Contents
[INTRODUCTION]
Feminism (n. ): Plural
[ME]
Feel Me. See Me. Hear Me. Reach Me.
Peculiar Benefits
Typical First Year Professor
To Scratch, Claw, or Grope Clumsily or Frantically
[GENDER & SEXUALITY]
How to Be Friends with Another Woman
Girls, Girls, Girls
I Once Was Miss America
Garish, Glorious Spectacles
Not Here to Make Friends
How We All Lose
Reaching for Catharsis: Getting Fat Right (or Wrong) and Diana Spechler’s
The Smooth Surfaces of Idyll
The Careless Language of Sexual Violence
What We Hunger For
The Illusion of Safety/The Safety of Illusion
The Spectacle of Broken Men
A Tale of Three Coming Out Stories
Beyond the Measure of Men
Some Jokes Are Funnier Than Others
Dear Young Ladies Who Love Chris Brown So Much They Would Let Him Beat Them
Blurred Lines, Indeed
The Trouble with Prince Charming, or He Who Trespassed Against Us
[RACE & ENTERTAINMENT]
The Solace of Preparing Fried Foods and Other Quaint Remembrances from 1960s Mississippi: Thoughts on
Surviving
Beyond the Struggle Narrative
The Morality of Tyler Perry
The Last Day of a Young Black Man
When Less Is More
[POLITICS, GENDER & RACE]
The Politics of Respectability
When Twitter Does What Journalism Cannot
The Alienable Rights of Women
Holding Out for a Hero
A Tale of Two Profiles
The Racism We All Carry
Tragedy. Call. Compassion. Response.
[BACK TO ME]
Bad Feminist: Take One
Bad Feminist: Take Two
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Praise
Also by Roxane Gay
Copyright
About the Publisher
Introduction
Feminism (n. ): Plural
The world changes faster than we can fathom in ways that are complicated. These bewildering changes often leave us raw. The cultural climate is shifting, particularly for women as we contend with the retrenchment of reproductive freedom, the persistence of rape culture, and the flawed if not damaging representations of women we’re consuming in music, movies, and literature.
We have a comedian asking his fans to touch women lightly on their stomachs because ignoring personal boundaries is oh so funny.
We have all manner of music glorifying the degradation of women, and damnit, that music is catchy so I often find myself singing along as my very being is diminished. Singers like Robin Thicke know “we want it. ” Rappers like Jay-Z use the word “bitch” like punctuation. Movies, more often than not, tell the stories of men as if men’s stories are the only stories that matter. When women are involved, they are sidekicks, the romantic interests, the afterthoughts. Rarely do women get to be the center of attention. Rarely do our stories get to matter.How do we bring attention to these issues? How do we do so in ways that will actually be heard? How do we find the necessary language for talking about the inequalities and injustices women face, both great and small? As I’ve gotten older, feminism has answered these questions, at least in part.
Feminism is flawed, but it offers, at its best, a way to navigate this shifting cultural climate. Feminism has certainly helped me find my voice. Feminism has helped me believe my voice matters, even in this world where there are so many voices demanding to be heard.