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A review by warloujoyce
Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture by Roxane Gay
4.5
It feels off to rate a collection of essays about rape culture, but the star rating here is an arbitrary measure of how I felt about the writing in general. It doesn’t, by any means, intend to assign value to the contributors’ stories.
It was tough to listen to the audiobook because the content evoked negative emotions — rage, frustration, disgust, fear and sadness — so I could only listen to a max. of two essays at a time. The quality of the writing differed significantly in some parts, which I couldn’t ignore, that’s why I docked a star. Regardless, this was a powerful read. Please consider your sensitivities and available bandwidth before picking it up, though, since the entire collection is a trigger. Let’s protect ourselves.
While we’re at it, this book, or my reaction to it, is a big fuck you to predators, fuck you to anyone (rapists, creeps, enablers, apologists, victim-blamers, gaslighters who feel entitled to another person’s body) who dismisses rape culture and all the ways it harms and manifests in our lives. Rape culture is THAT BAD, and those who claim otherwise may be who allow what’s wrong in our society to persist. I said what I said. OK getting enraged again. Bye.
It was tough to listen to the audiobook because the content evoked negative emotions — rage, frustration, disgust, fear and sadness — so I could only listen to a max. of two essays at a time. The quality of the writing differed significantly in some parts, which I couldn’t ignore, that’s why I docked a star. Regardless, this was a powerful read. Please consider your sensitivities and available bandwidth before picking it up, though, since the entire collection is a trigger. Let’s protect ourselves.
While we’re at it, this book, or my reaction to it, is a big fuck you to predators, fuck you to anyone (rapists, creeps, enablers, apologists, victim-blamers, gaslighters who feel entitled to another person’s body) who dismisses rape culture and all the ways it harms and manifests in our lives. Rape culture is THAT BAD, and those who claim otherwise may be who allow what’s wrong in our society to persist. I said what I said. OK getting enraged again. Bye.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual harassment