Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

13 reviews

vaekay's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.75

I struggle sometimes to review older material such as Bad Feminist (10 years later) because oftentimes it loses relevancy. Many essays in this book have lost all relevancy or are on popular cultural artifacts that have been discussed to shit by now (i.e. The Help and Orange is the New Black). It isn't a crime to be dated or to discuss the then-and-now with no concern for how relevant it will be 10 years from now, but I want to warn other readers that much of it is outdated. Many essays were good and interesting; some essays were extremely hypocritical and irritating due to what felt like an elementary level of self-reflection and understanding as well as comfortability with her voice as an essay writer. Gay's implications that reveling in more traditionally feminine things like pink, materialism, weddings, and — I guess — sucking dick means you're not a feminist (or at least not a good one) was weird. That implication was probably the least feminist thing about Bad Feminist because in her moment of self-doubt and projection, she tore down other women. It felt weird and uncomfortable... and not the sort of discomfort that is well-meaning in its ability to challenge you. Unfortunately, the first and last essays are the worst ones in the text, which seems like an interesting choice to hook readers and leave them fulfilled by the ending.

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Outing, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Fatphobia, Police brutality, Slavery, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Rape, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Dysphoria, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Bullying, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Body shaming, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion and Homophobia

Minor: Ableism, Drug use, Genocide, Religious bigotry, Drug abuse, and Islamophobia

neni's review against another edition

dark informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

Good writing but themes were inconsistent and often irrelevant to the feminist cause (there were quite a few book and movie reviews that just didn't fit). Giving it 3 stars because there were definitely a couple of really powerful, well worded essays, but I struggled to finish the rest

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

itszosia's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, and Racism

Minor: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Murder, Fatphobia, Misogyny, and Hate crime

ginimeh's review against another edition

challenging funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

2.5

I read Bad Feminist in 2023 after years and years of having it on my reading list. I think this is why I was so disappointed by the book. I only ever knew the title and after coming to terms with the fact that Gay is not writing about being a bad feminist but mainly popculture and the time the book was written I was ready and set to read it in historical context. 
There were a lot of points where I thought "if I read this as a teen back when it was published I'd be able to take so much from it" and some thoughts and sentences are a welcomed gift for the next arguments I'll have with sexists or racists but further than that it didn't give me much. The only thing I really take away from it is that 2014 was still a year when "being feminist" meant to be a woman, to only talk about two genders, to mix up liking a specific color and shaving your legs is the same as supporting being a bad feminist. Honestly the last chapter accomplished to ruin the book for me. 2014 is almost a decade ago but if you write a book about feminism (no matter if it's about your perspective or the lense of media and society) I think one should look at the big scope of privilege and not only brush them while talking about two main points or axes of intersectionality. But maybe I'm putting to much responsibility on the author and thereby proof her point that we expect a lot from feminism. 

Also I read it in German and the translation were horribly stiff sometimes. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime, Murder, Police brutality, Slavery, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Rape, and Sexual assault

schnanko's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Sexism, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Racism, Abortion, Death, Slavery, Violence, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

maggieparedesauthor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Child death, Racism, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Gun violence, Sexual content, Abortion, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

kia_y_k's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Misogyny, Racism, Violence, Slavery, and Xenophobia

taviarz's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

Good for an intro to media analysis and how it intersects with gender, race, and politics.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Gun violence, Racism, Murder, Misogyny, and Death

bi_n_large's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Abortion, Medical trauma, Sexual violence, and Misogyny

beca_reads's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

I feel that younger me would of appreciated this. I wish I had read this a few years ago when I was first starting to explore feminist writing, It lays down the foundations and some nuance to the each topic that is explored. I would definitely recommend this book to people just starting out in reading feminist nonfiction as the writing is accessible, and explores a variety of topics from education to the music industry. 
 I went into this thinking it was going to be more statistical based but was more so Gay's personal journey with being a feminist while drawing on feminist research and global events To begin with I was not so sure on the writing style but  I think maybe some of the earlier essay's were just weaker than some of the later essay's in the book. I did really enjoy how Gay talked about literature and other forms of the media throughout the book, It's left me with lots of good recommendations to read or watch and added a critical lens to media I've already consumed.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Police brutality, Ableism, Body shaming, Racism, Hate crime, Homophobia, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Lesbophobia, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Classism, Islamophobia, and Misogyny