Roxane Gay Bad Feminist Challenges Traditional Feminism to Embrace Imperfection

In her thought-provoking book “Bad Feminist: Essays”, acclaimed author Roxane Gay fearlessly explores the complexities and contradictions of modern feminism. With razor-sharp wit and unflinching honesty, Gay challenges traditional notions of feminism, embracing the idea that one can be imperfect and still fight for equality. Prepare to have your assumptions questioned and your mind expanded as you embark on this powerful literary journey.

Dive into Roxane Gay’s world of provocative essays and prepare to be challenged, inspired, and entertained. Keep reading to discover how “Bad Feminist” will reshape your understanding of feminism in the 21st century.

Genres

Personal Memoirs, Biography, Society, Culture, History, Criticism, Literary Criticism and Theory, Feminist Theory, Womens, Race, Politics, Social Justice, Feminism, Essays, Non-fiction, Cultural Criticism, Gender Studies, Social Science, Humor, LGBTQ+ Studies

“Bad Feminist” is a collection of essays by Roxane Gay, exploring various aspects of feminism, politics, and pop culture. Gay shares personal anecdotes and cultural critiques, discussing topics such as race, gender, body image, and sexuality. She argues that feminism is not a perfect ideology and that it’s okay to be a “bad feminist” – someone who believes in gender equality but may not always live up to the movement’s ideals. Gay’s essays are both humorous and serious, tackling difficult subjects with nuance and sensitivity. Throughout the book, she emphasizes the importance of intersectionality and the need for a more inclusive feminism that acknowledges the diverse experiences of women from different backgrounds.

Review

Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist” is a refreshing and necessary addition to the feminist canon. Gay’s writing is sharp, insightful, and unapologetically honest, making for a compelling and engaging read. Her willingness to confront her own contradictions and imperfections is both relatable and inspiring, reminding readers that feminism is a complex and ongoing journey.

One of the book’s greatest strengths is its intersectional approach. Gay consistently highlights the ways in which race, class, and sexuality intersect with gender, acknowledging that not all women face the same challenges or have the same opportunities. This intersectional lens adds depth and nuance to her analysis, making “Bad Feminist” a valuable resource for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of modern feminism.

While some readers may find Gay’s essays to be provocative or controversial, her arguments are always well-reasoned and supported by evidence. She is unafraid to challenge popular assumptions and to call out injustices where she sees them, making “Bad Feminist” a thought-provoking and potentially transformative read.

Overall, “Bad Feminist” is an essential book for anyone interested in feminism, social justice, or contemporary culture. Gay’s writing is accessible and engaging, making complex ideas easy to understand without oversimplifying them. Whether you consider yourself a feminist or not, “Bad Feminist” is sure to challenge your assumptions and broaden your perspective on gender, race, and equality.

Introduction

“Feminist” has become an insult, and the idea of feminism is associated with a specific mold. But the real definition is simpler than most people think. Roxane Gay is committed to equality for women, but she doesn’t always fit in with the traditional idea of feminism. She calls herself a bad feminist. In this book review, you’ll hear a sampling of Gay’s thoughts on everything from The Help to reproductive freedom. You’ll also learn how being a bad feminist is better than being no feminist at all.

Roxane Gay’s thoughts on race, gender, and sexuality.

READ THIS BOOK REVIEW IF YOU:

• Care about equality for women
• Want to hear perspectives from a person of color
• Are committed to social justice and equal representation

Bad Feminist (2014) is a collection of often personal essays examining race, gender and feminism in the United States. The author, Roxane Gay, pays particular attention to the way media, politics and pop culture shape society’s views and champions her own brand of feminism – one that doesn’t always follow the rules.

Thanks to the #MeToo movement and women’s marches, feminism has grown to be quite prominent in the media and social discourse over recent years. However, there’s no singular way to be a feminist. Even within the movement, there are many divergent viewpoints. Roxane Gay explains the concept of essential feminism and why she goes against some of its conceptions to champion her unique brand of “bad” feminism. Bad feminism is for anyone who feels like they don’t fit the prescribed version of feminism for whatever reason but still wants to make their voice heard. You’ll find that being a bad feminist is better than not being a feminist at all.

In this summary of Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, you’ll discover

• why bad reality TV can make us feel so good;
• how a terrorist was selected to be on the cover of Rolling Stone;
• and that the film The Help is less than helpful when it comes to furthering racial equality

Note: The following book summaries contain strong, offensive language and a racist term is used in regards to stereotypes in films.

Our cultural climate is slowly changing, but the battle hasn’t been won yet. Rape culture persists. Women are still fighting for reproductive freedom. Pop culture continually represents women in broken and damaging ways.

How do we bring attention to this and fight it?

Feminism is an essential way to change the cultural climate, but it is often rejected and ridiculed. The truth is, feminism is flawed because it is a movement led by human beings. People make mistakes.

When she was younger, Roxane Gay rejected feminism for the same reason many women still reject it: The label seems like an insult. It’s associated with angry, man-hating women who hate sex and traditional femininity. But that caricature was intentionally created by the people who stand to lose the most when feminism finally succeeds. It isn’t true feminism.

Gay became a feminist when she realized that the movement is simply about advocating for gender equality. If you believe in equal opportunity, equal rights, and equal representation for all people, then you are a feminist.

When feminism falls short, it’s because people are fallible and not because the movement itself is wrong.

She calls herself a bad feminist because she is human. She doesn’t claim to know everything about the movement, nor is she a perfect example for feminist women. She makes choices and has preferences that don’t fit with the typical idea of feminism, and that’s OK.

Gay is using her voice as a bad feminist to examine race, gender, and equality in our culture. Her essays are flawed, just like feminism. But they are authentic, and they are her attempt to examine how we can all do better.

Feel Me. See Me. Hear Me. Reach Me.

Niche dating sites make it easy to connect with someone based on a specific bit of criteria. There are Christian sites, gay sites, and even furry sites. Maybe these sites have become so popular because we are all just searching for someone who will remind us we aren’t alone.

Pop culture makes this difficult for people of color. Most of the representations of black people you see on television, even on networks like BET, fit into stereotypical categories. It seems like black people can only succeed through sports or music. Where are the black professors, CEOs, or writers?

Gay wants to know where she fits — and not just in the entertainment world.

She finds herself going above and beyond to belong. She works hard, spreads herself thin, and generally does everything she can to be accepted. Once, in graduate school, she overheard a classmate call her the affirmative action student. It crushed Gay because she had worked so hard but was still treated like she didn’t deserve to be there.

At every job since then, she’s wondered if she’s the affirmative action hire. When Gay thinks too long about this, she finds it heartbreaking, frustrating, and depressing. She has a doctorate. She’s a good writer. When will she stop questioning herself and her right to belong?

Writing has helped Gay find people to connect with because it bridges the gap between differences. It would be a lot easier if finding your community was like finding a date on a niche site. But race, gender, and identity are simply too complex. They don’t fit in an algorithm or in a single television show.

Gay will keep writing about them and how they intersect. She’s a black woman, a writer, a professor, and a bad feminist. One day these will all make sense.

Peculiar Benefits

Gay is Haitian American, and when she was a child her parents took her to visit Haiti every summer. She was too young to really understand the meaning of privilege but recognized the stark difference between her life in America and the lives in Haiti.

Most people in the developed world hold some kind of privilege, and it’s very important to recognize and acknowledge where you have an advantage. Gay had an upper-middle-class upbringing. Her parents were loving, and she never had to deal with a broken home. She went to nice schools and her degrees were funded.

But it can be equally difficult to admit where you lack privilege. Gay is the child of immigrants. She’s a woman and a person of color. It’s impossible to exist without being reminded of this, whether a random person questions her right to be in the faculty parking lot at her job or a conservative politician tries, once again, to legislate her body.

Privilege does not mean your life is easy. Acknowledging your privilege does not discount your struggles or your suffering. A privileged person is never privileged across the board.

Too often privilege is wielded like a weapon, like an accusation and a reason to dismiss someone’s truth. It’s gotten to the point where a person can barely talk about their personal experiences without being lambasted.

We need to start talking about privilege through acknowledgement and observation rather than accusation and dismissal.

At the very least we must all understand that not everyone has the same privileges we do. At our very best we can use our own brand of privilege to even the playing field and fight for social justice.

