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matcha_pages's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
vaekay's review
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with no concern for how relevant it will be 10 years from now, but I want to warn other readers that much of it is outdated.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.
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
kaelaceleste's review
5.0
Probably a 4.5 honestly but I loved it so I rounded up whatever. This was on my list for a long time and I’m so glad I finally got my hands on it. I didn’t love every essay but I did love most of them and I thought they got better as they went on. I saw some reviews saying they didn't like the pop culture references but I actually loved them. Some of my favorite essays were Typical First Year Professor, How We All Lose, Reaching for Catharsis, the Illusion of Safety, and pretty much everything from Beyond the Measure of Men to the end of the book. Especially the last few lines…I’d rather be a bad feminist than not a feminist at all. A new favorite!
lauradoesnothing's review
fast-paced
2.0
HOUSEKEEPING: Since Gay doesn't believe in content warnings, I should advise that the essay starting with 5 pages of squeeing over The Hunger Games does handbrake turn into a graphic SA story after page 6. Reader beware.
The next time I start reading a collection of feminist essays, please take the book out of my hands and slap me in the face with it. It's the only way I'll learn.
This book is fine, but if you've read one book about feminism, you've read this one: abortion and contraceptive rights are essential, pop culture is fun but problematic, rape jokes aren't funny, body image issues, sexual assault story, and that's a bingo! Gay is Haitian American, and I was excited to see what she had to say about race that might expand my perspective, but I didn't learn anything from this book.
The shining moments come when Gay lovingly describes books she's particularly fond of, a bit like when you go to a friend's birthday party and meet someone new you really hit it off with - so much so that a decade down the line, neither of you remember whose party it was.
The next time I start reading a collection of feminist essays, please take the book out of my hands and slap me in the face with it. It's the only way I'll learn.
This book is fine, but if you've read one book about feminism, you've read this one: abortion and contraceptive rights are essential, pop culture is fun but problematic, rape jokes aren't funny, body image issues, sexual assault story, and that's a bingo! Gay is Haitian American, and I was excited to see what she had to say about race that might expand my perspective, but I didn't learn anything from this book.
The shining moments come when Gay lovingly describes books she's particularly fond of, a bit like when you go to a friend's birthday party and meet someone new you really hit it off with - so much so that a decade down the line, neither of you remember whose party it was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
mrswhite's review
3.0
3.5 stars. An interesting collection of essays (sometimes loosely) themed around feminist issues, even if nothing here really challenged me much. Gay likes to write about pop culture, which is fun; however, it becomes almost a weakness when, only three years after publication, the book starts to feel dated. (Case in point: the essay about Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines.") Nevertheless, I liked it. The Scrabble essay was a head scratcher, though.
gabrielle_erin's review
4.0
"I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all." I have a tough time reflecting on non-fiction as whilst I enjoy reading it, it's a completely different experience than compared to consuming fiction. It's more about the process of broadening my understandings of a topic than enjoying content, plot and characters. This book taught me a lot. It's sat on my shelf for a while and I'm glad it did because I think now was the perfect time for me to read it. I really connected with Gay's discussion of essentialist feminism and women's literature. There were some essays I found to be a bit bland but overall, her perspective on the state of things is still very relevant and very thought provoking. This is definitely a collection I will come back to as the years go on.
ammarahw's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
I think the perspective of this book is slightly dated. It seems like Gay lives in a circle that makes her feel like feminists need to be working all the time to better themselves and represent women well in every facet of their lives (and shouldn’t shave their legs or wear makeup). I feel fortunate that as a POC feminist I’ve been included and really only been given more choices about how I can shape my life compared to what I grew up with in my culture as an American born Indian woman. There’s far more productive media (I’m thinking specifically of books and movies) and representation for women and BIPOC compared to what she sites in her essays.
For the most part as someone born in 1997 I was able to grasp a lot of the pop culture references but not all of them. I feel like I was still able to get the point but the essays where I had seen that movie, read the book or watched the TV show were fun and I liked how reading this book felt like talking to her about whatever we’d seen and read.
Ultimately I think this is an interesting read that helps people take stock of where we were in 2014, how we’ve moved forward and places we haven’t made much progress and need do more.
For the most part as someone born in 1997 I was able to grasp a lot of the pop culture references but not all of them. I feel like I was still able to get the point but the essays where I had seen that movie, read the book or watched the TV show were fun and I liked how reading this book felt like talking to her about whatever we’d seen and read.
Ultimately I think this is an interesting read that helps people take stock of where we were in 2014, how we’ve moved forward and places we haven’t made much progress and need do more.