Scan barcode
A review by mikes_
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
5.0
I have always been a nerd, and as a teenager, I did my best to conceal that fact because I hated the label being associated with the things I absolutely enjoy doing, which sounded derogatory to "cool" people in school. Of course, I wanted to be one of the "cool" ones. I think it's perfectly normal to have had that phase where you just wanted to pretend just so you felt like you belonged, but I want to reiterate that being a nerd is actually really cool, and it's even cooler to have nerdy friends too. It took me some time to realize that what keeps me studying for hours and feeding my reading urges when everybody seems to dislike it is my hunger for knowledge. The thing is, I love bettering myself. In fact, I may be addicted to it at this point. I always have this need to broaden my opinion on things and see how I can consistently relearn and revise what I think I already knew. These things alter how I behave, empathize with the world and the people around me, and generally coexist, so I look forward to being humbled in ways I haven't considered before. To tie all this, this essay collection taught me so many things that I will forever feel indebted for; it introduced me to so many important ideas that I now can't wait to read more about so my ideology can expand. It got me thinking and rewiring my brain because there are concepts that made me feel called out in an enlightening way. It improved my critical lens regarding topics that are now pertinent to the current state of the world, including, of course, feminism, racism, sexuality, power dynamics and imbalances, and more issues on which I need to do supplemental reading. When you finally open your mind to these social injustices, it stays that way forever; you just get to decide what to do with those observations and how you can help in your own way with your own set of privileges. Maybe this is not the best book about feminism, hence the mixed reviews, but for someone like me and a hundred other readers out there who really just want to start somewhere, I honestly think this is a good place to begin. This is digestible and ignites a need to find more books with diverse voices and topics. Isn't it our goal to inspire and motivate other people to join movements that help the world? That helps women be heard and treated with equality and respect? This is one brilliantly written book, and I too would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all.
____________________
𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: 5 stars ★
____________________
𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨/𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨: (just some)
“Movies, more often than not, tell the stories of men as if men’s stories are the only stories that matter. When women are involved, they are sidekicks, the romantic interests, the afterthoughts. Rarely do women get to be the center of attention. Rarely do our stories get to matter.”
“Feminism is a choice, and if a woman does not want to be a feminist, that is her right, but it is still my responsibility to fight for her rights. I believe feminism is grounded in supporting the choices of women even if we wouldn’t make certain choices for ourselves. I believe women not just in the United States but throughout the world deserve equality and freedom but know I am in no position to tell women of other cultures what that equality and freedom should look like.”
“Feminism has given me peace. Feminism has given me guiding principles for how I write, how I read, how I live. I do stray from these principles, but I also know it’s okay when I do not live up to my best feminist self.”
“But two wrongs do not make a right. Feminism’s failings do not mean we should eschew feminism entirely. People do terrible things all the time, but we don’t regularly disown our humanity. We disavow the terrible things. We should disavow the failures of feminism without disavowing its many successes and how far we have come.”
“I love being with someone who is endlessly interesting because we are so different. Wanting to belong to people or a person is not about finding a mirror image of myself.”
“You don’t necessarily have to do anything once you acknowledge your privilege. You don’t have to apologize for it. You need to understand the extent of your privilege, the consequences of your privilege, and remain aware that people who are different from you move through and experience the world in ways you might never know anything about. They might endure situations you can never know anything about. You could, however, use that privilege for the greater good—to try to level the playing field for everyone, to work for social justice, to bring attention to how those without certain privileges are disenfranchised. We’ve seen what the hoarding of privilege has done, and the results are shameful.”
____________________
𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜: 5 stars ★
____________________
𝙛𝙖𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙦𝙪𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙨/𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨: (just some)
“Movies, more often than not, tell the stories of men as if men’s stories are the only stories that matter. When women are involved, they are sidekicks, the romantic interests, the afterthoughts. Rarely do women get to be the center of attention. Rarely do our stories get to matter.”
“Feminism is a choice, and if a woman does not want to be a feminist, that is her right, but it is still my responsibility to fight for her rights. I believe feminism is grounded in supporting the choices of women even if we wouldn’t make certain choices for ourselves. I believe women not just in the United States but throughout the world deserve equality and freedom but know I am in no position to tell women of other cultures what that equality and freedom should look like.”
“Feminism has given me peace. Feminism has given me guiding principles for how I write, how I read, how I live. I do stray from these principles, but I also know it’s okay when I do not live up to my best feminist self.”
“But two wrongs do not make a right. Feminism’s failings do not mean we should eschew feminism entirely. People do terrible things all the time, but we don’t regularly disown our humanity. We disavow the terrible things. We should disavow the failures of feminism without disavowing its many successes and how far we have come.”
“I love being with someone who is endlessly interesting because we are so different. Wanting to belong to people or a person is not about finding a mirror image of myself.”
“You don’t necessarily have to do anything once you acknowledge your privilege. You don’t have to apologize for it. You need to understand the extent of your privilege, the consequences of your privilege, and remain aware that people who are different from you move through and experience the world in ways you might never know anything about. They might endure situations you can never know anything about. You could, however, use that privilege for the greater good—to try to level the playing field for everyone, to work for social justice, to bring attention to how those without certain privileges are disenfranchised. We’ve seen what the hoarding of privilege has done, and the results are shameful.”