Girls, Girls, Girls

If there were a television show about Gay’s 20s, the main character would be a lost young woman who cuts off contact with her family and moves across the country to make questionable choices with questionable people. Not every woman would relate to this show, but some would.

It just isn’t possible to package the experiences of girlhood into neat 20- or 40minute episodes. The only solution is representing a variety of girls and girlhood experiences.

But this rarely happens. Most of the time we see the same girls and the same experiences over and over again.

Even shows like Lena Dunham’s Girls, lauded for being the voice of an entire generation, neglects representation. The show does a great job of showing us messy, relatable characters who aren’t perfect, so we get that sliver of authentic life — but only for one kind of girl.

After all, the main characters are all white and upper-middle class.

This is certainly not the first nor the last show to make this mistake, and it’s unfair to expect one show to shoulder the burden of representation. But many women, particularly women of color, are still waiting to see something relatable to them.

Not Here to Make Friends

There is usually a point in reality TV shows when a character will announce that they aren’t there to make friends. They are there to win the rose or get the cash prize, not form relationships.

This proclamation frees them from the expectation of likability.

Gay has thought a lot about likability in literature. As a writer and a person who has often struggled with being liked, she finds herself drawn to the characters who are unlikable — the ones that do and say what they want. These characters feel more human, more nuanced, and more relatable.

Likability is performing in a way that meets expectations. It is often a lie, and it is more often foisted upon women than men. Unlikable men are tormented or interesting, whereas unlikable women have something wrong with them. Critics obsess over these unlikable women, searching for the reason these characters dare to defy expectations. Are they mentally ill? Did they experience some kind of trauma?

What people fail to realize is that unlikable female characters are usually the ones who simply aren’t pretending to be something they are not. They don’t have the energy or the will to put on a show to make others more comfortable.

They are themselves regardless of the consequences — and their stories are far more interesting for it.

The Tale of Three Coming Out Stories

We are in the age of information. New stories, facts, and statistics are just a Google search away. We have become so inundated with information that we now take it for granted. We feel entitled to knowing what we want to know.

This has especially affected public figures, who are treated as if the price of fame or fortune or power is a complete lack of privacy. The world demands information about their relationship status, their sexuality, and their secrets. This is especially troublesome for figures who are not heterosexual.

Many have been outed against their will by people who do not agree with their lifestyle, while others feel pressured to come out because the LGBTQ community needs champions. Some of these people would probably prefer to keep their choices private but are denied that right.

It’s unfair that people who are already marginalized have yet another responsibility laid upon them.

Instead of asking public figures to stand up, to make sacrifices, and to carry the torch, we can ask ourselves how we can shoulder some of the load as well. Do we speak up when someone uses the term “gay” as an insult? Do we vote to support equal rights? Do we support musicians, actors, and authors who diminish the LGBTQ community, or the ones who support it?

The more people demand that public figures relinquish their privacy for the greater good, the more Gay wonders what each of us would be willing to sacrifice. Why is it all on them?

Thoughts on The Help

Gay cannot stand watching historical movies about black experiences. They are usually white interpretations, and few of them get it right.

Take The Help, for instance. It’s supposed to be inspirational, but all Gay saw when she watched it was condescension and racism.

The film is an avid user of the “magical negro” trope. Hollywood loves to create black characters who bestow their wisdom, or “magical powers,” onto a broken white person in order to raise them up and help them find redemption. These characters are usually uneducated and never use their powers to help themselves — only white people.

The Help has a dozen magical negroes in the form of black maids in 1960s Mississippi. They exist to make the white families they work for feel better about themselves, and there is a strong implication that the maids find fulfillment in raising white babies and cleaning white people’s homes.

One character dies from a broken heart after being fired a white family. Another rejoices when her white family promises job security — because serving a white family for terrible pay is a dream come true.

The book is written by a white woman, and the film is written and directed by a white man. One of the beauties of fiction is the endless possibilities, and Gay doesn’t think people should only be boxed in to what they personally know, but writing across race, gender, or sexuality should be handled with extreme care.

Writers don’t have to get these differences right every time, but they have to at least make a conscious effort. The writers of The Help, both the book and the film, didn’t try hard enough. They choose the easy way out via black caricatures and a narrow depictions of history.

Watching The Help made Gay wonder if writers should just stick to what they know.

