Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

7 reviews

vaykay's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.5

I struggle sometimes to review older material such as Bad Feminist (10 years later) because oftentimes it loses relevancy. Many essays in this book have lost all relevancy or are on popular cultural artifacts that have been discussed to shit by now (i.e. The Help and Orange is the New Black). It isn't a crime to be dated or to discuss the then-and-now with no concern for how relevant it will be 10 years from now, but I want to warn other readers that much of it is outdated. Many essays were good and interesting; some essays were extremely hypocritical and irritating due to what felt like an elementary level of self-reflection and understanding as well as comfortability with her voice as an essay writer. Gay's implications that reveling in more traditionally feminine things like pink, materialism, weddings, and — I guess — sucking dick means you're not a feminist (or at least not a good one) was weird. That implication was probably the least feminist thing about Bad Feminist because in her moment of self-doubt and projection, she tore down other women. It felt weird and uncomfortable... and not the sort of discomfort that is well-meaning in its ability to challenge you. Unfortunately, the first and last essays are the worst ones in the text, which seems like an interesting choice to hook readers and leave them fulfilled by the ending.

That said, I want to read more of Gay's more recent work to see how her voice and ideas have grown and changed in the last 10 years.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Murder, Pregnancy, Outing, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Moderate: Homophobia and Abortion

Minor: Ableism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Islamophobia, and Religious bigotry

dreareads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

Reading this book made me feel like a Bad Feminist because I did not love it...

I will begin by saying that there are plenty of essays to love, and Roxane Gay is at times a very engaging author. Her writing is at its best when she is clearly passionate about the topic and unrestrained in her opinions.

That being said, I feel like this book is a clear product of its time. The discussions on feminisn, gender, and representation in media were examples of the liberal feminism that was rampant in the early 2010's. This is not necessarily a bad thing (the essays were written at that time) but it does make it more difficult to fully engage with it in 2024. I also had my own frustration with her takes on academia, because while I agree with majority of her criticisms, as a woman of color in Academia myself I found that some of her stances perpetuated a kind of toxic expectation on students of colors that is prevalent amongst academic of colors from older generations.  I was also left wishing for a more in depth exploration on the significant role of class and wealth and discussions of representation. 

I still believe this is a book worth while reading. Especially because despite of it being a product of the 2012's a lot of the discussions on misogyny are still unfortunately too relevant today. I look forward to reading more of her contemporary work and seeing how (and if) her perspective has evolved in the years since the release of Bad Feminist. 

(Idk how relevant this is, but I listened to the audio book and I was disappointed that it was not narrated by her. It created a sense of disconnection between the written essays and the audience that I hadn't experienced before)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abortion, and Alcohol

liviburke1's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This is an incredible collection of essays on current events and what it means to be a feminist in this day and age. Would highly recommend to anyone who is aiming to be a more intersectional feminist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse and Rape

tagschlaeferin's review against another edition

inspiring

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Physical abuse and Sexual violence

ginimeh's review against another edition

challenging funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

2.5

I read Bad Feminist in 2023 after years and years of having it on my reading list. I think this is why I was so disappointed by the book. I only ever knew the title and after coming to terms with the fact that Gay is not writing about being a bad feminist but mainly popculture and the time the book was written I was ready and set to read it in historical context. 
There were a lot of points where I thought "if I read this as a teen back when it was published I'd be able to take so much from it" and some thoughts and sentences are a welcomed gift for the next arguments I'll have with sexists or racists but further than that it didn't give me much. The only thing I really take away from it is that 2014 was still a year when "being feminist" meant to be a woman, to only talk about two genders, to mix up liking a specific color and shaving your legs is the same as supporting being a bad feminist. Honestly the last chapter accomplished to ruin the book for me. 2014 is almost a decade ago but if you write a book about feminism (no matter if it's about your perspective or the lense of media and society) I think one should look at the big scope of privilege and not only brush them while talking about two main points or axes of intersectionality. But maybe I'm putting to much responsibility on the author and thereby proof her point that we expect a lot from feminism. 

Also I read it in German and the translation were horribly stiff sometimes. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Cultural appropriation, and Sexual harassment

emmagreenwood's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

nanabee23's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, and Police brutality