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A review by safymo
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I wanted to like this book a whole lot more than I did.
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Rape, and Slavery