When Less Is More

According to the internet, Gay should love Orange Is The New Black. After all, some of the characters look like her. Isn’t that enough? It’s as though people of color should be grateful for any scrap of diversity Hollywood deigns to provide.

The show isn’t bad. Gay noticed interesting characters and a fresh, nuanced exploration of sexuality. The story line featuring Laverne Cox as a transgender woman with wife and child was totally original and refreshing, living up to the diversity hype critics keep pushing.

But there are problems, too. Some of the characters are caricatures, and the diverse cast that people keep shoving down Gay’s throat revolve around the white main character, Piper.

The biggest problem Gay has with the show is that it simply isn’t as good as everyone says it is, but people of color are still supposed to rejoice over it. They are supposed to be thankful that there are black and brown faces on the screen, period.

Gay is tired of feeling like she should be grateful for diversity of any kind, quality aside. She’s tired of the extremes and the caricatures. When will pop culture begin exploring the similarities in humanity instead of the differences?

Orange Is The New Black is wildly popular because the bar is extremely low.

The Politics of Respectability

Journalist and news anchor Don Lemon said that black people could overcome racism if they stopped littering, staying in school, and pulled their pants up.

These assertions are grounded in respectability politics, wherein black people would not suffer from racism if they simply behaved well. They completely ignore institutional racism and the social and justice systems that continually marginalize the black community.

It would be very convenient if fitting into a specific mold would solve the world’s racial problems, but that’s just not how it works. Respectability politics also places the burden of oppression on the oppressed instead of the perpetrators.

Lemon is a black man raised by a single parent who became successful, and he exudes the idea that if he can make it, anyone can. People like Lemon shatter the glass ceiling and then assume everyone is able to do the same without considering the institutional problems that keep others down.

Respectability politics are not the answer. Highlighting the exceptions to the rule doesn’t help the majority. The least among us will only succeed when systematic changes occur.

The responsibility is on all of our shoulders, and we won’t see change until we act like the indivisible nation we claim to be.

The Alienable Rights of Women

As a woman of reproductive age, Gay thinks about reproductive freedom a lot. Especially since this freedom continues to be limited. The United States still debates about birth control and abortion, and these debates are usually led by men.

Politicians who continue to use reproductive freedom as a campaign issue have very short memories. They forget that women have always done what they have to to avoid unwanted pregnancies. From miscarriage-inducing plants in ancient times to back-alley abortions in recent history, women find a way.

The United States is facing real, pressing issues, but instead of solving these they use female bodies as a smokescreen. Conservatives especially love using reproductive rights as a platform to win votes. It’s easy, and it’s despicable.

American women have had the right to terminate unwanted pregnancies since 1973, but they have had to fight for that right from the very beginning. Politicians have continually introduced legislations that, if unable to block abortions, will at least punish the woman seeking one and control the entire experience.

Everything from forced transvaginal ultrasounds to counseling has been suggested — and, in some places, implemented. These are attempts to change the woman’s mind about something that should be her decision alone.

Women’s rights are alienable. Reproductive freedom is a campaign issue — a subject of male debate — when it should be a right. Because the female body is a legislative matter, women’s bodies are not their own.

Even birth control, the very thing that can prevent unwanted pregnancies and abortions, is up for debate. Once again, the female body is always the one being controlled, legislated, and debated because men do not share the responsibility of birth control.

Politicians have short memories, but women do not. Women will continue to fight for reproductive freedom because women know that the burden of childrearing largely falls on their backs as well. And if women are backed into a corner again, they will do what they have to do. Just like they’ve always done.

It’s shocking that nothing has changed.

Bad Feminist: Take One

There is a right way to be a woman in the United States: Women are expected to dress a certain way, to only weigh so much, and to walk that fine line between slutty and prudish.

Women should work hard but not complain that they are making 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. They should bear children and raise them without being too demanding of their husbands.

Women who don’t fit this mold are bad women, and feminism falls prey to the same expectations. There seems to be a right way to be a feminist.

Gay often feels like a bad feminist when she doesn’t meet these standards. When she isn’t as committed as she could be and when she isn’t fully educated on the history of feminism, she feels like she’s failing.

