Reddit reviews Bad Feminist: Essays

I'm reading Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay. A collection of feminist essays, discussing everything from the idea of trigger warnings to body image issues to the Sweet Valley High series.... it's amazing, and I highly, highly recommend it. Very entertaining and profound.

What about you??

Bad Feminist is a really good book

For me, feminism is just about ensuring that women (ALL women - including women of color, trans women, LGBT etc.) have the opportunity to exist in a world where they're considered equal and are free to make the best choices for themselves.

This is a decent article on third wave feminism and I highly recommend reading Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay as well (my husband bought it for me before I'd ever even heard of it - how awesome is he??).

Some people are really incapable of accepting the contradictions inherent within their own thought. These are just simple matters of fact you have to become comfortable with. From Roxanne Gay's introduction to Bad Feminist:

>I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I’m not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I’m right. I am just trying—trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself.

She further goes on to state:

>I believe feminism is grounded in supporting the choices of women even if we wouldn't make certain choices for ourselves.

While all of the above focuses on the distinction between feminism [what Gay says she subscribes to] and Feminism [as "one true feminism to dominate all of womankind"], it's the same concept really - allowing contradictions in your thoughts and actions and understanding that it's okay to do so. No one is perfect. But, as you point out, in denying PoC to differ from them in opinion [or to look down upon them for doing so], illustrates an unwillingness to allow for those contradictions and to believe there is only one, correct way of operating. They've built their whole identities around these beliefs and they've put them out in to the public record quite openly. For them to acknowledge the contradictions, the holes, they would not only have to admit to themselves that they may have been wrong, but to admit to an audience as well. In the face of public ridicule, it's easier to just double down and deny such contradictions exist.

I just finished reading Bad Feminist. It's one of the first books I've read on feminism and found myself relating to a lot of what Gay had to say.

I loved All The Single Ladies by Rebecca Traister, Bad Feminist by Roxane Gray and Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit.

I just purchased Feminist Fight Club by Jessica Bennett but haven't had the chance to read it yet.

Here are some books I think might give you a taste of what kinds of sexist stuff women have to put up with regularly:

https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Object-Memoir-Jessica-Valenti/dp/0062435094

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0143129201/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316348406/

https://www.amazon.com/What-Girls-Made-Elana-Arnold/dp/1512410241

https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Feminist-Essays-Roxane-Gay/dp/0062282719

https://www.amazon.com/Gone-Girl-Gillian-Flynn/dp/0307588378

The last one is perhaps the farthest stretch, but I do think it's a lot about how women are made to comform to roles, as well as all the little ways men might dominate women, and plays with the usual perceptions of that. Maybe read it after you've read a lot of the other works so you're more familiar with the everyday struggles of women, otherwise it might not be as poignant to read as a guy.

Anyways, I'm glad that there are guys like you out there who are more open to learning about this stuff.

You're welcome!! Actually since you seem pretty curious and that video lands you in the deep end for understanding only one specific culture (of males--who mostly hate themselves), I'd actually recommend Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay. It's a fun read, I think.

You'd think someone would actually review the actions and literature of a movement before attempting to speak authoritatively on it.

You'd think so, but this is the internet... so you'd be wrong.

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I'd dare you to read Bad Feminist and Women & Power but it's been my experience that people avoid information that makes them uncomfortable so I already know you won't bother.