“I am a bad feminist. I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all.”

Here we are – my first Cannonball Read ever!  I’m super excited, and also terrified, but this new year is already starting to look insane, so what the heck, I’m jumping in with both feet.

Bad Feminist is a series of essays focused on gender, sexuality and race.  Roxanne Gay writes about the feminist movement and its flaws, but she focuses more on sexism and racism in books, movies, music, language and politics.

One of my biggest struggles with sexism and racism when I crash into them (I mean, aside from the obvious) is the difficulty I have in articulating why the behavior or language is so offensive.  It’s those smaller things that the people we love say or do, and their easy explanations for why these things are okay for them to say or do, that make me so angry I can’t effectively argue with their “logic”.  Bad Feminist may not have all the answers on how to solve the problems we face, but I personally found it really empowering to have someone articulate the problems so beautifully.

Ms Gay’s writing is engaging and relatable.  She writes about the big things, but she also delves into the small things that help reinforce the attitudes and culture that are so harmful.  She discusses Robin Thicke and Vanessa Williams, Fifty Shades of Grey and Sweet Valley High.  This book is funny and sad and horrifying and thought-provoking.  In short, I loved it.

One of my intentions for 2017 is to read more books that make me think and Bad Feminist absolutely accomplishes that goal.  I would (and will) definitely recommend this book – I think anyone would benefit from these beautiful essays.