Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

25 reviews

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective slow-paced

3.75

I feel like a jerk rating this so low because it's Roxane Gay and she's amazing, but I felt like the essays were a little all over the place for me? They were all well written of course and many were powerful, but there was just  hat something special, that oomph missing for me I guess.

It is fascinating thinking about how these essays were written almost ten years ago and so many of the issues they deal with are still just as prevalent now. And not in a fun way, in a depressing way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Police brutality, Abortion, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder and Toxic relationship

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

schnanko's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Abortion, and Sexual harassment

maggieparedesauthor's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Abortion, Cultural appropriation, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

katie_reading's review against another edition

challenging informative lighthearted reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Police brutality

emwgrace's review against another edition

funny hopeful informative fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, and Police brutality

Minor: Racial slurs

cassielaj's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Roxane Gay’s authorial voice is powerful, honest, and unlike any other. Her perspectives on everything from Scrabble to reproductive rights are poignant, hilarious, and absolutely as necessary today as they were in 2015. Everyone should read this. And Bahni Turpin’s narration in the audiobook is spectacular. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, and Police brutality

There are essays in this book that are challenging and cover tragic content, but Gay does so in a very compassionate way with a great deal of care.

taviarz's review against another edition

slow-paced

4.0

Good for an intro to media analysis and how it intersects with gender, race, and politics.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, and Sexual harassment

beca_reads's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

I feel that younger me would of appreciated this. I wish I had read this a few years ago when I was first starting to explore feminist writing, It lays down the foundations and some nuance to the each topic that is explored. I would definitely recommend this book to people just starting out in reading feminist nonfiction as the writing is accessible, and explores a variety of topics from education to the music industry. 
 I went into this thinking it was going to be more statistical based but was more so Gay's personal journey with being a feminist while drawing on feminist research and global events To begin with I was not so sure on the writing style but  I think maybe some of the earlier essay's were just weaker than some of the later essay's in the book. I did really enjoy how Gay talked about literature and other forms of the media throughout the book, It's left me with lots of good recommendations to read or watch and added a critical lens to media I've already consumed.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Murder, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Classism

its_j's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Police brutality, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment