She acknowledged that exercise is good for her, but she still can’t shake her hatred for the activity.Īt one point during her presentation, Gay said her favorite food show is “Barefoot Contessa,” which is hosted by Ina Garten. “Hunger,” written with humor and wit, prompted Gay to confess her dislike for exercise. Gay, who at her heaviest was 577 pounds, told Towson students about her experiences with her body by reading key excerpts. Have you read Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.Popular feminist, best-selling author. Reading books like this won’t solve all the problems we face as a society today, but it is certainly a step in the right direction. It also should be required reading for anyone who strives to bridge the gaps of understanding created by race, religion, gender and socioeconomic status. This book is required reading for anyone who identifies as a feminist but has trouble living up to everything that fraught word has come to mean. Gay’s essays on race helped me look at things in new ways, and I am deeply grateful for that. While I always endeavor to see things from the perspective of others, I know I am not even close to perfect in that goal. I will never be able to understand the experiences of those who are different from me in these ways.Īnd while it is not Gay’s, or any other black person’s, responsibility to educate me or anyone else on their struggles and the way society has systematically oppressed them throughout history, I know it is important that I am exposed to Gay’s stories of her personal experience. As a white, heterosexual woman, I understand that I enjoy certain privileges over those who are not white and not heterosexual. Perhaps the most enlightening parts of Bad Feminist for me were the essays where Gay deals with race. Her descriptions of her experiences at various tournaments tickled me with their seriousness that bordered on ridiculous.
ROXANE GAY BAD FEMINIST ESSAY EXCERPT PROFESSIONAL
Gay reveals how Scrabble, much like professional sports, involves many rules, ruthless players and mind games. They’re few, to be sure – you can’t be funny when talking about rape and rape culture, which Gay explores in the essay “Some Jokes Are Funnier Than Others.” One of the lighter bits, and one of my favorite parts of the entire collection, is the essay “To Scratch, Claw, or Grope Clumsily or Frantically,” in which Gay tells of how she got into playing professional Scrabble.
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That isn’t to say that there aren’t some lighter moments throughout the text. While this is merely a book with words on pages, it deals in a nonfiction that we see playing out in the media and the internet and in our lives every single day. It can be exhausting to care so deeply and be so passionate about your beliefs it’s an exhaustion that Gay voices herself. I will not lie and say that there were times where I had to step away from this collection in favor of lighter reading. This is a woman who understands that her point of view is one of many, but that doesn’t make it any less important for her to say her piece. Gay’s arguments are strong and delivered with conviction, but she by no means is rabble-rousing. I also found it liberating to read about feminism and race and gender from an author who meticulously lays out her arguments, drawing in examples from various texts, current events and pop culture. This book felt like personal liberation for me because I got confirmation that someone thinks the way I do. And just as Gay finds freedom in identifying as a bad feminist, I find peace in knowing I am not the only person who feels like a bad feminist from time to time. Much of what Roxane Gay says in her essay collection Bad Feminist describes emotions and thoughts and experiences that I identify and connect with deeply.
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I can’t tell you how many times I’ve felt like a bad feminist. I cannot tell you how freeing it has been to accept this about myself.” –Roxane Gay I have certain…interests and personality traits and opinions that may not fall in line with mainstream feminism, but I am still a feminist. I am not as well read in key feminist texts as I would like to be. I am not terribly well versed in feminist history. “I openly embrace the label of bad feminist.