bad Feminist is an important collection of prose—prose that matters to those still trying to find their voice.” — Ebony
“Bad Feminist is often LOL funny but continuously ruthless. Its 41 essays range from book and movie reviews to political issues and, in some of the most charming pieces, Gay’s accounts of a few of her personal passions, like tournament Scrabble and the color pink and The Hunger Games.” — San Antonio Express-News
“As a culture critic, Gay has X-ray eyes. Her writing is smart and trenchant . . . She’s disarming and one of us, only smarter. She has a tumblr and she writes about Internet dating. We love her, you know?” — Philadelphia Inquirer
“Roxane Gay offers an unique (and often biting) perspective on pop culture.” — Miami Herald
“Gay offers a complex and multifarious feminism to answer the movement’s ongoing PR issues, its flaws and its failures. . . . Bad Feminist surveys culture and politics from the perspective of one of the most astute critics writing today.” — Boston Review
“Rip-roaringly funny and insightful essays.” — PureWow.com
“Roxane Gay and her new book Bad Feminist are here to save us all. . . . It’s a swift read with some serious substance. . . . GET TO KNOW HER ALREADY.” — xoJane.com
“Roxane Gay’s ability to write so clearly about complex issues is truly impressive. Her essays about feminism, race, and class are hilarious, moving, and yes, educational, but never in a way that feels tired or boring.” — Cosmopolitan, "28 Life-Changing Books Every Woman Should Read"
“The book is powerful, and its winsomeness is due entirely to Gay’s fearless, inclusive and accessible prose.” — Shelf Awareness, Best Books of the Year
“Gay’s writing is as accessible as it is sharp. . . . In the volume of essays, Gay mixes the personal, the political and the pop cultural with unashamed acknowledgement that the three are interrelated and often inseparable.” — Indianapolis Business Journal
“[Gay is] hilarious. But she also confronts more difficult issues of race, sexual assault, body image, and the immigrant experience. She makes herself vulnerable and it’s refreshing.” — Tanvi Misra, Atlantic, "The Best Book I Read This Year"
“Gay’s insightful exploration of this topic makes readers worry less about their occasional shortcomings and more comfortable with being human.” — BookPage
“Entertaining and enlightening. . . . Bad Feminist is an outtake of her wisdom, and we would all do well to take heed.” — Bitch Magazine
“There has never been a book quite like Bad Feminist—a sometimes funny, sometimes serious pop-culture-literary-nonfiction-social-commentary hybrid written by a black woman in America.” — The Root
“Gay, who has become one of our most provocative essayists, leaves nothing off the table in her debut collection . . . Taken in whole, Bad Feminist is a brave affirmation of selfhood: I am a woman, this is my story, and there is power in its telling.” — Gawker, "The Best Books to Give This Holiday Season: A Bookseller's Guide"
“Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist hardly needs more praise, but no other book speaks more eloquently, or more directly, about today’s most crucial issues. . . . Gay’s essays are intimate and accessible, but broad in scope and deep in insight.” — Celeste Ng, "Writers’ favorite books of 2014," San Francisco Gate
“If you’re in the mood to read wonderful, thought-provoking essays that feel like they’re written by your best friend, check out Bad Feminist. . . . Gay puts you at ease as she shakes the foundations of what you believe.” — Buzzfeed, Sami Main, "28 Best Books by Women in 2014"
From the Back Cover
One of our most indispensable writers . . . on everything that matters
About the Author
Roxane Gay is the author of the essay collection Bad Feminist, which was a New York Times bestseller; the novel An Untamed State, a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize; the memoir Hunger, which was a New York Times bestseller and received a National Book Critics Circle citation; and the short story collections Difficult Women and Ayiti. A contributing opinion writer to the New York Times, she has also written for Time, McSweeney’s, the Virginia Quarterly Review, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Rumpus, Bookforum, and Salon. Her fiction has also been selected for The Best American Short Stories 2012, The Best American Mystery Stories 2014, and other anthologies. She is the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She lives in Lafayette, Indiana, and sometimes Los Angeles.
Product details
- Publisher : Harper Perennial; 1st edition (August 5, 2014)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062282719
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062282712
- Item Weight : 8.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 0.76 x 5.31 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #19,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #38 in Feminist Theory (Books)
- #67 in Humor Essays (Books)
- #656 in Memoirs (Books)
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Throughout the book the writer refers to a feminist as being someone who advocates for the equality of men and women. Since the writer refers to herself as a bad feminist one is left wondering what she herself wants. Inequality? It isn’t until the final chapter that the writer explains why she thinks of herself as a bad feminist and, perhaps inadvertently, provides us with a fuller, more comprehensive definition of the feminist ideal. According to the writer, a bad feminist is a woman who (a) likes men, (b) wants to be taken care of and have someone to come home to, (c) believes in gender specific domestic chores, (d) loves babies, (e) makes career sacrifices to raise children, (f) shaves her legs, (g) enjoys pretty shoes and purses and matching outfits, and (h) likes pink and reads Vogue. I gather from this that a good feminist would hate all these things. It’s a peek behind the curtain; probably the most honest definition of feminism I’ve seen in print.
