In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman of color while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years and commenting on the state of feminism today. I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink.

I used to say my favorite color was black to be cool, but it is pink-all shades of pink. In Part 5, “Back to Me,” Gay offers her understanding of mainstream feminism and proclaims her embrace of “bad feminism.Pink is my favorite color. The section elaborates on why the discussion of seemingly less serious topics is necessary. Part 4, “Politics, Gender, and Race,” shifts from pop culture and creative work to emphasize current events that underscore Gay’s arguments about artistic renderings of society and culture. In Part 3, “Race and Entertainment,” Gay focuses on racial oppression and how it shows up in media and entertainment, emphasizing film work and the traps that filmmakers fall into as a result of Hollywood’s demand for limited and often stereotyped depictions of Black experience. Essays 5 through 15 emphasize the ways that gender oppression impacts media representation and women’s real-life experiences, while Essays 16 through 22 widen the discourse on patriarchy to illustrate its impact on men, which in turn has a deleterious impact on all those falling outside of the rigid norms and gendered behavioral guidelines that patriarchy enforces. Part 2, “Gender and Sexuality,” forms the bulk of the text. The essays ground the rest of the text in the particular perspective that Gay brings to her discussions of entertainment, media, and politics. In Part 1, “Me,” Gay offers four essays that introduce readers to her identities and interests. Content Warning: The source material features discussions of sexual violence, domestic violence, racial violence, and domestic terrorism.

Bad feminist review