Bad Feminist / Good Writer

When I was in high school, one of my favorite blogs was Sarah Bunting’s Tomato Nation. I read it obsessively, along with most of the other content on DamnHellAssKings, which sadly doesn’t seem to exist any longer. Bunting published an essay at one point called Yes, You Are, and I distinctly remember printing it out and bringing it to school to show this obnoxious boy in my science class (I was a lot of fun in high school). Yes, You Are listed the dictionary definition of feminism, and Bunting added the following “[the definition] is quite straightforward and concise. If you believe in, support, look fondly on, hope for, and/or work towards equality of the sexes, you are a feminist.” That’s it. She then goes on to say you can still be a feminist if you wax your legs or bite your nails or vote Republican or whatever. “If you believe in, support, look fondly on, hope for, and/or work towards equality of the sexes, you are a feminist.”. I loved that article, and I think of it often. Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist reminded me a lot of Bunting’s article, and if I were still in high school, I would totally bring it to class and make people read it.

“I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I’m not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I’m right. I am just trying—trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself.”

This collection of essays focuses not only on feminism, but on a lot of other “touchy’ issues. The selections have labels like, “Race & Entertainment”, or “Gender & Sexuality”. Every essay is interesting and well-written, but I particularly like the ones where Gay talks about herself and her own heritage. She’s a fascinating, intelligent woman and I loved learning about her and how the world works for (or against) her. I also liked when she talked pop culture: movies, twitter, her own obsession with Scrabble. It’s an important book, one that poses hard questions and speak hard truths, but it’s also enjoyable and wonderful to read.