Title: Bad Feminist

Author: Roxane Gay

Publisher: Harper Perennial 2014

Genre: Nonfiction Essays

Pages: 336

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual; Monthly Theme - March

A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched young cultural observers of her generation, Roxane Gay.

In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of color (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.

I loved every essay that Gay focused on her own experiences and thoughts. Learning her personal take on various aspects of life was eye-opening. I love feminist texts that embrace intersectional feminism. Gay excels as laying out the all the different aspects of life and how feminism affects them. I really fell into those essays. Unfortunately, she also included very academic essay focused on pop culture. Those took me right back to college and not in a good way. I was thoroughly bored with those. And of course, they were very dated 6 years later. I would have loved to delete those essays and just keep the personal ones.

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