But there are also times when she doesn’t want the label of feminist because the word has been twisted to mean aggressive, humourless, and man-hating. This is not the correct definition of feminism, but it’s the widely accepted version.

Actress Melissa Leo and corporate businesswoman Marissa Mayer, both pioneers for women in their fields, have openly rejected feminism. Feminist has become an insult even to the women who embody the real definition of the word.

Gay also takes issue with the fact that feminism is catered to one type of woman. Women of color are largely dismissed from the conversation, and writers like Elizabeth Wurtzel say that feminists have to work outside of the home. For Gay, it’s hard to be eager to wear a title that isn’t granted to all women who care about equality.

Gay’s favorite definition comes from the book DIY Feminism. According to one woman featured in the book, feminists are simply women who don’t want to be treated like shit anymore.

It seems that expanding beyond this definition just leads to trouble.

Bad Feminist: Take Two

Gay does feminism incorrectly a lot of the time — at least, according to the twisted perceptions of feminism that feel inescapable today.

She wants to be independent, good at her job, and a leader. But she also wants to be taken care of and have someone to come home to.

She listens to rap music with lyrics that are degrading and offensive to women. Pink is her favorite color. She reads Vogue, loves dresses, and shaves her legs. She knows nothing about cars and doesn’t care to learn. Surely a strong, independent, feminist woman should know how to fix her own car?

Gay likes men and wishes she didn’t have to call them out so often on Twitter. She’d prefer that a man take out the trash and mow the lawn. She loves babies and wants to have them someday. She’s willing to compromise to make this happen.

These, and a million tiny other aspects of her person, don’t fit in with the typical idea of feminism. Gay is outspoken about gender equality, and because of her opinions she often feels pressure to fit a mold.

At some point, Gay bought into the idea that feminism looks one specific way. She isn’t proud of this, and she wants to start rejecting those myths instead of totally rejecting feminism like many women have done.

Regardless of the flaws of feminism, Gay is a feminist and believes in the necessity of the movement.

Bad feminism is better than no feminism at all.

Why Roxane Gay Is A Bad Feminist

No one is perfect: as humans, we all make mistakes and Gay is no exception to that. But as a feminist, she’s under continual pressure to live up to all of the demands that accompany the label. Part of the problem with the pressure is that there’s no single, absolute version of feminism. It’s a complex movement and, in an attempt to represent all women, has surely disappointed many. Traditionally, feminists fought for the equal rights and liberties of white, cisgender, heterosexual women. That particular brand of feminism excludes black, transgender and queer women – failing to acknowledge the different obstacles these women face. As white, cis, heterosexual women are more likely to have an opportunity to advocate for their beliefs in public, it’s this same group of woman that writes the feminist rulebook. Gay refers to their kind of feminism as essential feminism. They handle feminism like a club with strict rules and guidelines that have to be followed to be considered a “proper” feminist, like opposing pornography and renouncing the objectification of women under any circumstances. Yet, women who promote essential feminism are coming from a place of privilege. They don’t have the same experiences as those who also belong to another minority/oppressed group, like women of color or people who fall under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella. Accordingly, their opinions on what constitutes a “real” feminist can often alienate those who don’t share their same background. It’s not just the women in minority groups who feel excluded from essential feminism. Simply disagreeing with some of those viewpoints can be enough to leave some women feeling shut out as well. Consider women who like watching or performing in pornography videos or women who enjoy aspects of popular culture where women may be objectified.

The author absolutely doesn’t identify with essential feminism; that’s why she calls herself a bad feminist. She believes in equality for all women and men in every part life. She used to avoid using the label of “feminist”, so she understands why so many women are hesitant to adopt it. The problem is, the word “feminist” is heavily correlated with essential feminism and conjures up the images of women who apply the feminist movement as a method of self-branding. But now, Gay has made peace with her flawed feminism. She’s accepted that she’ll never please everyone and by doing and believing things that contradict essential feminism, her type of feminism is a significant part of the conversation. Being a bad feminist is better than just not being a feminist at all.

Reality TV and the Dehumanization of Women

The term “reality television” is misleading because it doesn’t display real life, but rather a warped version of reality. The same can be said concerning the representation of women on reality shows. Often they’re behaving in an over-the-top, unrealistic stereotype of their gender. There are some common stereotypes about women: they’re desperate to fall in love and get married, that they’re obsessed with their weight and that jealousy keeps them from forming genuine friendships with other women. Reality TV does nothing to help reject these stereotypes. If you watch any reality television show, you’ll see plenty of these types in the cast. The characters in reality television are not exhibited as complex, three-dimensional human beings, but instead reduced to simple, exaggerated clichés. When these characters are marketed to us as “real,” it just reinforces the notion that all women fit into the molding of a few basic stereotypes.

Look at dating game shows such as Rock of Love or Flavor of Love as an example. The women on these programs are displayed at war with each other – fighting for a male’s attention and affirmation. The man they’re competing for, on the other hand, makes it quite clear he doesn’t care for them in the least. He gives empty platitudes about love to the camera with a wink and makes fun of the women clamoring for him. The bachelor’s disdain for the women is particularly clear on Flavor of Love. The aim of the game is to win the affections of Flavor Flav, member of former the hip-hop group Public Enemy. Rather than bothering to at least learn each woman’s name, Flav assigns them a nickname of his own devising, further dehumanizing them. If you’re still not convinced that the women on these shows are viewed as objects, consider the fact that Flav named two of the lucky ladies “Thing 1” and “Thing 2.” Diminishing women as caricatures gives the audience permission to criticize and make fun of them. It makes them “must-watch” television as well. Most reality shows force contestants into being the worst versions of themselves: the worse they behave, the more entertaining it is for us. Why is that? Because it allows us to feel smug about our lives when we see the “bad” choices other people are making in theirs. But when these exaggerated characters are so ubiquitous on television, it can normalize certain behaviors and aesthetics that ultimately keep women from advancing as equals in society. The same can be said of makeover shows and any reality TV that concentrates on people’s appearance. Female bodies that have been surgically enhanced or sculpted by way of harsh weight loss regimens make for great viewing and appeal to superficial males. However, it overlooks women’s internal experiences. These types of shallow programs disregard the wisdom and depth of experiences that women have to offer society.

Desensitization of Sexual Violence Against Women

Rape is a horrific and violent crime that can leave victims physically and emotionally damaged. That’s why many television shows use storylines connected to rape to add to the drama and boost ratings. Some programs are almost exclusively fueled by traumatic accounts of sexual violence toward women. Look at the TV series Law and Order: SVU: it’s incorporated so many rape-related plotlines that each new episode has to go the extra mile to keep the audience engaged – adding increasingly gruesome details and twists.

That means it’s no longer especially shocking for an audience to see a man “just” forceful penetrate a woman. We’re so accustomed to seeing rape victims left disfigured, beaten or subjected to any number of ordeals that the forceful penetration on its own isn’t seen as that serious anymore. It takes a lot more to incite revulsion in an audience numbed by overexposure to those types of stories. Sadly, sexual abuse isn’t only common in fiction. This violation of women is so prevailing in our society that it needed it’s own term – rape culture. Women almost expect sexual assault might be a part of their life. Again, entertainment takes some of the blame here; the obsession with and glamorization of rape on-screen almost encourages real-life rape culture. News media feeds rape culture as well in the way that it reports attacks. Look at the article that appeared in the New York Times in 2011; it recounts the sexual assault of an eleven-year-old girl by 18 men. The journalist chose to focus on how the perpetrators’ lives would be ruined, and how the town had been destroyed by the case. But the victim is hardly mentioned at all, save for a remark about how she looked much older than her actual age. Politicians don’t particularly help the cause, either, as former Republican Congressman Todd Akin proves. He’s the person responsible for the phrase “legitimate rape.” It came about in a discussion concerning a woman’s right to an abortion. Akin implied that if a woman was a victim of “legitimate rape,” her body would reject pregnancy. That isn’t just scientifically incorrect but problematic too. There’s no such thing as illegitimate rape – rape is rape – and that fact has to be made clear to everyone if there’s to be any hope of ending rape culture.

Films That Hinder Progress Toward Racial Equality

The Help was released in movie theaters in 2011. Based in segregated Mississippi during the 1960s, it’s a feel-good story about a couple of African-American maids serving privileged white families. It was praised by critics and popular with audiences, but when it came to promoting racial equality, it was not as successful. The film employed some discriminatory stereotypes, including the “magical negro” and the “white savior narrative.” The magical negro is a black character whose principal qualities include kindness, wisdom and a supernatural element. They always use those traits to assist a white protagonist – not themselves. This trope is popular with white audiences because they feel better watching a positive portrayal of a black person. Although, what they don’t notice is that the stereotype isn’t actually a fully formed character, but instead only a catalyst for the white protagonist’s goals. In The Help, the magical negro cliché surfaces in the characters of Aibileen, Minny and the other of the black maids. They’re incredibly strong but end up applying their power to advance and educate the white characters, rather than help themselves. The Help is also heavily reliant on the usage of the white savior narrative. This is when the black characters have no way to better themselves and end up relying on a kind, white person. The black characters are depicted as lucky and grateful. This narrative is demonstrated prominently in one particular scene of The Help. After John F Kennedy attends the funeral of civil rights activist Medgar Evans, Aibileen – one of the black maids – hangs a picture up on her wall of JFK. She chooses him over Evans or another black civil rights activist to hang next to a photo of her son and one of a white Jesus.

There was other racial stereotyping was implemented in the movie. In one of the scenes, Minny the maid claims “frying chicken tend to make me feel better about life.” The author finds it surprising that such stereotyping went overlooked in both a book and a movie made in the twenty-first century.

The Help is one of several films that fail to display black characters as complex, well-rounded characters. It promotes the concept that black people in real life are nothing more than stereotypes we’ve seen in movies. Those types of stories misuse the civil rights struggle to entertain audiences but actively hinder racial equality.

Systemic Sexism and Racism In The United States

Mass shootings are practically a near-daily occurrence in the United States. Also, far more Americans have died as a result of random acts of violence than at the hands of radicalized terrorists. But attacks carried out by white men – as the mass shootings often are– are never identified as acts of terrorism. It seems that people can always find a reason that a white man who commits a terrorist act is a truly good person deep down inside. The same people can also always find a rationale for why an innocent black boy is dangerous or immoral. Take Rolling Stone magazine for example; following the Boston Marathon bombings, it featured one of the perpetrators of the attack on the cover. The angle was that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev – a young white man – looks just like “the boy next door”. The story they published was empathetic. The journalist spoke to people who knew him that described him as a nice, normal guy and tried to comprehend how and why Tsarnev had changed from being a regular boy to a mass murderer.

Compare that coverage to the case of Trayvon Martin. When the unarmed black teenager was murdered by George Zimmerman (who later was acquitted of all charges), Trayvon wasn’t featured on the cover of a magazine, nor was his story covered with such sympathy. If anything, it was quite the opposite. Trayvon did nothing wrong. When he was shot, he had been armed with nothing more than iced tea and a packet of Skittles. However, the account of his death was shaped to match society’s expectations. It’s best demonstrated by when Fox News attempted to explain how the teenager may have used the iced tea and Skittles as weapons against Zimmerman. The state of inequality is also bleak for women. Along with race, gender inequality is still alive in America. Even women’s bodies are treated like legislative subject matter under the control of politicians – most of whom are white men. A woman’s reproductive freedom – her right to access birth control or abortion if she so chooses – still remains under threat today. And it’s evident that women are not considered to be men’s equals.\ As long as we can identify the incongruities with equality, we can work hard to rectify them. That’s what Gay is attempting to do with her queer, black, bad feminism.

Conclusion

The key message in this book summary:

Just like no human is perfect, no version of feminism is perfect. But don’t wait for an ideal type of feminism to find you or waste your time trying to fit into an ideal feminist mold – be a bad feminist! Every voice matters. The more so-called bad feminists speak out, the more the feminist movement can evolve and grow to be more inclusive. By starting a conversation about how race, gender identity, and sexual preference interact through the lens of feminism, we can change the way, and the world thinks.

About the author

Roxane Gay is a bestselling author, professor, and cultural commentator. Her writing has appeared in compilations like Best American Mystery Stories 2014 and Best Sex Writing 2012, as well as in publications like The New York Times and Virginia Quarterly. Gay’s other books include An Untamed State, Hunger, and Difficult Women.

Table of 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 “Skinny”
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 “The help”
Surviving “Django”
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.