Gender Studies Blog Post #1
My favorite class reading so far has been Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist”. I like how Gay’s writing is snappy and to the point with her quick introduction of the problems she has faced with feminism and other’s perceptions of the movement. Even as someone who knows very little about the movement, her idea of feminism being a very flawed yet useful tool for people to find their voice and feel more comfortable with themselves is very uplifting and inspiring. I appreciate how grounded and realistic she is in her writing’s tone by bringing the idea of the feminist movement’s perfect “Pedestal Feminist” down to earth. She points out how none of these seemingly untouchable figures are held up high as a shining example for long and how they are treated as irrelevant as soon as they eventually screw something up, no matter how big or small their mistake may be. I think the idea of someone having to be a damn near god to be a recognized and valued member of the feminist movement is childish and only promotes negativity and a sense of distrust.
In addition to her acknowledgement of the problems she has with the world’s view of feminism, I really enjoyed reading about the problems she encountered as she struggled her way into eventually becoming a bad feminist. As silly as they may be, I think the quotes “When I was called a feminist, during those days, my first was, But I willing give blow jobs.” and “I was called a feminist, and what I heard was, ‘You are an angry, sex-hating, man-hating victim lady person’” do an excellent job of summarizing her past misconceptions (Gay xi). Through admitting her own skepticism, Gay helps the reader to see that it’s okay to have their doubts about the movement as long as they support the fundamental ideas behind it. I may have a long ways to go when it comes to fully understanding feminism, but Gay’s talk of the imperfect “bad feminist” has helped me to be more confident in my flawed discussion of the movement.
I think this idea that your describing can also be applied to other areas as well. In religion, politics, occupations, and other movements all have this ideology of a cookie cutter person who follows all of the rules. This not only shows that our society's views are flawed but also that people's beliefs need to change a lot. Although Roxanne Gay writes about flaws within feminism, I personally think she is hinting at something much more broader that is expressed in the feminist movement.
ReplyDeleteI think you summarize Roxanne Gay's points in "Bad Feminist" really well! I agree that her writing about past misconceptions were effective because she's not trying to get on this high pedestal with super formal and clinical writing; she's just repeating and reflecting on thoughts she had at the time. I think her tone in this piece further reaffirms the honest and open message she's trying to portray, laying herself out while proudly claiming herself to be a "Bad Feminist." I think her style and rhetorical choices in this essay are refreshing and help the reader connect with her, so I definitely was also a big fan of this reading. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy the point you make about how no one should have to be a god of sorts to be recognized and valued as a feminist, and I feel like that's the core of this reading as well! People from all kinds of racial, cultural, and economic backgrounds have experienced the negative effects of the patriarchy and to force them to all conform to one style of behavior in order to identify as a feminist only hurts the movement. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI liked reading your post & I think you did a good job describing the reading. I agree it's silly that someone can't make mistakes to be a "good" feminist, and I also think it's harmful for the only acceptable feminist role models to be people that are seen as perfect. It's important to have people to look up to that you can view as normal human beings that make mistakes. I can easily see how Roxanne Gay thought of herself as a "bad feminist" when she didn't relate to or see herself in any celebrated feminists.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post, it made me think about that reading again and how we've connected it to more recent things in class, but it also made me think about how this can apply to other things to, like you can be a good artist and make mistakes, a good athlete and have a bad game, because we are all human. There is no way for everyone to be like everyone because we are all someone different. Good post!
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