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safymo's review against another edition
3.5
I learned a lot from this book, how being a feminist doesn't mean being perfect and consistently and always picking the side that moves the cause forward - feminists are human.
I also heard a lot that I already knew - how a lot of ignorant people misunderstand the meaning of feminism, how they exclude the narrative of trans lives and POC, how they propagate reductive and negative ideas of what it means to be a feminist, how men (and women) in power have belittled us through the ages...
and there were parts I disagreed with - however tiring it is to hear about slavery and about women's perennial fight for justice, I think it's important to teach people, especially as far right movements do their best to minimise and nullify these issues. People should be taught to recognise the red flags in the public discourse because as Gay emphasises "History repeats itself".
but Gay always acknowledges her bias and I should give her the same grace for that bias as I should give myself for being a bad feminist at times. Overall it's a well written book and an important one at that.
Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Slavery
emilove's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Sexual harassment
stacylaughs's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Racism and Rape
196books's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Xenophobia, Police brutality, and Abortion
Minor: Slavery and Colonisation
maresuju's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexism and Abortion
Minor: Police brutality, Murder, and Pregnancy
rapunzelholly's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Rape
Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
susannadkm's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual content, and Police brutality
cryptofauna's review against another edition
2.75
i think my main problem is that it doesn't feel like a book. it obviously says essays on the front, and they were essays for sure, but it didn't feel coherent enough to be united as a book or under the title bad feminist. the essays themselves were pretty good, i liked some more than others, but together it felt kind of endless and rambly, especially because it seemed like most of them weren't actually about feminism.
some of it was interesting but i was actively skipping essays towards the end bc i was just over it.
feminism is ovb intersectional, and i value all the stuff she was talking about independently, but it didn't feel connected. it really felt like gay had a lot of essays on her blog that she liked, and wanted to somehow fit into a book, so she wrote an essay for the beginning and at the end to establish the bad feminist thing
like i said, i agreed with her on most things, mostly the main points, (racisms is bad, depictions of minority groups in media, the big important stuff) rather than her thoughts on trigger warnings which i didn't 100% agree on, as well as other non-important ones that i kind of don't remember specifics of (because i was so desperate to finish this book that could not hold my attention whatsoever)
i appreciated a book that gave more insights and opinions on these topics that makes you think harder about intersectionality (especially the black experience which ovb i don't know as well), but while she had opinions that could be divisive if you're evil, it felt a little bit like preaching to the choir sometimes, and she spent a lot of time covering her ass. every time she would make a new statement or opinion, i felt like she would say something along the lines of "what im not saying is that men are evil and should die" which like. yes? i don't honestly know for sure what my criticism here is but it felt weird and out of place that she spent so much time defending parts of her opinions that didn't really require it. if you're reading the book, you're probably not sitting there being like "wow she clearly thinks black men should stop making movies!". this is hyperbolic and maybe it didn't happen as much as im saying it did, but it was enough to notice when it happened repeatedly and something about it was irritating to me.
overall, i liked her writing style and her thoughts if i was just reading her essays as standalone pieces of writing, but all together i found it fairly boring as much as i tried to love and be strongly affected by it. also, i did not know like any of the media she was reviewing which isn't her fault, but also feels sort of necessary to understand the actual depth of the writing.
sorry roxane gay i had high hopes this one just isn't for me. i may seek out her blog/essays to read more of her writing in its natural habitat, because she really is a talented writer with a lot of in depth thoughts that she explains fairly well, it just became SO long winded and tiring reading them one after another. you cannot understand the relief i felt when i was done with this.
Moderate: Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Police brutality
cogowno's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, and Sexism
vaykay's review against another edition
3.5
That said, I want to read more of Gay's more recent work to see how her voice and ideas have grown and changed in the last 10 years.
Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Homophobia and Abortion
Minor: Ableism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry