She writes about LGBTQ+ rights and the fact that the male experience is still valued above the female experience when it comes to what literature is considered “highbrow art.” She also discusses how the entertainment, music, and comedy industries contribute to rape culture by normalizing and joking about sexual violence. Gay touches on inequalities in a variety of spheres. She even shares her own experience of sexual abuse while in middle school. She also writes about body image issues, rape culture, and the prevalence of sexual violence to demonstrate that feminism is still an essential movement.

For example, Gay feels that women and fictional female characters are held to unfair standards of likeability. She provides examples of gender inequality to demonstrate that, although conditions have improved for women, there is still a long way to go. Gay argues against the belief that we are living in a post-feminist society.

These include Sweet Valley High, Miss America, Bridesmaids, Girls, Play It As It Lays, Green Girl, Girlfriends, Twilight, and Fifty Shades of Grey, among others. Gay critiques a number of books, movies, and television shows written by, for, and about women.

Part Two focuses on issues of gender equality and sexual violence. She writes about her experiences as a first-year teacher as well as finding a sense of community through competitive Scrabble. She is a tenure-track professor living in a small town. Although she is a member of several minority groups, Gay acknowledges that she is privileged in many ways. In Part One, Gay writes about her identity as a black woman and the struggle to find representations of people like her in academia and the mainstream media. Gay rejects essential feminism which implies that there are right and wrong ways to be a feminist and advocates for an inclusive, intersectional feminism which supports the rights of all women. Gay recognizes that many women likely feel similarly, as demonstrated by their resistance to the movement. Gay identifies as a bad feminist because she is imperfect and cannot live in total accordance with the so-called rules of mainstream feminism. The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Gay, Roxane.

Bad feminist review