Meanwhile, the help rot in a prison of bigotry. Her criticism of The Help, the film based on Kathryn Stockett’s best-selling novel, stems from the oft-employed device of “magical negroes” to enlighten white characters about the evils of the world. for the people who have whatever weakness allows them to do terrible things unto others.” “Humor about sexual violence suggests permissiveness. In “Some Jokes are Funnier Than Others,” she condemns rape jokes (and their dire consequences) in stand-up comedy.
He just does, so shut up and let him give it to you.” In “Blurred Lines, Indeed,” a castigation of Robin Thicke’s eponymous hit song, Gay writes, “Critics have been vocal about the sexual violence undertones in the song and they’re not wrong. She parses artistic intent from racism, sexism and misogyny in pop culture. In her superb collection, Gay’s instinct, acumen and wit coalesce. I cannot and will not deny the importance and absolute necessity of feminism.” “No matter what issues I have with feminism, I am a feminist. Women from these groups have been shamefully abandoned by Capital F-Feminism, time and again.” Still, Gay refuses to throw the feminist baby out with the bathwater. “Women of color, queer women, and transgender women need to be better included in the feminist project.
The term reflects her staunch feminist beliefs coupled with a few guilty, non-feminist pleasures (reality television), and the acknowledgment that feminism, like all philosophies, has a history of exclusion, too. Bad Feminist abstains from non-evidentiary link-bait rants (a veritable genre of commentary), but it delivers a collage of insightful, irreverent and intelligent arguments with the no-nonsense, unfiltered straight-talk of a favorite aunt who catches you with your hand in the cookie jar before dinner.ĭaughter of Haitian immigrants, Gay hardly embodies a bad feminist. In Bad Feminist, her highly anticipated collection of more than three-dozen essays (some appeared in The Rumpus, Salon and Jezebel, among other publications), Gay casts a critical eye on entertainment and culture, particularly the consumption of television, news, movies, sports, literature and comedy. And on Tumblr, woven within step-by-step instructions for recipes of her favorite dishes, she ruminates on self-worth. She founded and co-edits PANK, a literary journal. To her 18,000 followers on Twitter, she tweets about episodes of The Barefoot Contessa, poker games with men, or her latest bout with insomnia. Flavorwire recently named Gay one of the Internet’s most influential writers. Roxane Gay’s writings capture the zeitgeist.Īn Untamed State, her chilling debut novel of a woman kidnapped and held 13 days for ransom, garnered praise from coast to coast after its release last May.