Hi everyone I'm Rincey and this is Rincey
Reads.
Today I'm going to be doing a review on "Bad
Feminist" by Roxane Gay.
This is a collection of essays and it clearly
talks about feminism.
But it also just talks about gender and politics
and race and pop culture and just a whole
wide range of things which is everything that
I love in an essay collection.
My favorite kind of essay collections are
the ones that basically touch a lot on pop
culture.
And Roxane Gay is just so in tune with modern
pop culture.
Or not even just modern pop culture, but just
generally.
Like she knows so much about everything, it's
insane to me how smart she is.
The essay collection are split up into four
parts.
I believe the first one is all about just
like personal essays about Roxane Gay.
The second part is about gender.
The third part is about like race and politics,
I believe.
And then there's a separate section about
the entertainment industry and things like
that.
So you can kind of like read these in groups
and get like a fuller picture about the things
that she is talking about.
She makes a lot of references, like I mentioned
earlier, but you don't necessarily need to
know all of the references in order to understand
what she is talking about.
She tend to do a pretty good job of explaining
things that happen in like movies and TV shows
so that way you can understand what she's
talking about, so if you haven't actually
seen it yourself you won't be like missing
out or completely lost on her points and her
topics.
But I will say that the essays that I connected
with the most are the ones that I actually
understood the topics and the ideas she was
touching on.
Being aware of the news items that she's talking
about, and being aware of the TV shows she
is talking about, things like that.
They all help to enhance the experience, I
believe.
So I feel like, not necessarily that you're
going to be hindered if you don't know it,
but I feel like, the more that you know the
more that you'll enjoy this.
I really, really enjoyed this essay collection,
but one thing I do want to say is that I enjoyed
this without necessarily agreeing with it.
I feel like with a title like Bad Feminist
or even just talking about feminism in general,
there is sort of a divisiveness that comes
with this topic or just comes to the idea
of equality, race relations, gender relations,
all of these different things.
And people tend to just pick their side and
stick to it.
And I feel like I'm someone who enjoys listening
to both sides of the conversation.
And so, essay collections like this really
appeal to me because I like it when I read
about things that I don't necessarily agree
with because I feel like you have to understand
both sides in order to understand where you
fall within it.
Because if you just make assumptions or if
you just only listen to people who are similar
to you, you're not really getting a full picture
and your belief system, I feel like, is slightly
flawed.
I feel like essay collections like this that
have a very strong point of view or have very
specific ideas are really good for everyone
across the spectrum to read because, even
if you don't necessarily agree with the things
Roxane Gay is talking about, the topics that
she brings up are very topics.
I probably could have phrased that better,
but whatever.
And the ideas that she talks about are very
much things that are prevalent in today's
society that I think that no matter what side
of the spectrum you fall on, you should be
aware of them and then decide where you stand
on the issue.
Like this is a book that I've already been
recommending to people I know in real life
because I think that this would be a really
interesting essay collection to talk about
with other people.
There's certain essays in here where Roxane
Gay makes arguments and it's really interesting
reading them because you can see, or at least
I feel like I can see, some of the flaws in
her arguments.
But then at the same time, she sort of talks
about how feminism isn't about being perfect
and having perfect ideals.
The idea behind a bad feminist is the fact
that we're all going to mess up, even if we
call ourselves feminists.
There are ways in which every feminist fails
at being a "feminist."
There are things that we like, things that
we enjoy that probably other people would
frown upon.
And it's like, if you call yourself a feminist,
how can you like those things?
And I think that is a really interesting concept
to just explore and just see how you compare
to the things Roxane Gay talks about.
One thing I will say about this essay collection
is that it can at times feel a little bit
repetitive.
The way I read this is that I read this along
with reading other books.
So I would just read a couple essays at a
time and then put it down and read something
else.
I feel like if you read this straight through
it would be not as enjoyable because by the
end of the book you would get a little bit
worn out.
And I feel like that's true for most essay
collections and most short story collections.
A lot of times, at least for me personally,
short story collections and essay collections,
can't be just read in one sitting.
For me, I like to break them up with other
stories because the themes and the ideas can
feel a bit much personally.
In the end I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars
on Goodreads.
I really enjoyed this book and I feel like
the main reason why I enjoyed this book is
because it made me think.
Again, I'm not going to say that I am 100%
on board with everything that Roxane Gay has
to say.
For example, one essay collection that's in
here talks about the idea of unlikeable characters.
And it's really interesting because I was
reading this, and in another essay she talks
about Sweet Valley High and the Sweet Valley
series and how she is more of a Jessica rather
than an Elizabeth.
And I feel like Jessica is a rather unlikeable
character and so while she was writing her
essay collection about unlikeable characters
all I could keep think was, "do you just like
unlikeable characters because you feel like
you connect with them more, the same way I
might like likeable characters because I like
connecting with them more?"
So that's just an idea that I had that I was
thinking about when I was reading that and
just an example of how you can enjoy essay
collections without necessarily being like
"yes, I 100% agree with all of the things
you are saying."
I feel like you can enjoy this no matter where
your belief system lies because the writing
is so good and the topics are so interesting,
at least for me personally.
Or maybe it's just because I agreed with more
than half of the collection that I found it
enjoyable.
I'm not really sure.
But again I feel like because I didn't necessarily
agree with everything I ended up liking it
more than if I did necessarily agree with
everything that she had to say.
So yeah, those are my quick thoughts on Bad
Feminist by Roxane Gay.
If you've read this, and I know a couple of
you have already, feel free to leave a comment
down below letting me know what you thought
of it.
Also let me know like what essays in this
collection really stuck out to you or which
ones really resonated with you.
So yeah, that's all I have for now and thanks
for watching.
