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Bad Feminist

On sale

21st August 2014

Price: £13.99

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Selected: Paperback / ISBN-13: 9781472119735

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‘Pink is my favourite colour. I used to say my favourite colour was black to be cool, but it is pink – all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I’m not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue.’

In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of colour (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.

Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny and sincere look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better.

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Reviews

Helen Lewis, New Statesman
Refreshing . . . [Gay's] greatest gift as a writer is energy, enthusiasm - sheer gusto. She loves bad television, and enjoys terrible films, and is overjoyed by an unexpected triple word score. Her writing feels alive. You might not always agree with her, but you are always interested to know what she thinks.
Rookie
I know there are still four and a half months left, but I'm calling it now: 2014 is the year of Roxane Gay. I just devoured her book, Bad Feminist . . . Amazing.
Jessica Valenti, Guardian
Gay is my favourite current writer.
People
Roxane Gay is the brilliant girl-next-door: your best friend and your sharpest critic . . . She is by turns provocative, chilling, hilarious; she is also required reading.
Pride
If you read one book this month, let it be this gem by Roxane Gay . . . Tackling topics as varied as racial privilege, Chris Brown, feminism, Fifty Shades of Grey and Trayvon Martin in her typically spot-on and engaging style. This is a book all your girlfriends will want to borrow.
O, the Oprah Magazine
One of our sharpest new culture critics plants her flag in topics ranging from trigger warnings to Orange is the New Black in this timely collection of essays.
Time Magazine
Let this be the year of Roxane Gay.
Chicago Tribune
A thoughtful and often hilarious new collection of essays.
Harper's Bazaar
An assortment of comical, yet astute essays that touch on Gay's personal evolution as a woman, popular culture throughout the recent past, and the state of feminism today.
Boston Globe
Fascinating . . . An important and pioneering contemporary writer . . . Readers will immediately understand the appeal of Gay's intimate and down-to-earth voice . . . An important contribution to the complicated terrain of gender politics.
Huffington Post
Gay's essays expertly weld her personal experiences with broader gender trends occurring politically and in popular culture.
‘20 New Nonfiction Books That Will Make You Smarter’, Flavorwire
As Bad Feminist proves, Gay is a necessary and brave voice when it comes to figuring out all the crazy mixed messages in our mixed-up world.
Marie Claire
Roxane Gay applies her discerning eye to everything from Paula Deen to The Batchelor.
Library Journal
Smart readers cannot afford to miss these essays, which range from socially significant art (Girls, Django in Chains) and feminist issues (abortion) to politics (Chris Brown) and why Gay likes pink.
Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) via Twitter
I just read Roxane Gay's Bad Feminist in one plane ride. It's brilliant. I am deeply grateful for it. Please read this book.
USA Today
Gay's essays are consistently smart and provocative.
San Francisco Chronicle
What makes Bad Feminist such a good read isn't only Gay's ability to deftly weave razor-sharp pop cultural analysis and criticism with a voice that is both intimate and relatable. It's that she's incapable of blindly accepting any kind of orthodoxy.
Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?
Roxane Gay is so great at weaving the intimate and personal with what is most bewildering and upsetting at this moment in culture. She is always looking, always thinking, always passionate, always careful, always right there.
Lena Dunham
Roxane is a powerhouse of a writer. She's really punk in her approach and her book Bad Feminist has liberated a lot of women by making it clear you can be a conflicted, complicated woman and still identify with feminism.
Time Out (New York)
Alternately friendly and provocative, wry and serious, her takes on everything from Girls to Fifty Shades of Grey help to recontextualize what feminism is--and what it can be.
Ron Charles, Washington Post
A strikingly fresh cultural critic.