The writer devotes one chapter of her book to “Women’s Fiction” and how it is not valued as much as fiction written by men. She points out, correctly, that women read books written by men, but men seldom read books written by women. Her proposed solution requires “men (readers, critics, and editors)... to start to bear the responsibility for becoming better, broader readers.” Incredibly, she states that it is the fault of men that women’s fiction is not more popular and proposes an affirmative action program for women writers. I’m a moderately heavy reader. I read perhaps 40 or 50 books a year. I can honestly say that I’ve never read a book, or even considered reading or not reading a book, based on the sex of the author. That being said, all the books I have read, except for books dealing with feminism and feminist issues, have been written by men. I’ve read a couple of dozen books on feminism and all of those were written by women. In general though, I read books based on interest and nothing else. If some books don’t appeal to me I can’t help that. The fact that they are written by women is irrelevant. To paraphrase the writer, maybe women need to become better, broader writers if they seek success equal to men.
Finally, there’s the inevitable chapter on women’s reproductive rights and abortion. There are many mentions of “men trying to control women’s bodies.” The writer frames the abortion debate as men against women. I know this to be a distortion and blatantly incorrect so I looked up the facts. The Pew Research Center study into public opinion on abortion found that 60 percent of women and 61 percent of men believe that abortion should be legal. 38 percent of women and 38 percent of men believe it should be illegal. A Gallup poll on abortion trends (1975 - 2019) found similar results and essentially no change in opinion over the 44 year period that the poll has been conducted. Gallup found that 50 percent of women and 56 percent of men believe that abortion should be legal under all circumstances. 24 percent of women and 25 percent of men believe that abortion should be legal under certain circumstances, and 24 percent of women and just 18 percent of men believe abortion should be illegal. Abortion is a religious issue, not a gendered issue. The writer mentions none of this, presumably because it doesn’t fit her world view of women as victims of male oppression. Male politicians represent their voters and this writer uses their actions as an example of men trying to control women’s bodies. Her argument is dishonest and contrived.
My overall impression of the book is positive, with reservations. The author admits to often feeling angry, even wanting to slap and punch people for their views on more than one occasion, and this anger comes across in the writing. However, amusing anecdotes provide some relief and, for me, were enough to hold my interest to the end.
A chapter that I would recommend to read would be “Bad Feminist: Take Two”, in which Gay states “ I want to be in charge and respected and in control, but I want to surrender, completely, in certain aspects of my life. Who wants to grow up?” (314). After reading this line I could feel her frustration and this big weight on her shoulders that previous feminists have placed on her in order to carry that identity. This connection can be made with many of those that aspire to be feminists, but cannot fully commit because they are scared that they will not be able to fulfill that role.
One of the best eye-opener chapters in this book was “When Less Is More”, Gay states “the women of color don’t have the privilege of inhabiting their own solar systems” (252). From this line, we notice the intersection between feminists and feminists of color. When we take a look at the term intersectionality, one can say that there are many different scenarios for all kinds of different people and therefore we should not place white people as the model for all of us. Some might say that it makes little difference between the two, but in fact, there is a big difference since our nation has been developed around white supremacy.
Lastly, chapter “The Trouble with Prince Charming, or He Who Trespassed Against Us” features some examples from the novel “Fifty Shades of Grey” to demonstrate the motive for feminism. In this chapter, Gay demonstrates how women are viewed as objects of pleasure for men; “... in a very dramatic scene where he grabs her by the wrist and leads her to his bedroom to properly deflower her” (195). This is the biggest desire for feminism, to view both genders with equality, not one above or in control of the other.
This book definitely takes the best approach to give the audience the idea of a new way for feminists. Feminism brings up many stereotypical ideas that are brought up by our cultures, Gay does a great job of bringing all of these examples that we are blind to and how there is a major problem with gender inequality. With that said, she also makes great consideration in bringing in intersections between feminists and comparing them. Many other books will only state their view on feminism and the way one should execute in order to become the ideal feminist with no imperfections. On the other hand, Gay examines her flaws as a feminist but does not draw away from the general idea of what feminism stands for.
Roxane Gay plays a role model for upcoming feminists in our society. I would agree that Gay’s feminist ways work the best in our present time in history than that compared to other activists. We need to take into account all of these harsh conditions that are here and that will never go away whether that is racism, financial discrimination, or others. After hearing from so many other activists, Gay’s approach seems the most authentic and realistic to herself, unlike others that simply wear the mask of a feminist.
Top reviews from other countries
Lo único que no me gustó de estos ensayos, es que en muchos capítulos habla de su vida personal y no ahonda en el tema central del “feminismo”
Reviewed in Mexico on January 11, 2023
Lo único que no me gustó de estos ensayos, es que en muchos capítulos habla de su vida personal y no ahonda en el tema central del “feminismo”
I couldn’t put this book down, even with my distracted mind that loves to skip from one activity to the other. I just kept coming back for more! Please, buy this book. You will not regret it. It will be relevant in your lifetime, and trust me, your children will one day find gems in these essays; this book is timeless.














