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A review by oreiadae
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
2.0
2.5
Sad, I know. Also, unexpected.
This book was very middle of the road for me. I am notoriously bad with non-fiction no matter how many intellectual books by smart people I pile onto my tbr, but I went into this expecting to love it, because I have heard many good things, and also because I am a rabid (and also bad, if we go by Gay's definition) feminist.
I did not love it.
Most of the essays raised good points, and I enjoyed some more than others (I particularly liked the last essay) but the whole time i kind of wished that the essays were shorter and longer at the same time, somehow. Alot of them just seem a bit shallow, I wish they went more in depth.
There is also the matter of some parts of this writing not having aged particularly well by now, or essays making points that people who are conscious and interact in recent social justice discourses are already aware of.
Ultimately, I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it when it came out, and I do partially blame myself for just. not getting into non-fiction for how slowly and begrudgingly i read through this book.
I do recommend it though for people who struggle with the label of feminist or people who are not very invested in social justice issues, like reproductive rights, police brutality, etc. and want to learn more or maybe just want to analyse some internalised misogyny.
I am very comfortable with labeling myself as a feminist, and have been for a while so this just basically spoke back at me things I already internalised.
Sad, I know. Also, unexpected.
This book was very middle of the road for me. I am notoriously bad with non-fiction no matter how many intellectual books by smart people I pile onto my tbr, but I went into this expecting to love it, because I have heard many good things, and also because I am a rabid (and also bad, if we go by Gay's definition) feminist.
I did not love it.
Most of the essays raised good points, and I enjoyed some more than others (I particularly liked the last essay) but the whole time i kind of wished that the essays were shorter and longer at the same time, somehow. Alot of them just seem a bit shallow, I wish they went more in depth.
There is also the matter of some parts of this writing not having aged particularly well by now, or essays making points that people who are conscious and interact in recent social justice discourses are already aware of.
Ultimately, I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it when it came out, and I do partially blame myself for just. not getting into non-fiction for how slowly and begrudgingly i read through this book.
I do recommend it though for people who struggle with the label of feminist or people who are not very invested in social justice issues, like reproductive rights, police brutality, etc. and want to learn more or maybe just want to analyse some internalised misogyny.
I am very comfortable with labeling myself as a feminist, and have been for a while so this just basically spoke back at me things I already internalised.