lady_moon's review against another edition
1.5
Bad Feminist had a good start. I had fun listening in the beginning, I enjoyed her talking about her time as an advisor, about privilege and her time as professor. There was an essay about scrabble...? That was boring and pretty pointless. Then there was an essay about how to have women friends, which was... a list with just common sense and stupid points. But I tell myself, okay I can ignore that.
But there were also essays that talked about random pieces of media? Some shows and books, some critique, like... I don't know any of this media, except The Hunger Games, so I wasn't really invested in all this. I wasn't fan of the The Hunger Games essay though. I just didn't care to be honest? It didn't add anything to the conversation. If this was a memoir or something, fine, but it isn't - this is book with essays named Bad Feminist. Such essays were just a little out of place. And I personally was annoyed at the unnecessary amatonormativity that was present.
Now, I could have ignored all of this. I really could have. But then the trigger warning discussion came. And it pissed me off. For the most part there was nuance and dissection, about censorship and what can be a trigger. But then she basically said she can't understand how some people live in the illusion of safety and that trigger warning won't protect them from what already is inside them. I'm sorry but what the fuck?? Does she know think "warning" means? It's not there to protect you or to prevent you from consuming this media (as she also thinks) but to warn you what you're going to consume so you can take care of yourself if needed. What was this bullshit, honestly? This is the first time I really felt there's something not quite right with this book.
(Not to mention before that there's a heavy discussion of rape and her own rape and right after that to have is an essay about trigger warning... I mean, that's petty.)
Then there's one waaayyy too long essay that criticize Fifty Shades of Grey. Woman, what the hell 😠We all know this book is shit, there really wasn't need of such deep critique of it (half of which is a rant, honestly). I was really tempted to DNF at that point.
Other thing that baffled me: The hunting of witches is, apperantly, because rulers wanted to prevent abortions?? 😠What is this woman talking about, I- Tell me you don't know anything outside of USA history without telling you don't know anything outside of USA.
The hunting of witches isn't some trick the government to take down people who know the medicine for abortion (maybe that was someone's idea, I don't know). Hunting witches was rooted in superstition, xenophobia, bigotry and most of all - misogyny. Don't make it related to something irrelevant just so it can appeal to American issue.
After that it was a series of discussion of different movies with Black representations. I knew exactly two of this movies/Tv series, one of which I haven't watched. This was curious for me, as a white person who doesn't watch a lot of these genres, let alone critique of it.
Overall, there just... wasn't anything new? Anything even remotely deeper to add to the discussion regarding feminism. Not even to the conversation about race to be honest? There wasn't anything new, anything interesting, not even in the way it was presented to us. I do enjoyed some things in the beginning but then it quickly became painfully average. Kudos for the advertisement lol, I was really convinced I'm picking up an amazing book.Â
Graphic: Abortion, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Classism, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, and Misogyny
Moderate: Homophobia, Acephobia/Arophobia, Hate crime, Bullying, Pedophilia, Slavery, and Vomit
Minor: Eating disorder, Medical content, and Outing
emwgrace's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Sexism, Racism, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Misogyny, Slavery, Homophobia, Police brutality, and Violence
Minor: Racial slurs
mydearwatsonbooks's review against another edition
Graphic: Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Domestic abuse, Abortion, and Sexism
Moderate: Racial slurs and Pregnancy
Minor: Ableism
Use of r-word; references to Bill Cosby, Sherman Alexis, and Dave Chappelle (not in trouble at time of publication; references to Jerry Sandusky, Richard Pryor, Daniel Tosh, Robin Thicke, and othersreadingthroughinfinity's review against another edition
3.0
The essays about various TV shows were interesting, as Gay goes into a lot of detail about the depiction of women and frames the shows in new contexts. My issue is that even though this book was only published in 2014, the pop culture references feel dated? It just goes to show how quickly life moves on, as some the shows Gay mentions finished years ago and feel far less relevant now.
Some of the references to high profile figures (Bill Crosby, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) also haven't aged well (though Gay couldn't really have predicted that) and I found that, while she does critique others for their focus on gender binaries, Gay's writing isn't particularly trans or non-binary inclusive.
I found the essays where Gay discusses racism and draws on some of her own life experiences particularly engaging. The blend of memoir and essay collection words well, but it left me wanting more on the memoir side (just personal preference). On the whole, Gay's reframing of the word 'feminist' and the way she embraces being a 'bad feminist' is refreshing.
Content warnings for discussions of racism, fatphobia, EDs, rape and gang rape. (less)Â
Moderate: Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Rape, and Racism
d0505's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Rape, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Misogyny
Moderate: Bullying
stvnh's review
3.5
Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Gun violence, and Hate crime
Moderate: Abortion, Body shaming, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
brookey8888's review
3.5
Graphic: Abortion, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
emmagreenwood's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Rape, Ableism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cultural appropriation, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Gun violence, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Xenophobia
fullybooked22's review against another edition
3.25
Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Sexism
Moderate: Abortion, Miscarriage, and Police brutality
puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Ableism, Abortion, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Police brutality, Slavery, Transphobia, and Violence